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Author: Phillips, Meredith
Resulting in 6 citations.
1. Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
Crane, Jonathan
Duncan, Greg J.
Klebanov, Pamela Kato
Phillips, Meredith
How Might Genetic Influences on Academic Achievement Masquerade as Environmental Influences?
Smart Library on Children and Families, 2003.
Also: http://www.children.smartlibrary.org/NewInterface/segment.cfm?segment=2606
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Qontent
Keyword(s): Cognitive Development; Educational Attainment; Ethnic Differences; Family Background and Culture; Family Environment; Family Income; Genetics; I.Q.; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Background; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This article reports on Phillips et al.'s study of the effects of families on black and white children's test scores. This abstract comes from the article's description of the researchers' methodology:

"Part of the problem in determining "how much" of the black-white achievement gap results from heredity versus environment is that a person's genes and environment influence each other in complicated ways. It is often difficult to tell what part of a person's situation is influenced by their genetic makeup and what part is shaped by their environment."

"Phillips and her colleagues sought to determine the relative importance of a wide range of family characteristics for children's vocabulary test scores. They did this by running statistical models in which they would factor in different influences and examine how the included variables changed the differences in black and white children's test scores."

Bibliography Citation
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne, Jonathan Crane, Greg J. Duncan, Pamela Kato Klebanov and Meredith Phillips. "How Might Genetic Influences on Academic Achievement Masquerade as Environmental Influences?" Smart Library on Children and Families, 2003.
2. Jencks, Christopher
Phillips, Meredith
America's Next Achievement Test: Closing the Black-White Test Score Gap
The American Prospect 9,40 (Sept-Oct 1998).
Also: http://www.prospect.org/print/V9/40/jencks-c.html
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Prospect, The
Keyword(s): Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Economics of Discrimination; Racial Differences; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT; Tests and Testing

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The test score gap between blacks and whites--on vocabulary, reading, and math tests, as well as on tests that claim to measure scholastic aptitude and intelligence--is large enough to have far-reaching social and economic consequences. Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips argue that eliminating the disparity would dramatically reduce economic and educational inequality between blacks and whites. While data from the 1970s indicated that reducing inequality in test scores would not significantly decrease the wage gap, data from the NLSY79, the "best recent data on test scores and earnings," has convinced the authors that raising black worker's test scores would improve earnings. Indeed, Jencks and Phillips believe that closing the gap would do more to promote racial equality than any other strategy now under serious discussion.
Bibliography Citation
Jencks, Christopher and Meredith Phillips. "America's Next Achievement Test: Closing the Black-White Test Score Gap." The American Prospect 9,40 (Sept-Oct 1998).
3. Jencks, Christopher
Phillips, Meredith
Black-White Test Score Gap
Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998.
Also: http://www.brook.edu/press/books/blckwhit.htm
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Brookings Institution
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Discrimination, Racial/Ethnic; Economics of Discrimination; Genetics; Racial Differences; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT; Tests and Testing

The test score gap between blacks and whites--on vocabulary, reading, and math tests, as well as on tests that claim to measure scholastic aptitude and intelligence--is large enough to have far-reaching social and economic consequences. In their introduction to this book, Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips argue that eliminating the disparity would dramatically reduce economic and educational inequality between blacks and whites. Indeed, they think that closing the gap would do more to promote racial equality than any other strategy now under serious discussion. The book offers a comprehensive look at the factors that contribute to the test score gap and discusses options for substantially reducing it. Table of Contents. The Black-White Test Score Gap: an introduction / Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips -- Test bias, heredity, and home environment. Racial bias in testing / Christopher Jencks -- Race, genetics, and IQ / Richard E. Nisbett -- Family background, parenting practices, and the black-white test score gap / Meredith Phillips, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Greg J. Duncan, Pamela Klebanov, and Jonathan Crane -- How and why the gap has changed. Black-white test score convergence since 1965 / Larry V. Hedges and Amy Nowell -- Why did the black-white score gap narrow in the 1970s and 1980s? / David Grissmer, Ann Flanagan, and Stephanie Williamson -- The impact of schools and culture. Does the black-white test score gap widen after children enter school? / Meredith Phillips, James Crouse, and John Ralph -- Teachers' perceptions and expectations and the black-white test score gap / Ronald F. Ferguson -- Can schools narrow the black-white test score gap? / Ronald F. Ferguson -- The burden of "acting white" : do black adolescents disparage academic achievement? / Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig -- Stereotype threat and the test performance of academically successful African Americans / Claude M. Steele and Joshua Aronson --Do test scores matter? Racial and ethnic preferences in college Admissions / Thomas J. Kane --Scholastic aptitude test scores, race, and academic performance in selective colleges and universities / Fredrick E. Vars and William G. Bowen -- Basic skills and the black-white earnings gap / William R. Johnson and Derek Neal -- Commentary. The role of the environment in the black-white test score gap / William Julius Wilson.
Bibliography Citation
Jencks, Christopher and Meredith Phillips. Black-White Test Score Gap. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998..
4. Phillips, Meredith
Understanding Ethnic Differences in Academic Achievement: Empirical Lessons from National Data
In: Analytic Issues in the Assessment of Student Achievement. D. Grissmer and M. Ross eds. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: U.S. Department of Education
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Discrimination, Racial/Ethnic; Economics of Discrimination; Genetics; High School and Beyond (HSB); Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY); National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP); National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Racial Differences; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT; Tests and Testing

In 1966, James Coleman published results from the first national study to describe ethnic differences in academic achievement among children of various ages. Since that time, we have made considerable progress in survey design, cognitive assessment, and data analysis. Yet we have not made much progress in understanding when ethnic differences in academic achievement arise, how these differences change with age, or why such changes occur. The purpose of this paper is to highlight several reasons why we have learned so little about these important issues over the past few decades. I begin by reviewing recent research on how the test score gap between African Americans and European Americans changes as children age. I then discuss several conceptual and methodological issues that have hindered our understanding of ethnic differences in academic achievement. ...For both the CNLSY and Prospects, I estimated growth models in which I predicted ethnic differences in students' initial test scores and learning rates.(A response to Phillips follows, starting on pg. 157: "Response: Two Studies of Academic Achievement," by Robert M. Hauser)
Bibliography Citation
Phillips, Meredith. "Understanding Ethnic Differences in Academic Achievement: Empirical Lessons from National Data" In: Analytic Issues in the Assessment of Student Achievement. D. Grissmer and M. Ross eds. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000
5. Phillips, Meredith
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
Duncan, Greg J.
Klebanov, Pamela Kato
Crane, Jonathan
Family Background, Parenting Practices, and the Black-White Test Score Gap
In: The Black-White Test Score Gap. C. Jencks, and M. Phillips, et al., eds. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1998: pp. 103-145.
Also: http://brookings.nap.edu/books/0815746091/html/103.html
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Brookings Institution
Keyword(s): Birthweight; Cognitive Development; Educational Attainment; Ethnic Differences; Family Background and Culture; Family Environment; Family Income; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); I.Q.; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Preschool Children; Racial Differences; School Quality; Socioeconomic Status (SES); Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Chapter: Surveyed recent data from 2 samples of children to investigate R. J. Herrnstein and C. Murray's (see record 1994-98748-000) claims about the association between family background and young children's cognitive skills. The authors examine the contribution of parental education and income to the test score gap among 5- and 6-yr-olds. They then look at a much larger set of family environment indicators, including grandparents' educational attainment, mothers' household size, high school quality, and perceived self-efficacy, children's birth weight, children's household size, and mothers' parenting practices. Most of the analyses use data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, focusing on 1,626 African-American and European- American 5- and 6-yr olds. Data on 315 children from the Infant Health and Development Program were used to supplement the analyses. Even though traditional measures of SES account for no more than a third of the test score gap, results show that a broader index of family environment may explain up to two-thirds of it. The results help to identify the family characteristics that matter most for the gap. They suggest that eliminating environmental differences between Black and White families could help to eliminate the test score gap. ((c) 1998 APA/PsycINFO, all rights reserved)
Bibliography Citation
Phillips, Meredith, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Greg J. Duncan, Pamela Kato Klebanov and Jonathan Crane. "Family Background, Parenting Practices, and the Black-White Test Score Gap" In: The Black-White Test Score Gap. C. Jencks, and M. Phillips, et al., eds. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1998: pp. 103-145.
6. Phillips, Meredith
Crouse, James
Ralph, John
Does the Black-White Test Score Gap Widen After Children Enter School?
In: The Black-White Test Score Gap. C. Jencks and M. Phillips eds. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998: pp. 229-272
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Brookings Institution
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Discrimination, Racial/Ethnic; Economics of Discrimination; Genetics; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Racial Differences; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT; Tests and Testing

Since 1965 eight national surveys have tested black and white students at different ages. This chapter uses these eight surveys to examine how the black-white math, reading, and vocabulary test score gaps change as children grow older.
Bibliography Citation
Phillips, Meredith, James Crouse and John Ralph. "Does the Black-White Test Score Gap Widen After Children Enter School?" In: The Black-White Test Score Gap. C. Jencks and M. Phillips eds. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998: pp. 229-272