Socioeconomic Inequality in Mathematics Achievement Trajectories in Chilean Primary Schools

Source abstract

Socioeconomic disparities in mathematics achievement emerge early and persist throughout schooling. This study examines whether primary education in a highly stratified system mitigates, maintains, or amplifies initial gaps and whether average learning patterns conceal heterogeneous trajectories within disadvantaged school contexts. Using longitudinal data from 2,834 Chilean students followed from Grade 1 to Grade 4, we estimated three-level multilevel growth models between Grades 2 and 4, conditional on Grade 1 achievement and gender. Socioeconomic status was measured contextually through a school-level vulnerability indicator; schools that do not receive public funding and are therefore outside Chile’s vulnerability classification constituted the high-SES category. Results show large socioeconomic differences by the end of Grade 1, indicating that much of Grade 4 inequality was already present at baseline. Nevertheless, students attending intermediate- and low-SES schools experienced slower subsequent growth than peers in high-SES contexts. Moreover, predicted trajectories indicate that high initial achievement was not equally sustained across socioeconomic school contexts. These findings reveal unequal ceilings, whereby comparable early achievement does not translate into equivalent opportunities for sustained mathematical development across school contexts. The results suggest that Chilean primary schooling does not offset substantial initial inequalities and that subsequent differences in growth may widen them further.