Bowles, Samuel, and Henry M. Levin. 1968. "The Determinants of Scholastic Achievement--An Appraisal of Some Recent Evidence." Journal of Human Resources 3(1):3-24.

This study assesses some of the more highly publicized and controversial conclusions of Equality of Educational Opportunity by James S. Coleman et al. The Coleman Report, published by the U.S. Office of Education in 1966, concluded that per-pupil expenditures and school facilities show very little relation to student achievement levels, and the effect of a student's peers on his achievement level is more important than any other school influence. The present paper scrutinizes the data and the statistical analysis on which these findings are based. It is suggested that because of poor measurement of school resources, inadequate control for social background, and inappropriate statistical techniques used in the presence of interdependence among the independent variables, many of the findings of the Report are not supported.

Mr. Bowles is Assistant Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Mr. Levin is Research Associate at The Brookings Institution. Copyright 1967, S. Bowles and H. M. Levin. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and are not presented as the views of the institutions with which they are affiliated. They are grateful to their colleagues at Brookings and Harvard for fruitful discussions of the subject matter. In particular they wish to thank James S. Coleman for commenting on an earlier version of this paper and Miss Nancy Simpson and Mrs. Carolyn Carr for their capable assistance in editing the manuscript.

© 2003 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

US ISSN 0022-166X

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