Final answer:
Children from low-SES families often have fewer resources and experience an achievement gap in educational outcomes compared to their higher-SES peers due to early language exposure disparities, additional home responsibilities, and systemic challenges.
Step-by-step explanation:
Children from low-SES families usually have fewer resources and face more challenges compared to children from higher-SES families. This is because economic inequality affects educational outcomes from an early age. Research by Betty Hart and Todd Risley indicates that by age 3, children from high-income families might have heard around 30 million more words than their peers from low-income families. This disparity in early language ability leads to a persistent achievement gap in standardized test scores, graduation rates, and college entrance rates, with higher dropout rates among children from lower-SES backgrounds.
Furthermore, societal structures and family dynamics often mean that students from low-SES families have to balance responsibilities at home, such as babysitting and financial contributions, which can adversely affect their school performance. The pressures from a traditional education system, which may favor the learning styles and life experiences of higher-SES students, exacerbate these challenges. Efforts like spending equalization and interventions like 'baby bonds' have been suggested to narrow these educational disparities.