Contents -- Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Foreword -- Part I: Overview -- Chapter 1. Introduction: The American Dream, Then and Now - Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane -- Part II: The Developing Child and Adolescent -- Chapter 2. Lessons from Neuroscience Research for Understanding Casual Links Between Family and Neighborhood Characteristics and Educational Outcomes - Charles A. Nelson III and Margaret A. Sheridan -- Chapter 3. The Nature and Impact of Early Achievement Skills, Attention Skills, and Behavior Problems - Greg J. Duncan and Katherine Magnuson -- Chapter 4. Middle and High School Skills, Behaviors, Attitudes, and Curriclulum Enrollment, and Their Consequences - George Farkas -- Chapter 5. The Widening Academic Achievement Gap Between the Rich and the Poor: New Evidence and Possible Explanations - Sean F. Reardon -- Chapter 6. Inequality in Postsecondary Education - Martha J. Bailey and Susan M. Dynarski -- Chapter 7. Educational Expectations and Attainment - Brian A. Jacob and Tamara Wilder Linkow -- Part III: The Family -- Chapter 8. Educational Mobility in the United States Since the 1930s - Michael Hout Alexander Januz -- Chapter 9. How Is Family Income Related to Investments in Children's Learning? - Neeraj Kaushal, Katherine Magnuson, and Jane Waldfogel -- Chapter 10. Parenting, Time Use, and Disparities in Academic Outcomes - Meredith Phillps -- Chapter 11. Family-Structure Instability and Adolescent Educational Outcomes: A Focus on Families with Stepfathers - Megan M. Sweeney -- Part IV: Neighborhoods -- Chapter 12: Converging Evidence for Neighborhood Effects on Children's Test Scores: An Experimental, Quasi-Experimental, and Observational Comparison - Julia Burdick-Will, Jens Ludwig, Stephen W. Raudenbush, Robert J. Sampson, Lisa Sanbonmatsu, and Patrick Sharkey.

Chapter 13. Unpacking Neighborhood Influences on Education Outcomes: Setting the Stage for Future Research - David Harding, Lisa Gennetian, Christopher Winship, Lisa Sanbonmatsu, and Jeffrey Kling -- Part V: Labor Markets -- Chapter 14. The Effects of Local Employment Losses on Children's Educational Achievement - Elizabeth O. Ananat, Anna Gassman-Pines, and Christina M. Gibson-Davis -- Chapter 15. How Does Parental Unemployment Affect Children's Educational Performance? - Phillip B. Levine -- Part VI: Schools -- Chapter 16. The Role of Family, School, and Community Characteristics in Inequality in Education and Labor-Market Outcomes - Joseph G. Altonji and Richard K. Mansfield -- Chapter 17. Year-by-Year and Cumulative Impacts of Attending a High-Mobility Elementary School on Children's Mathematics Achievement in Chicago, 1995 to 2005 - Stephen Raudenbush, Marshall Jean, and Emily Art -- Chapter 18. The Effect of School Neighborhoods on Teachers' Carrer Decisions - Don Boyd, Hamp Lankforford, Susanna Loeb, Matthew Ronfeldt, and Jim Wyckoff -- Chapter 19. Crime and the Production of Safe Schools - David S. Kirk and Robert J. Sampson -- Chapter 20. Immigrants and Inequality in Public Schools - Amy Ellen Schwartz and Leanna Stiefel -- Chapter 21. School Desegregation and the Black-White Test Score Gap - Jacob L. Vigdor -- Chapter 22. The Challenges of Finding Casual Links Between Family Educational Practices and Schooling Outcomes - Frank F. Furstenberg -- Chapter 23. It May Not Take a Village Increasing Achievement Among the Poor - Vilsa E. Curto, Roland G. Fryer Jr. , and Meghan L. Howard -- Chapter 24. Understanding the Context for Existing Reform and Research Proposals - Harry Brighouse and Gina Schouten -- Chapter 25. Intervening to Improve the Educational Outcomes of Students in High-Poverty Schools - Brian Rowan -- Index.