My research investigates the causes, patterns, trends, and consequences of social and educational inequality. In particular, I study issues of residential and school segregation and of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in academic achievement and educational success. In addition, my work develops methods of measuring social and educational inequality (including the measurement of segregation and achievement gaps) and methods of causal inference in educational and social science research.
Nonoyama-Tarumi, Y., & Reardon, S. F. (2024). Cross-National Comparison of the Relative Size of Lower-Tail and Upper-Tail SES Achievement Gaps. AERA OPEN, 10.
Leung-Gagne, J., & Reardon, S. F. (2023). It Is Surprisingly Difficult to Measure Income Segregation. Demography.
Matheny, K. T., Thompson, M. E., Townley-Flores, C., & Reardon, S. F. (2023). Uneven Progress: Recent Trends in Academic Performance Among US School Districts. AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL.
A new interactive tool developed by the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, led by Professor Sean Reardon, provides data on segregation trends in U.S. states, counties, metropolitan areas, and school districts from 1991 to 2022.
Professor Sean Reardon and Demetra Kalogrides, a research associate at the Center for Education Policy Analysis, model four alternatives to race-based admissions practices.
Research led by Professor Sean Reardon found that from spring 2022 to spring 2023, students made important learning gains, making up for about one-third of the learning they had missed in math and a quarter of the learning they had missed in reading during the pandemic.