The effects of family income, parents' education, maternal employment, and family composition on the IQ scores of four- and seven-year-olds are estimated, using a sample of more than 3,000 children. The results suggest that childhood cognitive development plays a minor role in the intergenerational transmission of wealth. (Author/CT)

Until the 1970s, there were few signs of change in the historic difference of one standard deviation between average ability or achievement test scores of black and white students. From 1970 to the mid-to-late 1980s, there was a substantial convergence of the average achievement test scores of blacks and whites. From the mid-to-late 1980s to 1992,…