There is much evidence to suggest that family background and the context of secondary education both contribute to the formation of educational inequalities. Meanwhile, our knowledge about the role of ability in generating class differences in educational outcomes is still limited. By deploying genetic data that allow us to measure at least part of “innate” ability inherited through biological mechanisms from parents, this study examines how such abilities are associated with educational tracking outcomes among U.S. high schoolers. This study also details our understanding of the role of nature and nurture in the educational attainment processes by testing for gene-environment interactions—that is, a joint, mutually moderating effect of one’s genetic potential and one’s environment (e.g., family background or school context) on phenotypic outcomes (educational tracking). Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health that collects a unique set of demographic, educational, and genetic characteristics of students, we report the following results: First, a positive association between the genetic potential for educational attainment and taking advanced courses holds even after controlling for previous course tracking measures. Second, results provide suggestive evidence that parental SES amplifies the association between one’s genetic potential for educational attainment and mathematics tracking. In contrast to the argument by some stratification scholars that places primary emphasis on the role of social background for the reproduction of educational stratification, the present findings imply that we need to fully consider the role of genetic inheritance for educational stratification in addition to social origin.

有很多证据表明，家庭背景和中等教育背景都有助于形成教育不平等。与此同时，我们对能力在教育成果中产生阶级差异的作用的了解仍然有限。通过部署使我们能够测量至少部分通过生物学机制从父母那里继承的“先天”能力的遗传数据，本研究调查了这些能力如何与美国高中生的教育跟踪结果相关联。这项研究还通过测试基因-环境相互作用，即一个人的遗传潜力和一个人的环境（例如，家庭背景或学校背景）对表型结果（教育跟踪）的影响。使用收集一组独特的学生人口统计、教育和遗传特征的全国青少年到成人健康纵向研究，我们报告了以下结果：首先，教育程度的遗传潜力与参加高级课程之间的正相关甚至成立在控制了之前的课程跟踪措施之后。其次，结果提供了暗示性证据，表明父母的 SES 放大了一个人的教育成就和数学追踪的遗传潜力之间的关联。与一些分层学者主要强调社会背景对教育分层再生产的作用相反，