– There are substantial socioeconomic differences in the subjects that young people study from age 14 to 16.
– Young people from advantaged households take more selective subjects, have higher odds of doing three or more facilitating subjects, higher odds of studying a full set of EBacc-eligible subjects (including English, Maths, History or Geography, two sciences and a modern or ancient language), but lower odds of taking Applied GCSEs (e.g. Applied Hospitality, Applied Health or Applied Manufacturing) than less advantaged young people.
– There were important differences by school characteristics, which may be a result of differential opportunities, subjects offered and within school policies.
– Even holding other factors constant, pupils in non-selective schools within selective local authorities study a less academically selective set of subjects.
– When considering university entry, and admission to high-status universities in particular, there are large raw differences associated with studying more academic combinations of subjects.
However, once differences in young people’s backgrounds and prior attainment associated with these differences in subjects studied are taken into account, these differences are, at most,
small.
– The results for studying the full set of EBacc subjects and for studying any applied subjects do show residual associations with university attendance.
– If young people from different socioeconomic backgrounds were studying a more similar curriculum between ages 14 and 16 it would be unlikely to make much of difference to the inequality in university entry highlighted by previous studies.
– Household income, home ownership and higher parental education increase the odds of taking three STEM subjects
– Socio-economic differentials in access to STEM are largely driven by prior attainment.
– Participation in STEM subjects does not vary by school characteristics, with the exception of the proportion of Free School Meals (FSM) in the school which is negatively associated with doing three or more STEM subjects.
Current Selections
ClearSocio-economic Status and Subject Choice at 14: Do They Interact to Affect University Access
Laying the Tracks for Successful Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education: What Can We Learn from Comparisons of Immigrant-Native Achievement in the USA?
This paper examines the immigrant-native achievement gap in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in college in the USA.
School Composition and the Black-White Achievement Gap
What is the average gap at different ranges of Black student density, with and without accounting for student and school characteristics?
Student perceptions of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) content and careers
1) Are STEM dispositions of high school science and mathematics students more similar to those of their generational peers or those of STEM professionals? 2) Are STEM dispositions or career interests different for disaggregation attributes such as gender, year in the academy, size of school, or ethnicity? 3) What are the primary influences reported by academy students for their interest in STEM careers?
School Segregation, Education Attainment and Crime. Evidence for the End of Busing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg
What was the impact of the end of court ordered desegregation in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools on students’ achievement test scores, criminal activity, and educational attainment? Unitary status and the end of busing in 2002 created conditions for a natural experiment that the study exploits.
The Role of Residential Segregation in Contemporary School Segregation
What is the relationship between school and housing segregation at the metropolitan area level? Do trends in segregation differ by region of the country, specifically in the South and outside of the South?
Do Housing Choice Voucher Holders Live Near Good Schools?
Do housing voucher holders live next to good schools?
Equalizing, But Not Greatly: High School Resources and Socioeconomic Inequalities in College Destinations
This study examines if school resources have different effects for low- and high-SES students’ college destinations. This study also examines whether the effects of marks of distinction on college destinations are contingent on student SES.
Classroom Composition and Racial Differences in Opportunities to Learn
How much variation is there in topic coverage and use of instructional tasks among advanced mathematical courses with the same title? To what extent is there classroom level variation and conditioning on classroom level minority composition for courses of the same title?
How Resource Inequality Among High Schools Reproduces Class Advantages in College Destinations
What is the role of schools’ resources in mediating the effects of family SES on students’ postsecondary destinations?
Race, Gender, and Measures of Success in Engineering Education
To examine Engineering majors by race and gender and examine multiple metrics for “success.”
School Desegregation and White Flight Revisited: A Spatial Analysis from a Metropolitan Perspective
Do whites still flee from central city to urban schools? If cross district white flight exists is it related to school desegregation or simply the result of migration to the suburbs? Do whites flee to private schools in the wake of school desegregation policies?
Equity in Mathematics and Science Outcomes: Characteristics Associated with High and Low Achievement on PISA 2006 in Ireland
Examines student and school background characteristics associated with low and high achievement in mathematics and science on the Programme for International Student Assessment.
Learning Apart, Living Apart: The Lasting Impact of Perpetual Segregation
Extent to which neighborhoods’ % white is replicated across generations & the extent to which HS’ & colleges’ percent white mediates this relationship.
School Composition and Context Factors that Moderate and Predict 10th-Grade Science Proficiency
Examine the relationship between 10th grade science proficiency and school context factors related to school environment, courses, and teachers.
Housing Policy is School Policy: Economically Integrative Housing Promotes Academic Success in Montgomery Count, Maryland
Examination of elementary school math and reading performances of public housing students from very-low-poverty to moderate-poverty level neighborhoods to determine effects of economic integration on performance.
School Choice and Segregation: Evidence from an Admission Reform
Evaluates the effects of school choice on segregation using data from an admission reform in the Stockholm upper secondary schools.
Long-Term Correlates of High School Racial Composition: Perpetuation Theory Re-Examined
Examine long-term influences of high school racial composition on students’ later racial isolation in the workplace in 1994 & 2000.
Social Reproduction of Inequality: The Racial Composition of Feeder Schools to the University of California
The extent to which there is unevenness in the rate at which individual UC campuses enroll first-time freshmen from HS that vary by racial comp.
Can Interdistrict Choice Boost Student Achievement? The Case of Connecticut's Interdistrict Magnet School Program
Presents evidence that interdistrict magnet schools have provided students from Connecticut’s central cities access to less racially and economically isolated educational environments; estimates impact of attending magnet school on achievement.
The Impact of School Choice and Public Policy on Segregation: Evidence from Chile
Examines segregation between schools within a sector and variation within private voucher forprofit and non-profit (religious and secular) school sectors.
To Choose or not to Choose: High School Choice and Graduation in Chicago
This article examines differences in graduation
rates between participants and nonparticipants of Chicago’s many public high school choice programs.
Mapping School Segregation: Using GIS to Explore Racial Segregation Between Schools and their Corresponding Attendance Areas
Examines whether student enrollment in non-neighborhood schools changes levels of racial segregation in public schools across urban school districts by comparing the racial composition of schools and their corresponding attendance area.
Can Gaps in the Quality of Early Environments and Noncognitive Skills Help Explain Persisting Black-White Achievement Gaps?
Examination of whether or not early childhood environments and cognitive development/achievement skills influence the Black-White achievement gaps.
School Segregation in Metropolitan Regions, 1970-2000: The Impacts of Policy Choices on Public Education
Evaluate how court orders and federal intervention affected segregation within school districts in the post-Brown period.
Neotracking in North Carolina: How High School Courses of Study Reproduce Race and Class-Based Stratification
Does neotracking facilitate or hinder North Carolina’s goal of equity and excellence for all students? Is there a relationship between district and school demographics, students’ racial background and their course of study (COS) assignments?Does between- and within- school variations in COS placement result in greater or less race and social class stratification in opportunities to learn?
Culture and Stalled Progress in Narrowing the Black-White Test Score Gap
Investigates whether changes in school-related behaviors, or changes in home environments, may have contributed to black students’ stalled progress.
Individual and School Structural Effects on African American High School Students' Academic Achievement
Examined the extent to which individual-level and school structural variables predict academic achievement among a sample of 10th grade African American students abstracted from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS) database.
Peer Effects in North Carolina Public Schools
Estimate the relationship between peer characteristics and student achievement and to infer whether any such relationship is casual in nature.
Empahty or Antipathy? The Impact of Diversity
The consequences of intergroup interactions in one particular real-world context by examining whether attitudes and behaviors change when people of different races are randomly assigned to live together at the start of their first year of college.
Racial Segregation and the Black-White Test Score Gap
Relate the achievement gap between Black and White students in a city to differences in their exposure to black peers in neighborhoods and schools.
Gap or Gaps- Challenging the Singular Definition of the Achievement Gap
Examine within-group differences and compares those across Latino, African American, and White populations.
The Impact of Group Diversity on Performance and Knowledge Spillover- An Experiment in a College Classroom
Examined how group characteristics affect productivity.
Can No Child Left Behind Close the Gaps in Pass Rates on Standardized Tests?
Quantify the degree to which the worst-performing schools can realistically increase their pass rates and thereby narrow the gap in pass rates.
Social Background and Academic Performance Differentials: White and Minority Students at Selective Colleges
Study the continuing consequences of segregation.
The Effect of Childhood Segregation on Minority Academic Performance at Selective Colleges
Effects of housing and school segregation during childhood on academic performance in college.
Connecting Pieces of the Puzzle: Gender Differences in Black Middle School Students' Achievement
Explores the sources of variation in Black adolescent students’ academic achievement during Middle School.
School Segregation and Black Achievement: New Evidence from the 2003 NAEP
Studies the relationship between racial composition and achievement using the 2003 and 2005 NAEP data.
Addressing Institutional Inequities in Education: The Case of Advanced Placement Courses in California
Evaluate equality of opportunities that students of different races/ethnicities/social classes & communities have to participate in AP courses in CA.
Estimating Correlates of Growth Between Mathematics and Science Achievement Via a Multivariate Multilevel Design with Latent Variables
Examined the relationship between growth in mathematics and science achievement during middle and high school among students and schools, and we demonstrated that such a model was more sensitive to this relationship.