2005 - A Multidimensional Approach to Understanding Neighborhood Schools and their Potential Impact

Attribution: Sinha, Vandna, Payne, Monique R., & Cook, Thomas D.
Researchers: Monique R. PayneThomas D. CookVandna Sinha
University Affiliation: McGill University, DePaul University, Northwestern University
Email: vandna.sinha@mcgill.ca
Research Question:
What are the potential effects of Neighborhood schools on adolescent's academic development? What is the association between neighborhood schools and level and rate of change in adolescent development?
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Urban Education
Journal Entry: Vol. 40, No. 6, Pp. 627-662
Year: 2005
Findings:

  1. When using both Chicago and Prince Georges County (PGC) data, concentration of neighborhoods within schools has a negative relationship with math score (effect is small but significant). The greater the number of neighborhoods represented in a school the higher the test score.

  2. Concentration of schools within neighborhoods is positively related to math scores in PGC. Indicating that youth who both live together and go to school together perform better on math tests.For reading the results are more mixed.
  3. The concentration of schools within neighborhoods has a significant positive association with both adolescent math and reading scores in PGC. The correlation between test score is .43. This relationship remains significant even when the neighborhood quality is controlled for effect size.
  4. Concentration of schools has a significant positive association with the math and reading scores on the children in PGC.
  5. The researchers were unable to duplicate the findings with the Chicago schools. They could not create the measure with the available data.
  6. According to the PGC data the concentration of neighborhoods within schools is negatively related to both math and reading scores but not to change in test scores. The large size of coefficients in the average test scores indicates the limited amount of variation in PGC.
  7. In Chicago there was no relationship between the concentration of neighborhoods within schools and math test score, but there is a significant relationship between CNI and change in reading score.
Keywords: Academic AchievementDesegregationNeighborhoodRegions: NationalMethodologies: QuantitativeAnalysis Methods: Regression Sampling Frame:23 public Middle Schools of PGC, Maryland 19 public kindergarten through 8th grade schools
Sampling Types: RandomAnalysis Units: NeighborhoodStudentData Types: Quantitative-Longitudinal
Data Description:

  • Data was collected from two different locations; PGC, Maryland and Chicago, Illinois

  • In PGC school performance data was taken from the MacArthur Study of PGC Middle schools the sample consisted of 23 of the counties 25 middle schools the sample used consists of 11,459 students.
  • Data in neighborhood characteristics comes from both the 1990 U.S. Census and from the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study which collected data from 1,501 parents.
  • In the Chicago data about the schools comes from the longitudinal evaluation of the Comer School development Project, which consists of 9,364 students
  • Neighborhood data in Chicago comes from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods the study surveyed 8,782 Chicago residents
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts