2013 - High School Socioeconomic Segregation and Student Attainment

Attribution: Palardy, Gregory J.
Researchers: Gregory J. Palardy
University Affiliation: University of California, Riverside
Email: gjpalardy@gmail.com
Research Question:
1) To what degree do student attainment, academic and family background, and school factors vary in low, medium, and high SEC schools? 2) What is the total effect of socioeconomic composition (SEC) on each attainment outcome and to what degree do student factors, peer influences, and school effects mediate the SEC-attainment associations? 3) Is the effect of SEC consistent for students from different SES and ethnic backgrounds?
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: American Educational Research Journal
Journal Entry: Vol. 50, No. 4, Pp. 714-754
Year: 2013
Findings:
  • Low socioeconomic composition (SEC) schools have comparatively lower levels of attainment and achievement than high SEC schools. Low SEC schools are less funding, fewer facilities, and greater instances of misbehavior. Also, students at low SEC schools were 2.67 times more likely to be Black or Hispanic.
  • A one standard deviation increase in high school SEC increased the odds of graduation as well as the odds of enrollment at a 2-year or 4-year college. Attainment outcomes are mediated by student background, school academic environment, and peer influences. Models indicate that the association between SEC and attainment is due more to peer influences, which tend to be negative in low SEC settings.
  • The associations between SES and/or ethnic background and attainment do not vary across the sample of schools for outcomes.
Keywords: Academic AchievementCollegeGraduation RatesPeer EffectsSegregationSES CompositionRegions: NationalMethodologies: QuantitativeAnalysis Methods: Descriptive StatisticsMathematical Models Sampling Frame:Public school sophomores surveyed in the base year 2002 by ELS
Sampling Types: RandomAnalysis Units: IndividualData Types: Quantitative-Longitudinal
Data Description:
  • Data for the present study consists of two subsamples that were derived from the 2002 Education Longitudinal Study. The ELS sampling frame includes high school sophomores nationwide.
  • Subsample #1 includes all students who attended a public high school and were members of the 2002 base year, 2004 follow-up.
  • Subsample #2 includes only former public high school students who were college-eligible in summer of 2004, excluding students who did not receive their diplomas by their expected graduation date.
  • DV: High school graduation, college enrollment (modeled separately)
  • IV: student SES, school SEC, student demographics, student academics, student attainment expectations, student engagement, financial aid, school composition, school structures, school resources, peer influence variables.
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts