- None of the analyses presented in the study find the magnitude of Black peer effects that Hanushek, Kain and Rivkin found in their Texas study.
- Despite the fact that these three data sources involve different populations of students, different achievement tests, and different measures of student backgrounds and school characteristics, the results for Black peer effects are remarkably consistent with one another. They all start with moderate relationships between racial composition and black reading and math achievement, but after controlling for student background, lagged achievement, selected school and teacher characteristics, and (for the state analysis) fixed effects for year by grade and school by grade, only one of the six Black peer coefficients is statistically significant.
- It does not appear that Black students who spend most of their elementary and middle school years in predominantly Black schools are adversely affected by high concentrations of Black peers, once we take into account their family background.
- Results are more consistent with the theory that states that family background is the primary cause of lower Black scores in schools with higher concentrations of Black students.