Stacking the Odds: The Intersection of Neighborhood and School Segregation for New York City Schools

• In Event: (Re)Segregation and Tracking: Problems in the Pursuit of Racial Equity

Abstract

By analyzing a unique data set that combines information from the NYC Department of Education and the American Community Survey, we investigate the interrelationship between school and neighborhood segregation and its potential consequences for inequality in school performance.
We find race/ethnic and socioeconomic characteristics of elementary schools in NYC to markedly deviate from those of their already segregated neighborhoods, resulting in higher than expected levels of school segregation and unequal school performance. Among advantaged students, high proportions of Whites attend private schools, while Asians remain highly segregated in public schools, even in heterogeneous residential areas. As a consequence, the social and cultural capital of students and families in NYC is over-concentrated within a limited number of public schools.

Authors

• Robert George Vief, Humboldt University, Berlin

• Sophia Catsambis, Queens College - CUNY