The Effect of Mandatory School District Consolidation on Racial and Socioeconomic Integration

• In Event: Segregation in U.S. Schools: Contemporary Evidence on the Patterns, Consequences, and Possible Solutions

Abstract

This study examines the effect of a mandatory school district consolidation policy on the racial and socioeconomic integration of schools. Integrated schools offer students many advantages. Racially integrated schools have smaller student achievement gaps (Reardon et al., 2018) and higher educational attainment and lifetime earnings of their students (Johnson, 2011). Socioeconomic integration of schools is also beneficial; low-income students in mixed-income schools have higher mathematics achievement than those in concentrated high-poverty schools (Mickelson & Bottia, 2010).

School district consolidation is one policy that may encourage racioethnic and socioeconomic integration. Much of the segregation in the U.S. school system occurs across school districts (Fiel, 2015; Owens, 2016). Consolidating neighboring districts with different racially or socioeconomically homogeneous enrollments could therefore result in schools that are more integrated.

This study uses quantitative methods to estimate the effect of a 2004 policy that mandated the consolidation of small school districts in Arkansas on school district integration. To do this, we utilize a differences-in-differences approach. Changes in the integration and diversity of Arkansas school districts that consolidated in 2004 are compared to those of districts in the state that did not consolidate. The isolation index is used as a measure of the integration of schools, and the Simpson index as a measure of diversity.

We use administrative data for these analyses. The Arkansas Department of Education provides a list of school district consolidations that occurred (shown visually in Figure P2.1). Data on student race and ethnicity and student free-or-reduced-price lunch status at the school level were extracted from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD). The mandatory consolidation took place in the summer of 2004, and we include data for three school years prior to consolidation and five school years following consolidation.

Tables P2.1 and P2.2 display mean school district characteristics for consolidation and comparison districts prior to the mandated consolidation. The mean black student isolation index and black student proportion were larger in consolidating districts as were the mean low-income student isolation and proportions.

The effects of consolidation on black student and low-income student isolation were significant. Table P2.3 shows the differences-in-differences model estimates. These estimates imply that consolidation reduced the isolation of black students and low-income students. There was no significant effect on white isolation or diversity. Further analyses are needed before drawing conclusions from the Hispanic student isolation estimate, as the requisite pre-consolidation trends were not parallel.

This study is significant because it provides evidence on the effects of school district consolidation on racioethnic and socioeconomic integration. The findings of lower black student isolation and low-income student isolation both support the hypothesis that school district consolidation can produce more integrated schools. This is important evidence for education leaders and policymakers as they seek a path to continued integration and for scholars studying educational change.

Authors

• Gregory J. Collins, Muhlenberg College

• Tina L. Fletcher, University of Pennsylvania