How Students Experience Racially Integrated Schools: Looking Beyond Test Scores

• In Event: How Voluntary Integration Works: Contemporary Political, Policy, and Practical Considerations

Abstract

Objectives: This paper uses a unique dataset to examine the benefits of school integration. The outcomes of racial integration in education have typically been measured by standardized test scores. In this paper, however, we investigate socio-emotional outcomes using surveys of students from multiple racial groups, across schools of varying levels of racial integration. This research was guided by the following question: how do outcomes between students in and not in racially diverse schools vary across four definitions of racially diverse schools?

Perspective/Theoretical Framework: This paper relies on interest convergence theory (Bell, 1980) to explore how diverse schools provide benefits to white students and students of color. In addition, it builds on the exploration in Paper 4 of different ways to measure school diversity. Prior research has not set an established threshold for what counts as a diverse school (Author, 2010; Reardon & Firebaugh, 2002). Meanwhile, numerous court cases have sought to define diversity. In particular, Sheff v. O’Neill generated maximum enrollment targets of 75% Black or Latinx students (Sheff v. O’Neill, 1996). Paper 5’s definition of diversity entails four variants of Sheff’s thresholds, which allow unique insights into the benefits of diverse schools.

Methods: We administered surveys to approximately 16,000 students across more than 150 schools in six Massachusetts school districts, of whom 26% self-identified as white, 12% as Black/African American, 23% as Hispanic/Latinx, and 9% as Asian.

Data Sources: We employed eight survey scales measuring the following constructs: civic participation, emotional safety, physical safety, positive affect, sense of belonging, social perspective taking, student engagement, and value of learning. These scales were previously tested for reliability and offer strong evidence of validity. Student survey responses were merged with data on school-level student demographics and test score outcomes. After examining descriptive statistics, we conducted t-tests to explore whether the differences across students in “racially diverse” or “not racially diverse” schools were statistically significant.
Results: We compared white students in diverse schools to their counterparts in non-diverse schools. Notably, t-test analysis revealed statistically significant positive ratings in the following constructs: student engagement, civic participation, sense of belonging, and physical safety. Meanwhile, our findings presented a mixed picture of the benefits of diverse schools for students of color. Across all constructs, positive outcomes outweighed negative outcomes for students of color; however, students of color reported higher engagement, for example, in non-diverse schools.

Scholarly Significance: Our study provides two salient contributions to the school integration debate: evidence of socio-emotional benefits to white students and the complexity of integration for students of color. Given that much pressure to end desegregation efforts came from white families, it is striking that the leading beneficiaries appear to be white students. Interest convergence theory suggests that our findings contribute useful information to the contemporary debate about the value of integration for all students. However, mixed findings for students of color in our study point to the importance of considering within-school diversity alongside efforts to diversify school-level enrollment.

Authors

• Jack Schneider, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Rachel Sue White, Old Dominion University

• Peter Piazza, The Pennsylvania State University

• Ashley J Carey, University of Massachusetts - Lowell