Choosing Schools in Choice Neighborhoods: Student Mobility, School Composition, and Case Management in Memphis, TN

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 3:20 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: School Choice or Segregated Space? Stratification, Exclusion, and Race (Table 13)

Abstract

While previous research has explored the outcomes of students who attend partnering schools within mixed-income redevelopment projects, research has yet to explore the outcomes of students who transfer to schools during the redevelopment process. Leveraging data from the Choice Neighborhood Initiative in Memphis, TN., we use fixed-effect models to explore the impact of transferring on academic performance. We find that the racial, socioeconomic, and academic composition of the schools that students transfer to significantly effects students’ outcomes. Additionally, we find that case management services moderate these effects by acting as a buffer to potential “root shocks”. Finally, through a variety of subsample analyses, we explore how these effects differ for students of various and intersecting identities.

Authors

• Yung Chun, Washington University in St. Louis

• Jason F. Jabbari, Washington University in St. Louis

• DeMarcus A Jenkins, University of Pennsylvania

• Andrew Foell, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Odis Johnson, Johns Hopkins University