Causes and Effects of School Stratification by Income and Race

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

This session explores how structural features of the American education system—ranging from school tracking and desegregation to private school markets and concentrated school poverty—shape educational opportunity and segregation. Across four studies, the papers use diverse empirical strategies and data sources to investigate how policy decisions and unaccounted-for family responses affect student demographics, integration, and perceptions of school quality in ways that counter common assumptions.

The first and second papers examine how white flight and the expansion of private schools have historically undermined school integration efforts. Segregation Academies presents new evidence on the creation of all-white private schools in the Deep South in response to court-ordered desegregation, showing that these schools led to sharp declines in white public school enrollment and offset substantial gains in racial integration. Desegregation Busing and the Market for Private Schools studies the impact of the 1971 Swann decision, showing that desegregation busing triggered a 30% increase in private school enrollment, especially in areas with high residential segregation. These findings reveal how legal mandates to integrate public schools often fueled the growth of exclusionary private options, with enduring implications for contemporary school choice policy.

The third and fourth papers offer a contemporary perspective on how parents make school decisions along income lines, shaping school socioeconomic composition. The third paper, Tracking to Retain Higher-Income Students, investigates whether the introduction of Advanced Placement (AP) courses—often seen as a tracking mechanism—leads to reduced classroom exposure to higher-income peers for lower-income students. Contrary to conventional concerns, the study finds that the addition of AP courses increases exposure to upper-income classmates by attracting more high-income families to the school, countering any rise in sorting by family income within the school. This challenges assumptions about the equity consequences of academic tracking and adds nuance to debates about advanced coursework in public schools.

The fourth and final paper, The Quality of Attention, draws on longitudinal interviews with low-income parents to examine how families perceive and experience school quality when moving from high- to low-poverty schools. Parents often framed the benefits of these schools not only in terms of resources but also in the ability of educators to recognize and cultivate their children’s potential.

Together, these papers offer new insights into how race, income, and policy interact to shape educational environments and challenge assumptions about how policies may promote integration, equity, and student success.

Policy Area

• Education

Secondary Policy Area

• Poverty and Income Policy

Chair

• Christopher Cleveland, Brown University

Discussants

• Mark Junxuan Chin, Vanderbilt University

• Kaylee Tuggle Matheny, Johns Hopkins University

Organizer

• Farah Mallah, Stanford University

Individual Presentations

• Segregation Academies: The Effect of “Whites Only” Private Education on Public Schools - Presenting Author: Danielle Graves Williamson, Boston University

• Desegregation Busing and the Market for Private Schools - Presenting Author: Gabriel Joseph Olivier, Tulane University

• Tracking to Retain Higher-Income Students: Evidence from the Addition of Advanced Courses - Presenting Author: Farah Mallah, Stanford University

• The Quality of Attention: How Low-Income Parents Assess High- and Low-Poverty Schools - Presenting Author: Joseph L. Boselovic, Johns Hopkins University