Inequality in Children’s Contexts: Trends and Correlates of Economic Segregation between School Districts, 1990-2010

• In Event: 287 - Section on Sociology of Education Paper Session. School, Peer, and Neighborhood Effects

Abstract

Rising economic segregation of neighborhoods suggests growing inequalities in social contexts that shape children’s opportunities. School districts are a particularly important social context for children as they determine the availability and distribution of resources to schools, but little is known about whether school districts are highly segregated by income or whether this has changed over time. This article examines how segregated school districts in the 100 largest metropolitan areas were by income from 1990 to the late 2000s and the possible causes of economic segregation between districts. Since 1990, the segregation by income of all households and childless households between school districts has not changed much. However, families with children, for whom school districts may be a more salient factor in residential choice and for whom the consequences of school district segregation are greater, have become more segregated by income during this time. Segregation for families with children, particularly public school families, increased primarily in the top ~2/3 of the income distribution. School district fragmentation, private school options, income inequality, and neighborhood segregation by income are all positively associated with how families with children in public school are sorted across school districts.

Author

• Ann Owens, University of Southern California