Residential Mobility and the Role of Teachers in Students’ Sense of School Belonging

• In Event: 2484 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 14. Neighborhoods and Education

Abstract

In the face of persistent racial and economic segregation between school districts, low income students of color continue to face more limited educational opportunities than their middle class peers. Residential mobility programs are one policy tool for providing low income students with access to more diverse and higher performing schools, but research indicates that the disruption from school changes may have negative, rather than positive, effects on student outcomes. Indeed, studies of the educational effects of residential mobility programs to date have produced mixed results. However, we know considerably less about the within-school dynamics that students experience after moving with a residential mobility program that may facilitate or inhibit their academic success. We draw on the school belonging literature to consider the role teacher-student relationships might play in shaping the academic outcomes of students who moved with the Baltimore Housing Mobility Program. Through analysis of in-depth qualitative interviews, our findings show considerable heterogeneity in students’ experiences with teachers after transferring schools, and we hypothesize that teacher-student interactions may play a key moderating role in the academic outcomes of low income youth who move through housing voucher programs.

Authors

• Joseph M. Quinn, Duke University

• Anna Catherine Rhodes, Rice University