Investigating Racial/Ethnic Variation in the Effect of Neighborhood Disadvantage on School Readiness

• In Event: 30620 - Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 3: Residential Context, Housing, and Inequality

Abstract

Although it is widely recognized that residence in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhood predicts poorer educational outcomes, especially among low-income students and students of color, research typically focuses on educational attainment. Consequently, the ramifications of neighborhood disadvantage for outcomes in early childhood, a developmentally sensitive period, are less often studied. I link restricted nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K 2011) and the 2009-2013 American Community Survey (ACS) in order to investigate racial/ethnic and socioeconomic stratification in the effects of neighborhood disadvantage on children’s school readiness. Preliminary results highlight group differences in exposure to neighborhood disadvantage and indicate that children’s performance on math and reading assessments at school entry decline at higher levels of disadvantage. Multivariate findings will enhance our understanding of neighborhood effects in the early life course and document racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in education that set the stage for future inequality.

Author

• Thalia Tom, University of Southern California