How the Economic Segregation of School Districts Affects the Income Achievement Gap

Over the past several decades, the achievement gap between high- and low-income students has increased by about forty percent, with the economic achievement gap now larger than the black-white achievement gap. School success predicts many adult outcomes, so the economic achievement and attainment gap between high- and low-income students could lead to increasing inequalities in future outcomes like criminality, employment, income, neighborhood residence, and health. Identifying explanations for the economic gap in educational outcomes is thus important.

Sociologist Ann Owens will examine whether segregation by income between school districts within metropolitan areas is associated with the achievement gap between high- and low-income students within metropolitan areas. She will address the following questions: Do low-income students perform worse in metropolitan areas where school districts are highly segregated by income than in more integrated contexts? Do high-income students perform better in areas where the districts are highly segregated by income than in more integrated contexts? She hypothesizes that the income achievement gap is higher in more highly-segregated metropolitan areas.