Project 1. JUN 2018 - 1. JUL 2024
Which matters more to disadvantaged children: school or neighborhood peers?
Participants:
Rising income inequality across urban neighborhoods in the U.S. and Europe has led to a growing concern about the effects of neighborhood concentration of disadvantage on children’s academic and risky behavior (Case & Katz 1991; Jargowsky 1997). Preventing concentrations of disadvantaged children has been a longstanding strategy for housing and education policymakers. A primary justification for this strategy is that disadvantaged children not only have worse later life outcomes; they also affect outcomes for their peers, and concentrations of disadvantaged groups who interact may reinforce poor outcomes. Housing integration policies are relatively high cost and difficult to implement. Therefore, the key policy question (Fryer & Katz 2013) addressed by this proposal is as follows: can higher-quality schools sufficiently improve outcomes for disadvantaged children or are broader neighborhood-based interventions necessary?
This project will investigate for the first time the relative effects of school and neighborhood peers on the outcomes of disadvantaged children with the use of a natural experiment, the quasi-random allocation of urgent housing need families in Copenhagen. Specifically, the project will answer four questions: 1) Do lower concentrations of disadvantaged school peers improve achievement and risk behavior? 2) Do lower concentrations of disadvantaged neighborhood peers improve achievement and risk behavior? 3) Do lower concentrations of disadvantaged peers in the same neighborhood and school improve children’s outcomes to a greater extent than in the case of disadvantaged peers from only one of these social contexts? 4) Do low concentrations of disadvantaged school peers, compared with similar concentrations of disadvantaged neighborhood peers, improve outcomes? The main contribution of this study will be the first decomposition of school and neighbor peer causal effects on children. Several features of the unique housing assignment policy in Copenhagen make it possible to achieve the first such quasi-randomization of neighbors and school peers among disadvantaged children. As such, the proposed research represents a major contribution to the empirical literatures on school and neighborhood effects, and addresses a key policy question affecting the life chances of children at risk.
This project will investigate for the first time the relative effects of school and neighborhood peers on the outcomes of disadvantaged children with the use of a natural experiment, the quasi-random allocation of urgent housing need families in Copenhagen. Specifically, the project will answer four questions: 1) Do lower concentrations of disadvantaged school peers improve achievement and risk behavior? 2) Do lower concentrations of disadvantaged neighborhood peers improve achievement and risk behavior? 3) Do lower concentrations of disadvantaged peers in the same neighborhood and school improve children’s outcomes to a greater extent than in the case of disadvantaged peers from only one of these social contexts? 4) Do low concentrations of disadvantaged school peers, compared with similar concentrations of disadvantaged neighborhood peers, improve outcomes? The main contribution of this study will be the first decomposition of school and neighbor peer causal effects on children. Several features of the unique housing assignment policy in Copenhagen make it possible to achieve the first such quasi-randomization of neighbors and school peers among disadvantaged children. As such, the proposed research represents a major contribution to the empirical literatures on school and neighborhood effects, and addresses a key policy question affecting the life chances of children at risk.
Participants
Project manager