Predictor School economic diversity

Children of color and children from low-income households achieve better academic outcomes when they attend economically and racially diverse schools, and better academic outcomes earlier in life contribute to economic success in adulthood.

Evidence on the Relationship between School Economic Diversity and Upward Mobility Outcomes

As of December 2021, researchers have documented the following connections between this predictor and upward mobility. Asterisk (*) indicates primary reference. 

  • The 1966 report Equality of Educational Opportunity—better known as the “Coleman report”—laid the foundation for studies related to school demographics and outcomes (Coleman 1966). The author found that a student’s achievement is highly related to the characteristics of other students in the school than any other school characteristics. Notably, the author and subsequent research found that the concentration of poverty in a school influenced student achievement more than the poverty status of an individual student or their family background, prior achievement, race, gender, and level of effort or motivation (Borman and Dowling 2010; Coleman 1966; Mickelson 2018). A meta-analysis of school socioeconomic composition research published between 1990 and 2000—covering over 101,000 students, 6,871 schools, and 178 independent districts—concluded that the association between family socioeconomic status and student academic achievement is stronger at the school level than at the student level (Sirin 2005).
  • Students who attend schools that have a high concentration of economically disadvantaged students are less likely to score well on tests, earn high grades, graduate from high school, and succeed in college than peers who attend socioeconomically diverse schools. Furthermore, the negative outcomes associated with attending schools with a high concentration of low-income students is stronger for students from low-income backgrounds than for students from higher-income backgrounds (Mickelson 2018).
  • One study looking at school-level economic characteristics found that the relationship between greater poverty and worse achievement was twice as large in medium- to high-poverty schools as in low- to medium-poverty schools (Goodlad and Keating 1990, chapter 3).
  • Schools with higher concentrations of poverty provide less optimal teaching and learning conditions, and they are, on average, much less effective than lower-poverty schools. (Mickelson 2018; Reardon 2016*). Socioeconomically and racially segregated schools have less experienced and less qualified teachers, high levels of teacher turnover, fewer successful peer groups, and inadequate facilities and learning materials, all of which limit educational opportunities and outcomes (Orfield et al. 2014). High-poverty schools have higher rates of first-year teachers (7.3 versus 3.1 percent) and shares of uncertified teachers (5.1 versus 1.9 percent) than lower-poverty schools; and more-experienced teachers tend to work in lower-poverty schools (Henneberger et al. 2019). At the high school level, lack of resources and teaching staff contribute to disparities in access to more advanced courses (e.g., calculus and physics) or advanced placement courses (USGAO 2018).
  • Studies that explore the relationship between racial segregation and socioeconomic segregation find that the two are closely linked (Rumberger and Palardy 2005). Large numbers of Black and Latino students typically attend schools with a substantial majority of children from households experiencing poverty, while white and Asian students typically attend schools with larger shares of children from middle-class families (Frankenberg 2009).
  • The association between racial segregation and racial achievement gaps is driven by the racial difference in the share of students’ schoolmates who come from families experiencing poverty. In an average metropolitan area, the racial difference in exposure to poverty is roughly 20 points. In some metropolitan areas, Black and Hispanic students are 40 percent more likely to be exposed to schoolmates from families experiencing poverty than white students, and a 40 percent difference in exposure to poverty corresponds to a 0.3 standard deviation increase in the white-Black achievement gap and a 0.23 standard deviation increase in the white-Hispanic achievement gap. A 2016 study found that the relationship between segregation and achievement gaps operates through differences in students’ exposure to schoolmates from families experiencing poverty. Racial differences in exposure to poverty account for roughly one-fifth of the average racial achievement gap (Reardon 2016*).
  • A 2019 Maryland study on long-term high school and college outcomes found that school poverty levels were negatively associated with on-time high school graduation. The study also predicted that a Black student with an above average duration of poverty attending an average-poverty school has an 85 percent likelihood of on-time graduation, whereas a similar Black student attending a high-poverty school has a 60 percent likelihood of on-time graduation. For a Black student with durations of poverty one standard deviation above the mean attending a school with the mean concentration of poverty, the predicted likelihood of college enrollment within one year of on-time high school graduation is 69 percent; for a similar Black student attending a high-poverty school, that likelihood is 58 percent (Henneberger et al. 2019).
  • The Century Foundation reviewed findings from research related to the economic and cognitive benefits of socioeconomically and racially integrated schools and found that, regardless of an individual’s economic status, students in socioeconomically and racially diverse schools have stronger academic outcomes than students in schools with concentrated poverty. On the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress for math, low-income fourth graders who attended more affluent schools scored the equivalent of roughly two years of learning above low-income fourth graders in high-poverty schools. A separate study compared students with similar socioeconomic backgrounds and found that over their four years in high school, controlling for family backgrounds, students in mixed-income schools showed 30 percent more growth in test scores than students in schools with high concentrated poverty (Kahlenberg 2012). Research finds that if racial desegregation occurs without economic desegregation, the benefits of diversity can be lost (Kahlenberg 2012).

Promising Local Policy Interventions 

Research from both Urban and others in the field suggests the following policies could help communities improve this predictor. These suggestions are not exhaustive, and communities should work with residents and leaders to identify solutions that are best suited to their local contexts.

Mobility Metric(s) Used to Measure This Predictor

Share of students attending high-poverty schools, by race or ethnicity  

This metric reflects the extent of racial disparities in students’ exposure to school-level concentrated poverty. 

View the full suite of metrics used to measure all the predictors in the Upward Mobility Framework.

Mobility Dimensions Engaged

  • Economic success
  • Dignity and belonging