Where and into what families one is born affects a child’s life chances immensely. Through a series of initiatives, we seek to assess these differences and study ways to improve chances for success for all children.

Does Title I Funding Improve School and Student Achievement? An Analysis Using New York City Data

Meryle G. Weinstein, Leanna Stiefel, and Amy Ellen Schwartz

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of Title I funding in increasing resources and achievement for students attending schools with high concentrations of poverty and to assess how school outcomes differ between Title I schools and non-Title I schools.

Immigrants and Native-Born Students

co-Principal Investigators: Leanna Stiefel and Amy Ellen Schwartz

Public schools across the U.S. are educating an increasing number and diversity of immigrant students. Unfortunately, little is known about their performance relative to native-born students and the extent to which the ‘nativity gap’ might be explained by school and demographic characteristics. Using data from New York City, where 17 percent of elementary and middle school students are immigrants, this research seeks to address questions including how isolated (segregated) are foreign-born students within their schools and within their districts? How does segregation vary across groups with different language skills and from different regions of the world? To the extent there is segregation of immigrant students, how different are the schools attended by immigrant children in terms of student characteristics, teachers, and funding levels? This research is funded by the Spencer Foundation.

The Race Gap in Test Scores

Leanna Stiefel, Amy Ellen Schwartz, and Ingrid Gould Ellen

In this project, we examine the size and distribution of the gap in test scores across races within New York City public schools and the factors that explain these gaps. How large are racial and ethnic performance differences in New York City schools and how much of the gaps can be explained by student backgrounds, schools and classrooms? Are there mutable school or education programs that can help improve black and Hispanic student performance? How do gaps change over time in the New York City school system?

Schooling and Identity for New Americans

Cynthia Miller-Idriss and Ann Morning

This pilot study explores the role that schools play in shaping concepts of race and nationhood. Our goal is to examine how identities emerge and are transformed during the transition to adulthood and how this process might vary between immigrant, second-generation and later-generation youth. The project includes both interviews and ethnographic observation in a public New York City high school, to be conducted during the fall of 2006.