Kendra Bischoff

Income Inequality and Income Segregation1

This article investigates how the growth in income inequality from 1970 to 2000 affected patterns of income segregation along three dimensions: the spatial segregation of poverty and affluence, race-specific patterns of income segregation, and the geographic scale of income segregation. The evidence reveals a robust relationship between income inequality and income segregation, an effect that is larger for black families than for white families. In addition, income inequality affects income segregation primarily through its effect on the large-scale spatial segregation of affluence rather than by affecting the spatial segregation of poverty or by altering small-scale patterns of income segregation.

The Geographic Scale of Metropolitan Racial Segregation

This article addresses an aspect of racial residential segregation that has been largely ignored in prior work: the issue of geographic scale. In some metropolitan areas, racial groups are segregated over large regions, with predominately white regions, predominately black regions, and so on, whereas in other areas, the separation of racial groups occurs over much shorter distances. Here we develop an approach—featuring the segregation profile and the corresponding macro/micro segregation ratio—that offers a scale-sensitive alternative to standard methodological practice for describing segregation. Using this approach, we measure and describe the geographic scale of racial segregation in the 40 largest U.S. metropolitan areas in 2000. We find considerable heterogeneity in the geographic scale of segregation patterns across both metropolitan areas and racial groups, a heterogeneity that is not evident using conventional “aspatial” segregation measures. Moreover, because the geographic scale of segregation is only modestly correlated with the level of segregation in our sample, we argue that geographic scale represents a distinct dimension of residential segregation. We conclude with a brief discussion of the implications of our findings for investigating the patterns, causes, and consequences of residential segregation at different geographic scales.

School District Fragmentation and Racial Residential Segregation How Do Boundaries Matter

Fragmentation, or the proliferation of independent jurisdictions, is a key feature of the political structure in many metropolitan areas in the United States. This article engages sorting theories to investigate racial segregation as one potential negative consequence of school district fragmentation in metropolitan areas. The main results suggest that fragmentation does increase multiracial segregation between districts. Using a decomposable segregation measure, the author also finds that fragmentation has a negative impact on segregation within districts and no significant effect on tract-level segregation. Additionally, the results suggest that the causes of segregation may differ for various race/ethnic groups. I argue here that segregation between political units may in fact be more appropriate than segregation between smaller units, such as census tracts, if one believes that the negative consequences of segregation stem from access to and social interactions within public institutions.

School District Fragmentation and Racial Residential Segregation

Fragmentation, or the proliferation of independent jurisdictions, is a key feature of the political structure in many metropolitan areas in the United States. This article engages sorting theories to investigate racial segregation as one potential negative consequence of school district fragmentation in metropolitan areas. The main results suggest that fragmentation does increase multiracial segregation between districts. Using a decomposable segregation measure, the author also finds that fragmentation has a negative impact on segregation within districts and no significant effect on tract-level segregation. Additionally, the results suggest that the causes of segregation may differ for various race/ethnic groups. I argue here that segregation between political units may in fact be more appropriate than segregation between smaller units, such as census tracts, if one believes that the negative consequences of segregation stem from access to and social interactions within public institutions.

The Civic Effects of Schools: Theory and Empirics.

In concert with policy trends, theory and research on the ways in which school context affects student outcomes have focused almost exclusively on academic achievement in recent years. Given the fundamental role that schools should play in civic education, and the potential for schools to affect civic equality, more empirical and theoretical research is warranted to help predict and explain how schools affect civic outcomes. The author outlines the ways in which schools act as civic institutions and analyzes how theories of school effects might be applied to hypotheses regarding youth civic behavior and attitudes. The author provides two examples of mechanisms that provide unique pathways to civic learning in schools – student diversity and the existence of a micro-political environment – and discusses the consequences of the unequal distribution of civic opportunities in schools. She concludes with a discussion of the challenges for empirical research on the civic effects of schools.

School District Boundaries and Racial Residential Segregation: How Do Boundaries Matter?

Fragmentation, or the proliferation of independent jurisdictions, is a key feature of the political structure in many metropolitan areas in the United States. This article engages sorting theories to investigate racial segregation as one potential negative consequence of school district fragmentation in metropolitan areas. The main results suggest that fragmentation does increase multiracial segregation between districts. Using a decomposable segregation measure, the author also finds that fragmentation has a negative impact on segregation within districts and no significant effect on tract-level segregation. Additionally, the results suggest that the causes of segregation may differ for various race/ethnic groups. I argue here that segregation between political units may in fact be more appropriate than segregation between smaller units, such as census tracts, if one believes that the negative consequences of segregation stem from access to and social interactions within public institutions.

The role of social science in action-guiding philosophy: The case of educational equity

Education policy decisions are both normatively and empirically challenging. These decisions require the consideration of both relevant values and empirical facts. Values tell us what we have reason to care about, and facts can be used to describe what is possible. Following Hamlin and Stemplowska, we distinguish between a theory of ideals and descriptions of feasibility. We argue that when feasibility constraints are used to rank competing states of affairs, two things must be articulated. First, one must explain why one feasibility constraint is preferred over another. Second, because of empirical uncertainty, one must describe the upper and lower bounds of a specified feasibility constraint. The first case implies that different optima are possible depending on, for example, what one takes to be fixed about the world. The second case implies that different optima are always possible, and the upper and lower bounds of these optima will depend on the empirical uncertainty of an estimated feasibility constraint. We then describe three distinct forms of empirical uncertainty. Careful consideration of these sources of uncertainty can help to mitigate the risks of imprecision. The article closes by considering a case study whereby a meritocratic conception of fair equality of opportunity is considered alongside competing values of priority and parental partiality.

Has Income Segregation Really Increased? Bias and Bias Correction in Sample-Based Segregation Estimates

Several recent studies have concluded that residential segregation by income in the United States has increased in the decades since 1970, including a significant increase after 2000. Income segregation measures, however, are biased upward when based on sample data. This is a potential concern because the sampling rate of the American Community Survey (ACS)—from which post-2000 income segregation estimates are constructed—was lower than that of the earlier decennial censuses. Thus, the apparent increase in income segregation post-2000 may simply reflect larger upward bias in the estimates from the ACS, and the estimated trend may therefore be inaccurate. In this study, we first derive formulas describing the approximate sampling bias in two measures of segregation. Next, using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the bias-corrected estimators eliminate virtually all of the bias in segregation estimates in most cases of practical interest, although the correction fails to eliminate bias in some cases when the population is unevenly distributed among geographic units and the average within-unit samples are very small. We then use the bias-corrected estimators to produce unbiased estimates of the trends in income segregation over the last four decades in large U.S. metropolitan areas. Using these corrected estimates, we replicate the central analyses in four prior studies on income segregation. We find that the primary conclusions from these studies remain unchanged, although the true increase in income segregation among families after 2000 was only half as large as that reported in earlier work. Despite this revision, our replications confirm that income segregation has increased sharply in recent decades among families with children and that income inequality is a strong and consistent predictor of income segregation.

The Racial Composition of Neighborhoods and Local Schools: The Role of Diversity, Inequality, and School Choice: THE COMPOSITION OF NEIGHBORHOODS AND LOCAL SCHOOLS

In an education system that draws students from residentially based attendance zones, schools are local institutions that reflect the racial composition of their surrounding communities. However, with opportunities to opt out of the zoned public school system, the social and economic contexts of neighborhoods may affect the demographic link between neighborhoods and their public neighborhood schools. Using spatial data on school attendance zones, we estimate the associations between the racial composition of elementary schools and their local neighborhoods, and we investigate how neighborhood factors shape the loose or tight demographic coupling of these parallel social contexts. The results show that greater social distance among residents within neighborhoods, as well as the availability of educational exit options, results in neighborhood public schools that are less reflective of their surrounding communities. In addition, we show that suburban schools are more demographically similar to their neighborhood attendance zones than are urban schools.