Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
乘车前往机遇？METCO自愿学校废除种族隔离项目对城市有色人种学生的影响
Busing to Opportunity? The Impacts of the METCO Voluntary School Desegregation Program on Urban Students of Color
摘要
School assignment policies are a key lever for expanding access to high-performing schools and promoting racial and socioeconomic integration. For over 50 years, the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) has bussed students of color from Boston, Massachusetts to relatively wealthier and predominantly White suburbs. I estimate the effects of attending a high-performing suburban school by comparing applicants who receive enrollment offers with applicants who do not. A two-stage least squares approach exploits waitlist assignment priorities and controls for a rich set of characteristics from birth records and application data. Attending a suburban school boosts math and English test scores, reduces dropout, and increases on-time high school graduation. Four-year college aspirations, enrollment, and graduation increase along with earnings in adulthood. Students whose parents did not attend college and boys experience the largest effects. The evidence points to several mechanisms, including access to higher value-added schools, higher achieving peers, and schools with stronger college-going norms. Participants are more likely to be tracked into lower performing classes, implying that effects could be larger with access to more advanced coursework. District value-added estimates suggest that students’ educational trajectories shift at least as much as they would from growing up in the suburban districts.
中文摘要
学校分配政策是扩大优质学校入学机会、促进种族和社会经济融合的关键杠杆。50多年来，城市教育机会大都会委员会（METCO）一直用校车将马萨诸塞州波士顿的有色人种学生送往相对更富裕且以白人为主的郊区。我通过比较收到入学录取的申请者与未收到录取的申请者，估计了就读高绩效郊区学校的影响。两阶段最小二乘法利用候补名单分配优先级，并控制了来自出生记录和申请数据的一系列丰富特征。就读郊区学校会提高数学和英语考试成绩，降低辍学率，并提高按时高中毕业率。四年制大学志向、入学率和毕业率上升，成年后的收入也随之增加。父母未上过大学的学生以及男孩受到的影响最大。证据指向若干机制，包括能够进入增值更高的学校、接触成绩更高的同伴，以及进入具有更强大学升学规范的学校。参与者更有可能被分轨到表现较低的班级，这意味着如果能够接触更高级别的课程，影响可能会更大。学区增值估计表明，学生的教育轨迹至少会像在郊区学区成长那样发生同等程度的变化。