Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

School Integration And College Outcomes: Does Attending A Racially Diverse High School Positively Influence College Attendance And College Prestige?, Leila Jussara Nielsen

Theses and Dissertations

Early studies of school integration are limited to examining the impact of court-ordered integration on student outcomes. As districts are released from their court orders, the context within which integration operates has changed. As such, this study tests whether voluntary integration is a useful intervention for equalizing students' access to post-secondary education. I utilize data from the graduating class of 1997 from Jefferson County Public School District in Kentucky. Results indicate that student GPA is the largest and most influential predictor of both college attendance and prestige. Furthermore, results indicate that school diversity influences GPA differentially depending on students' race …