Neighborhood poverty and public policy: A 5-year follow-up of children's educational outcomes in the New York City moving to opportunity demonstration

摘要

Data from the Moving to Opportunity Program, a randomized mobility experiment in which a subset of low-income minority families living in public housing in high-poverty neighborhoods were given vouchers to move to low-poverty neighborhoods, were used to evaluate I policy approach for improving children's educational outcomes. Four hundred twenty-five New York City children were seen 21/2 and 5 years following relocation (mean age = 14.64 years, SD = 3.21 years). Analyses examining program effects on 5-year educational outcomes, accounting for 21/2-year outcomes, revealed that program effects on adolescent boys' achievement found at 21/2 years were not sustained at 5 years. Rather, male and female youths 14-20 years of age in low-poverty neighborhoods reported lower school grades and engagement relative to youths in high-poverty neighborhoods. From a policy standpoint, the complexity of enhancing low-income minority children's educational outcomes is underscored by the multiple dynamics involved-family, neighborhood, housing, and school.