Cosmopolitan Environments and Adolescents' Gains in Social Studies

Neighborhoods vary in the extent to which they are socially and culturally diverse and whether there is little or much economic inequality. They also vary in the extent to which racial differences are confounded with economic ones. This study included measures of these neighborhood characteristics, along with a measure of school problems, to predict students' gains on achievement tests between the 10th and 1 2th grades. The results from a multilevel analysis show that students who attend schools in neighborhoods in which there are no pronounced racial inequalities are likely to make gains in social studies. The authors conclude that opportunities for social learning are superior when there are few racially confounded economic barriers. The results also show that students with low scores on a mathematics-reading composite test in the 10th grade make greater gains than do other students in social studies, mathematics, and reading, suggesting a catch-up effect during the last two years of high school.