Saminathen, Laftman, & Modin, (209) examined how students zoned to disadvantaged schools psychologically fare when transferring to a more prestigious school compared to their peers who stayed at the disadvantaged school. Study shows that schools that are characterized as more prestigious tend to be of better quality than schools with a more disadvantaged student body, for instance, presenting with a more advantageous school ethos. The concept of school ethos is part of a more comprehensive theory of school effectiveness and refers to the beliefs, values, and norms that shape the way that teachers and students relate, interact, and behave towards each other at the school. Students were tracked for the decision of either staying at the disadvantaged school or moving to a more prestigious school. Each group was measured on the outcomes of student grades, survey results about school satisfaction, and survey results about psychological complaints. Movers reported having a higher mean academic achievement level while lower mean level school satisfaction with higher psychological complaints than stayers. The analysis is a contradiction of the segregation paradox hypothesis: if a student associates with a desirable school, it would lead to high
school performance, however due to the importance of peer connections during adolescence, school may present a more difficult social arena for movers than stayers.
Welsh (208) used school-level segregation indicators such as race, income, and achievement combined with student mobility to expose educational inequality in urban districts by examining the relationship between student mobility and school segregation. Student mobility was categorized by exiting a school at the end of a school year, exiting a school during a school year, and students who exited a school during both times in one school year. The data proved that more than twice as many black students exited schools compared to % white students. Eleven percent of black students are identified as mid-year movers and 5% being ultra-movers. In most cases, mid-year movers transferred to a school that was similar in segregation and underperforming, hence not changing achievement in either school. However, when mid-year movers leave predominantly minority, low-achieving schools for schools less segregated, schools may increase overall academic segregation in the district. In schools where there is more segregation by race, the achievement gap is larger than in a less segregated school.