Neighborhood Schools?: Assessing the Changing Relationship Between the Demographics of New York City?s Public Elementary Schools and their Surrounding Neighborhoods Between 1990 and 2000

How well do New York City's public elementary schools represent the demographics of their surrounding neighborhoods? Using data from the 1990 and 2000 census and the New York State Department of Education, the Capstone team analyzed the extent to which racial composition and poverty rates of neighborhoods predicted the racial distribution and poverty rates of students who attended public elementary schools in those neighborhoods. In the context of gentrification and other changes to New York City neighborhoods in the 1990s, the team also examined how the relationship between school and neighborhood demographics changed from 1990 to 2000.