- Racial and ethnic school and peer composition are significantly related to academic achievement.
- Peer measures of racial/ethnic composition do not mediate the relationship between school racial/ethnic composition and achievement. Even with the inclusion of peer racial/ethnic composition measures, the effects of racial/ethnic composition continue to be significant. It is not peer racial/ethnic compositional influences that are driving the effect of school ethnic/racial composition.
- Race/ethnicity measured at the individual , school, or even peer group level has important effects on individual achievement.
- The resources and socioeconomic composition of schools may help to explain the effect of the Hispanic composition of a school, but this is not the case for peer group measures of Hispanic composition, nor can it account for the influence of White and Black peer and school composition.
- Racial/ethnic composition of schools matters for educational achievement in the U.S. Strong efforts need to be made to keep schools integrated both racially/ethnically and socioeconomically.