Who Switches Schools? Child-Level Predictors of School Mobility in Middle School Students

It is vital for researchers examining student outcomes of school mobility to understand and control for selection effects—the many ways that students who experience school mobility are different from those who do not switch schools. Using data from a 5-cohort sequential longitudinal study (N = 26,063, 61.2% Latinx, 31.3% Black, 6.7% White/other, and 0.7% Asian/Pacific Islander), we examined characteristics of students who did and did not engage in between-year, non-promotional, within-district moves throughout middle school (6th, 7th, and 8th Grade). Children were directly assessed for school readiness at age 4 and prospective longitudinal public school record data were collected on students through 8th grade. Approximately 19% of the sample moved to a different school at least once during middle school. Multivariate logistic regressions found that with all covariates included in the model, Black and Latinx students, those in poverty, and females were more likely to switch to a different middle school. Conversely, those who attended public school pre-K and those with better behavior at school entry were less likely to switch middle schools. Students who performed better academically back in 5th grade were less likely to switch schools. Researchers attempting to claim that school mobility has adverse effects on students’ academic performance and school completion need to understand and statistically control for these pre-existing differences between movers and non-movers before analyzing student outcomes.