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This article is a review of research on how much the life chances of children are affected by the socioeconomic and racial mix of their schools and neighborhoods. The social mix of a high school has little effect on students' chances of attending college or on white students' academic achievement. Evidence about the effect of the socioeconomic mix of schools or neighborhoods on achievement of elementary school students, on graduation rates of high school students, on teenage crime, and on early labor market experience is weak. Growing up in poor neighborhoods seems to increase black teenage pregnancy rates.

Although trends in the racial segregation of schools are well documented, less is known about trends in income segregation. We use multiple data sources to document trends in income segregation between schools and school districts. Between-district income segregation of families with children enrolled in public school increased by over 15% from 1990 to 2010. Within large districts, between-school segregation of students who are eligible and ineligible for free lunch increased by over 40% from 1991 to 2012. Consistent with research on neighborhood segregation, we find that rising income inequality contributed to the rise in income segregation between schools and districts during this period. The rise in income segregation between both schools and districts may have implications for inequality in students' access to resources that bear on academic achievement.ANN OWENS is an assistant professor of sociology and (by courtesy) spatial sciences at the University of Southern California, 851 Downey Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1059; e-mail: annowens@usc.edu. Her research interests include sociology of education, urban sociology, social policy, and social stratification. Current research focuses on the causes, trends, and consequences of income and racial segregation between neighborhoods and schools. SEAN F. REARDON is the endowed Professor of Poverty and Inequality in Education and professor (by courtesy) of sociology at Stanford University. His research focuses on the causes, patterns, trends, and consequences of social and educational inequality; the effects of educational policy on educational and social inequality; and applied statistical methods for educational research. CHRISTOPHER JENCKS is the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. His recent research deals with changes in family structure over the past generation, the costs and benefits of economic inequality, the extent to which economic advantages are inherited, and the effects of welfare reform. His books include The Academic Revolution (with David Riesman);

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