DOES CLASSROOM MOBILITY HURT STABLE STUDENTS - AN EXAMINATION OF ACHIEVEMENT IN URBAN-SCHOOLS

Common across past studies of the influence of student mobility on ach ievement is the presumption that mobility influences the students who actually move. We focus on a related issue, the impact of their classm ates' mobility on the performance of those stable students who remain all year: Students in inner-city elementary schools are examined to de termine whether those stable students in classrooms with greater mobil ity have smaller gains in achievement. Despite a variety of measures a nd several specifications, no consistent correlation emerges between c lassroom mobility and five measures of individual student achievement. We find virtually no evidence that mobility of classmates lowers achi evement of stable students.