Contextual Origins of Black-White Educational Disparities in the 21st Century: Evaluating Long-Term Disadvantage Across Three Domains.

This article examines the extent to which black-white educational disparities in Michigan reflect differences in family economic disadvantage, school context, and neighborhood environment, using 16 years of longitudinal student administrative data. It finds that a longitudinal measure of family economic disadvantage—based on the duration of receipt of federally subsidized meals—explains a larger portion of black-white gaps in test scores, high school completion, and college entry than traditional cross-sectional measures. School disadvantage accounts for a substantial share of remaining disparities, while neighborhood disadvantage plays a smaller role except in 4-year college enrollment. When controlling for all three contexts over time, black-white gaps in educational attainment are fully explained and even reversed, indicating a net black advantage, though test score gaps remain partially unexplained. The study highlights the importance of incorporating longitudinal data on family, school, and neighborhood disadvantage to understand and address systemic racial inequalities in education.