The proposed literature survey will synthesize social science and educational empirical research on the effects of school and classroom composition on secondary school math and science achievement and related educational outcomes. Composition refers to the racial, ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic status demographic mix of students in schools and classrooms. The synthesis will focus on math and science outcomes in several areas: achievement, educational attainment, and SMET occupational aspirations and attainment. The project has four goals: (1) to identify, collect, code, and rigorously evaluate the extant social science and education research base on the topic; (2) to produce several stakeholder-friendly documents that present the empirical findings in ways that social scientists and legal scholars, educational policy-makers, and school district leaders can readily use; (3) to develop a theoretical model that accounts for the ways demographic variations in school and classroom compositions affect math and science educational outcomes; and (4) to identify an agenda and appropriate research design to complete the substantive knowledge base and to test the theoretical models.
