Executive Summary

There are mixed messages about dyslexia. It is simultaneously true that 50% of NASA employees (Dyslexia Awareness) and 85% of prison inmates (Coalition for Literacy) are dyslexic. And, while researchers estimate that 1 in 5 Americans has a form of the learning disability (Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity), it does not play a prominent role in discussions of education policy or practice. Recent waves of activism in the learning disability (LD) community has promoted the message of untapped success for students with disabilities like dyslexia. They have heralded Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and Leonardo da Vinci as their proof, identifying known traits which indicate some level of dyslexia. Many modern-day celebrities, including Steven Spielberg, Anderson Cooper, and Keira Knightley, have also advocated for the rights of students with learning disabilities by talking about their struggles in the education system. In 2012, The New York Times published an article titled “The Upside of Dyslexia,” which advocated for research that found “people with dyslexia have skills that are superior to those of typical readers.” (Paul, 2012) However, while the research she references provides promising knowledge to those with the disability, it does not incorporate the attached social and educational challenges. Having dyslexia, or another learning disability, is still stigmatized and misunderstood in many school districts, and many public schools do not have the resources or knowledge to educate students that require additional accommodations adequately. These combined forces have contributed to a staggering drop-out rate for students with special educational needs. However, little attention is given to accurately understanding and attacking the problem. While other research has identified the reasons why students of color and students from low-income backgrounds are susceptible to dropping out of high school, this paper will contribute information about the difficulties of students with learning disabilities and the reasons why they are prone to join the drop-out epidemic.

Background

In 2013, data from the Department of Education indicated that students with disabilities only graduated from high school at a rate of 62% compared to the national average of 81%. (Diplomas Count, 2015) This data encompasses a broad range of disabilities, not just dyslexia, but it is an important starting point for understanding the linkage between disabilities and dropout rates.[1] Dyslexia is exceptionally common – around half of individuals with learning disabilities have dyslexia – and is related to other forms of learning and behavioral difficulties. There are known links between ADHD and dyslexia, as well as issues with executive functioning, slow processing, auditory processing and visual processing (Dyslexia Research Institute). The National Center for Education Statistics states that, in the 2012-2013 graduation year (the same year examined in the data above), students with registered disabilities made up 12.9% of total enrollment (NCES, 2016). 14.8% of these disabilities could be identified as physical disabilities, whereas the other 85.2% incorporate a learning difficulty. (NCES, 2016)

Figure 1, Data from U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics (2016). Digest of Education Statistics, 2015 (NCES 2016-014). Chapter 2.

In the data set provided to the NCES, the categories of disability are broad. Even this refined data set does not provide much more information about the number of students experiencing learning disabilities in high school, nor does it indicate whether or not health complications and physical disabilities contribute to the dropout statistics. The lack of answers here should provoke more research. But, given the lack of students with disabilities in higher education – researchers predict only 34% of students with dyslexia will graduate from college within eight years (NLTS2, 2011) – there have been few people who have been paying enough attention to notice and ask questions. Therefore, the study of dropout rates for students with disabilities must proceed with insufficient data.

Even without complete data, there is still striking evidence that students with disabilities, especially learning disabilities, are dropping out of school at much higher rates than other demographic subgroups. Figure 2 shows that, except students with limited English proficiency, students with disabilities graduate at the lowest rate.

Figure 2, Diplomas Count 2015

Much attention is given to the disparities between race when it comes to drop-out rates, and it is evident from Figure 2 why this would be the case. This research can be beneficial in understanding the dropout rate for students with disabilities, for two particular reasons. First, the theories about why students drop out of high school point to trends which exist for students with learning disabilities as well, even in the manifest differently. Second, low-income students and students of color are referred to behavioral and learning specialists at a much higher rate than their peers. These two reasons can help form a greater understanding of why the dropout rate for students with learning disabilities continues to be high even when there is improvement elsewhere. The data from which this graph was created also divides by state, indicating state disparities in the education of students with disabilities. In all states, the graduation rate for students with disabilities was lower than the state-wide graduation rate. Rural states tended to have the greatest difference between graduation rates. Most notably, in Mississippi, students with disabilities only graduated at a rate of 23%, compared to a state-wide rate of nearly 80% (Diplomas Count 2015). Furthermore, the states with greater gaps in graduation rates already are known for their under-resourced public school systems, which would also imply that their resources for students with learning disabilities are likely also below par. These hypotheses require further research but are certainly worth considering.

Figure 3, Diplomas Count 2015

Before delving into some of the reasons why these students may be experiencing this dropout rate more than their peers, one must clarify the definition of a learning disability. According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the term “specific learning disability” is used to identify a disorder with the following description.

A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. (20 U.S.C. § 1401 (30))

Specific learning disorders also appear in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), which was last revised in 2013. The DSM-V description provides another way to identify the disabilities.

Current academic skills must be well below the average range of scores in culturally and linguistically appropriate tests of reading, writing, or mathematics. The individual’s difficulties must not be better explained by developmental, neurological, sensory (vision or hearing), or motor disorders and must significantly interfere with academic achievement, occupational performance, or activities of daily living. Specific learning disorder is diagnosed through a clinical review of the individual’s developmental, medical, educational, and family history, reports of test scores and teacher observations, and response to academic interventions. (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)

As these descriptions determine, experiencing a learning disability is neither a choice nor a sure indicator of intelligence. However, not much is known about their origin. Progress has been made in determining specific genetic factors which can contribute to learning disabilities, explaining similarities among members of the same family. Other research suggests prenatal or maternal injury can be a contributing factor, as can traumatic injuries, nutritional deprivation, and exposure to substances like lead (National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2014). Inadequate teaching cannot cause learning disabilities, nor are learning disabilities a prescription for a negative schooling experience. The research proves exactly the opposite.

Learning disabilities are not a prescription for failure. With the right kinds of instruction, guidance, and support, there are no limits to what individuals with LD can achieve. (National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2014)

Despite this message, students with learning disabilities continue to drop out of high school and struggle in the public-school system.

Evidence: Why students with disabilities drop out

It is not necessarily the learning disability itself that causes the high drop out rate. As Annie Paul argued in her New York Times opinion article, “The Upside of Dyslexia,” many gifts come from the dyslexic brain. However, the issue comes when teachers do not know how to hone these gifts. New York City public school teacher Mary Beth Crosby Carroll wrote a letter to The New York Times in response to “The Upside of Dyslexia.” In her letter, she pondered, “it makes you wonder how many scientists, lawyers, doctors, engineers, and writers we have lost because they failed early on in school and no one knew how to tap into their talents and teach them how to read.” This is the unfortunate reality for many students with dyslexia. They drop out before they can realize their potential. Dr. Robert Balfanz, in his research at John Hopkins University and coiner of the term “dropout factories,” identified four main reasons why students drop out of high school. His research incorporates all students and focuses more on race than on students with learning disabilities, but his framework can be used in this case as well.

1. Life Events
2. Fade Outs – those who stop seeing a reason for coming to school
3. Push Outs – those who are encouraged, some more subtly than others, to withdraw from school. This can be for a myriad of reasons, but more often than not, it’s because a child is perceived to be “difficult, dangerous or detrimental.”
4. Failing to Succeed

These reasons interact and overlap, and are not designed to be prescriptive. The written and researched experiences of students with dyslexia indicate that they fall into the latter three categories. This next portion of the paper will look at these three categories and examine why students with learning disabilities find themselves in these categories, and determine whether there is anything that can be done to solve these problems.

Fade Outs

Diagnosis, or the lack of it, in public schools remains a major problem, and is a primary contributor to students “fading out.” The Dyslexia Research Institute estimates that although 1 in 5 Americans likely has dyslexia, only 5% are diagnosed. Even fewer are diagnosed during their elementary education years. So, by the time students reach high school, they have learned poor coping mechanisms for their dyslexia and struggle in silence, or they continue to struggle academically and incur low self-esteem as a result. In Family Education, a blog site for parents, Betsy Van Dorn provides tips for parents of high school students with dyslexia. She writes that one of the biggest problems for getting students diagnosed with dyslexia is that “distractibility, dreaminess and lack of motivation are age-typical behaviors, [and] it’s not always easy to separate real learning problems from adolescent angst.” (Van Dorn) The challenge of not being recognized and appropriately diagnosed can build up stress within a student that can lead to apathy towards their education and thus cause them to fade out. This is not an issue of schools being ill-intentioned or intentionally bias towards students with learning disabilities. The lack of diagnosis can occur for lots of reasons.

Most schools are not able to administer a complete language processing evaluation, and outsourcing it can be expensive. Therefore, referring someone to a testing center requires confidence from the part of the teacher, or the parent. Teachers need to be sure that they can accurately discern the difference between a student with a learning disability and a student who is struggling to keep up, or a student who will learn in time. It is not always the case that the dyslexic student will be the one at the bottom of the class, as their academic challenges may manifest in different ways. Schools that do provide some form of evaluation are not always able to formalize a diagnosis. Sandie Blackley, speech-language pathologists and co-founder of Lexercise, wrote in a blog post some of the reasons why these forms of evaluation are insufficient. She writes that the lack of diagnosis can make it difficult for teachers, parents and the student themselves to understand what their specific differences are, and how to move forward. The standard measure of evaluation in public schools, from the psychoeducational perspective, is to measure IQ and academic achievement and determine if there is a gap. The difference is interpreted as a learning disability, for it indicates a difficulty in expressing one’s IQ in achievement. However, the evaluation will not provide a course of study, and may not even identify all students. This process is lengthy and demands a lot on the student. It is unsurprising, therefore, that some students would choose to drop out of school or remain undiagnosed.

The “fade out” phenomenon can be linked to lack of diagnosis because of the challenging experience it creates for a student in the classroom. In an article published by the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, teacher and mother Kyle Redford explained how the dyslexia diagnosis helped her son embrace his education.

My son’s reaction to the dyslexic label convinced me that my reservations were a form of educational elitism. He was delighted with the new word; it helped to contain his condition. His learning challenges could no longer be confused with generalized stupidity. (Redford)

Redford’s story is not unique. Other stories cite newfound confidence after a diagnosis, better performance in school and a better self-awareness (Pearce). Even in those to whom the diagnosis evokes a false sense of shame, the ability to form a strategy of their own with the knowledge of their dyslexia allows for success. The absence of this knowledge can be demoralizing and prevents students from understanding their potential, especially when it may look different from their peers.

Push Outs

The issue of students being forced out of the public-school system is most frequently discussed in regards to issues of racism. Black students are suspended from K-12 public schools are a much higher rate than their peers, indicating a longstanding pervading problem of institutional racism in many school districts across the United States. (Smith & Harper, 2015) While the issue of suspensions and disproportionate discipline to racial minorities remains relevant, similar tactics are used in pushing out students with learning disabilities, a topic which continues to be relatively under-discussed. However, while racism is the driving factor between the disproportionate expulsion of Black and Latino students, a lack of understanding drives out many students who have a learning disability. They may ‘act out’ more frequently than their peers, but the underlying cause is certainly more than just a tendency towards truancy.

Students with learning disabilities often become frustrated with their inability to learn in school. Some become behavior problems to divert attention from their academic performance; others try to behave perfectly and hope that adults won’t notice them.” (Levine & Osbourne, 1989)

In some instances, as in Levine and Osbourne’s example, there is a choice made. Truant activity is a way to get attention and be noticed by members of staff; it is a way to present the image of not caring about one’s education. For, as high school social environments would dictate, it is easier to be failing if you give off the impression that you don’t care. In other instances, resisting instruction is a defense mechanism to avoid the embarrassment of being unable to read or partake in ordinary academic activities. But, for other students, acting differently from the rest of the class isn’t necessarily a choice. For students with ADHD, behavioral problems may stem from the inability to focus in the classroom. Genuine curiosity may be construed as rude or intrusive behavior. Even in dyslexia, which does not have any obvious behavioral symptoms, there is evidence of truant behavior. Dahle and Knivsberg conducted a study of behavioral issues in children with dyslexia against children without dyslexia. In their study, teachers reported more instances of aggression, hyperactivity, and delinquency in the dyslexic students, “indicating that children with dyslexia may use overt behaviors as an avoidance or coping strategy when faced with difficult tasks in public environments.” (Dahle & Knivsberg, 2014).

Regardless of the reason, however, suspension rates for students with disabilities is high. Research from The Civil Rights Project at the University of California found that “for all racial groups combined, more than 13% of students with disabilities were suspended. This is approximately twice the rate of their non-disabled peers.” (Losen & Gillespie, 2012) For students of color, this number is even higher. These students were also more likely to be suspended multiple times instead of just once, with one out of every four Black K-12 students suspended at least once in the 2009-2010 academic year. The interaction between race and disabilities is sobering, especially in light of federal legislation which is designed to protect students with disabilities from this kind of disciplinary discrimination. The study from The Civil Rights Project asked the important question: are the suspensions justified due to misbehavior, or are they discrimination? This question is particularly hard to answer in regards to students with disabilities because often their natural behavior, as determined by their disability, conflicts with the disciplinary standards of the school.

For students who have not been diagnosed, disciplinary action becomes difficult to understand and comprehend. Especially in students who are making less conscious choices about their activity, the act of being reprimanded or suspended devalues education. In line with the students who fade out without disciplinary action, the value of education is reduced when students feel like they are being disciplined for who they are, instead of actions they did wrong. This does not excuse dangerous or harmful behavior but poses a Band-Aid solution to something that could be better addressed with more information about learning differences and disabilities.

Failing to Succeed

Academic failure is the most stereotypical problem of the dyslexic student within the public-school system, especially in the last decade, and has been measured with more scrutiny since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002. The law, signed into law by President George W. Bush, demanded higher standards of all students before they graduated high school. According to the Act, all students should pass the same benchmark of academic standards. Given the size of states and the discrepancy of education systems across one state, the standards were determined and measured by performance on standardized tests. The importance of these tests developed a high-stakes testing culture, as schools with insufficient test scores were threatened with closure. For schools with high numbers of students with disabilities, this posed a problem. Students with learning disabilities were supposed to take the same test and meet the same standard as the other students in the school. In the 2009 reading assessment for twelfth graders, 64 percent of students with disabilities tested below basic proficiency compared to 24 percent of students without disabilities. (NCES, 2009). The rate of success is consistently much lower for students with learning disabilities, especially dyslexia.

Many children and adults with dyslexia and other learning disabilities report their schooling experience as incredibly difficult, as they often felt “deeply humiliated when asked to read. They reported being ridiculed and bullied because of their reading difficulties.” (Rose, 2009). Boyes et. al, in 2017, published an article outlining the relationship between learning disabilities and mental health problems, many of which emerged from this feeling of shame. Given the intensity of high-stakes testing, the pressure to do well can feel all-encompassing to a student with a disability. Lacking self-esteem can remain a barrier for other disciplines as well. Even if a student with dyslexia shows promise elsewhere, their experiences in other classrooms may hinder their belief that they can succeed. As Richard Dowson writes, “failure in school can result in depression and a fear of school. The student dreads going to school. Who can blame him? Except for a chance to clown around with friends, school is a hostile place where the dyslexic does not experience academic success.” (Dowson) Psychological research finds that these kinds of experience normalize negative self-worth and self-esteem, so much so that dropping out becomes an attractive alternative to continued negative experiences. When the failure to succeed is combined with disciplinary action or a feeling of being misunderstood by peers and teachers, it is unsurprising that many students with learning disabilities drop out of school.

Conclusion: The Answer?

As the evidence above shows, there are many significant problems for students with learning disabilities in the public school education system. Not all of them can be solved overnight or with federal policy. The major shift that needs to occur is one of greater understanding of learning disabilities. Educators need to be able to have the means and knowledge to recognize a learning disability in an individual, or at least be able to discern when a student should be referred for further testing. It is possible that the limited access to comprehensive evaluations is blocking a lot of this understanding, and therefore measures need to be taken to create a better system for evaluating and diagnosing students. These tests need to be inexpensive or subsidized by governing authorities as opposed to the school so that teachers and parents can provide comprehensive care to their students with learning disabilities. This care should be specific to the needs of the children and altered from the traditional route if necessary. Having a greater understanding of learning disabilities through better training and continual support will allow teachers to be able to handle the difference in education and help the student better. However, while better understanding from the standpoint of an educator may help a student with a learning disability, more research still needs to be done about the specifics of dyslexia before a full solution can be determined. There is a dearth of literature on the experience of dyslexic students at school, and even less literature which talks about the experience of people with dyslexia outside of the education system. It is well known that students who drop out of school are more likely to be incarcerated and more likely to be unemployed, but little attention is given to how learning disabilities factor into these issues.

But, while this paper has outlined many of the logical reasons why a student may choose to drop out of school, the real problem that will likely continue is the feelings of shame and humiliation that pervade the school experiences of students with learning disabilities. These moments often do come from a lack of understanding from peers and educators, but also from an educational system that has narrowed its focus to standardized testing and proficiency in reading and math. Until these systems begin to become more flexible in their measurements of intelligence, students with learning disabilities will continue to be put to one side and the epidemic of the dyslexic dropout will only just continue.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Professor Debs for allowing me to write a paper that allowed me to learn so much more about what it means to be dyslexic, and for making me all the more grateful for my teachers and family members who allowed me to thrive in the education system instead of drop out. And, thanks to my fiancé Andrew Bean for the M&Ms. I needed them all. Thank you to Alison Levosky, Brian Pok and Julie Zhu for putting up with me and my GIFs, and to Julie (again) and Emily Patton for their edits.

Works Cited

Balfanz, Robert. “What your community can do to end its Drop-Out Crisis: Learnings from Research and Practice.” Prepared for the National Summit on America’s Silent Epidemic. May 9, 2007. Center for Social Organization of Schools, Johns Hopkins University. Accessed: http://web.jhu.edu/CSOS/images/Final_dropout_Balfanz.pdf

Boyes, Mark. E.; Leitao, Suze; Dzidic, Peta; Claessen, Mary; Gordon, Joanne; Howard, Kate; Nayton, Mandy. “Exploring the impact of living with dyslexia: The perspectives of children and their parents.” International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, (2017). DOI. 10.1080/17549507.2017.1309068.

Blackley, Sandie. “Why Public Schools Struggle to Help Kids with Dyslexia.” Lexercise. March 24, 2014. https://www.lexercise.com/blog/public-schools-struggle-to-help-kids-with-dyslexia

Carroll, Mary Beth Crosby, “The Reality of Dyslexia: Millions Struggle,” The New York Times, February 12, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/opinion/the-reality-of-dyslexia-millions-struggle.html

Coalition for Literacy, “$2 Billion is spent on students repeating a grade every year because of problems related to reading.” https://www.coalitionforliteracy.org/

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Diplomas Count 2015, “Graduation Rate tops 80 percent.” Data from the U.S. Department of Education, published in edweek.org. http://www.edweek.org/media/graduation-rate-pdf-download-education-week-diplomas-count.pdf

Dowson, Richard. “Dyslexia – the Least Known, Most Common Learning Disability.” The Alberta Teacher’s Association. Vol. 2084. No. 201. Accessed: https://www.teachers.ab.ca/Publications/ATA%20Magazine/Volume%2084/Number%201/Articles/Pages/Dyslexia%20The%20Least%20Known%20Most%20Common%20Learning%20Disability.aspx

Dyslexia Awareness, http://www.dyslexia-aware.com/dawn/dyslexic-thinking

Dyslexia Research Institute, http://www.dyslexia-add.org/

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. § 1401 (30)

Losen, Daniel J; Gillespie, Jonathan. “Opportunities Suspended: The Disparate Impact of Disciplinary Exclusion from School.” (2012) The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at The Civil Rights Project. University of California. Accessed: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED534178.pdf

Levine, Sarah L.; Osbourne, Sally. “Living and Learning with Dyslexia.” Phi Delta Kappan. V70 n8 p594-98. April 1989.

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National Center for Learning Disabilities, “The State of Learning Disabilities,” Third Edition, 2014. Accessed: https://www.ncld.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-State-of-LD.pdf

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Redford, Kyle. “My Son’s Dyslexia Diagnosis.” Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. Accessed: http://dyslexia.yale.edu/DyslexiaDiagnosis.html

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Pearce, Barbara. “Confessions of a Parent of Two Dyslexics.” Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. Accessed: http://dyslexia.yale.edu/PAR_ConfessionsDyslexicParent.html

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[1] Some states provide more specific data, whereas others do not, making it difficult to get an accurate picture of the specific breakdown of this data nationwide.

Arsalan Sufi and Chris Rice

Introduction

West Haven is an incredibly dynamic suburb. It’s undergone rapid demographic change over the past two decades with a substantial increase in its minority population. Much of this dynamism has to do with West Haven’s proximity to urban New Haven. Unlike suburbs further away from New Haven, West Haven exists right at the boundary between city and suburb. This makes West Haven a fertile ground for studying social mobility, class tensions, and race tensions. This also makes answering the question of whether or not West Haven is desirable difficult. Whereas urban minority families may view West Haven as a step forward, suburban white families may view it as a step backward.

We present the data that we’ve collected in the following sections. In addition to describing trends, we do our best to provide explanations for those trends.

Population, Race, and Ethnicity

General Trends

West Haven’s total population has remained relatively constant since 2000, hovering around 54,000 residents [1]. However, the racial and ethnic breakdown of the suburb has changed significantly over the past few decades. The suburb’s minority population has been growing at a steady rate since 1990. In 2000, minorities constituted roughly 30 percent of the population. As of 2014, they constituted 47 percent of the population [2]. Since the overall population of West Haven hasn’t changed significantly, this means that white population is shrinking, both in terms of percentage and in absolute numbers. In other words, as minority residents are moving into West Haven, white residents are leaving. It’s very possible that the most affluent residents are moving to the wealthier adjacent suburbs of Orange and Milford. This pattern of moving further away from the city and into wealthier suburbs is common and tied to American consumerism [3].

Specific Trends

These population changes haven’t been uniform across the suburb’s constituent census tracts. Consider census tracts 1547 and 1550, located in the southwestern and eastern sections of West Haven, respectively. Census tract 1547’s white population dropped by 2 percent from 2000 to 2014. Over the same timespan, census tract 1550’s white population dropped by a much larger 35 percent [2].

The two census tracts in southwestern West Haven, 1547 and 1548, have historically been the whitest in the suburb and have remained the whitest even as the demographic breakdown of the suburb has changed [2]. We’ll return to these two census tracts when we discuss the economic state of West Haven.

More Hispanic minorities are moving into the suburb than black minorities. In 2000, 9 percent of West Haven’s population was Hispanic, and 16 percent was black. By 2014, the Hispanic population had increased to 19 percent, almost equaling the 21 percent black population. West Haven’s Asian and Native American minority populations have remained small [2].

Figure 1. West Haven’s Hispanic population by census tract in 1990 (left) and 2014 (right).

Origins of Incoming Minorities

The incoming minorities are likely migrating from New Haven. The southwestern section of New Haven, which lies adjacent to West Haven, has a very high minority population. Census tract 1405 in southwestern New Haven, for example, is 56 percent Hispanic and 34 percent black [2]. Also notable is the fact that the incomes of minority families living in New Haven are lower than the incomes of minority families living in West Haven [4]. The families moving from New Haven to West Haven thus may be up-and-coming urban minorities hoping to reap the benefits of suburban life.

Economic State

Median Household Incomes

Figure 2. West Haven’s median household income by census tract in 1990 (left) and 2014 (right).

At a surface level, West Haven appears to be ascending economically. Every census tract but one has experienced an increase in median household income since 2000, even after accounting for inflation. Just like the population changes in West Haven however, the income increases haven’t been uniform. Whereas most census tracts experienced income increases between $5,000 and $10,000, the two southwestern census tracts’ incomes increased by $16,000 and $35,000 [4]. As noted earlier, these two southwestern census tracts are also the whitest in the suburb.

A quick anomaly worth mentioning: although the black population in the two southwestern census tracts is low, less than 5 percent in both tracts, the median household income of black families in these census tracts is notably higher than that of white families. In 2014, the median household income of black families in census tract 1548 was roughly 30,000 dollars higher than the the median household income of white families [4]. These families could be a part of a growing black upper-middle class in West Haven.

Unemployment Rates and Poverty Levels

Whereas rising household incomes suggest that West Haven is ascending, increasing unemployment rates and poverty levels in pockets of the city also suggest that disparities in the suburb are widening. Unemployment rates in a handful of census tracts have increased significantly. In tract 1550, rates rose from 3.9 percent in 2000 to 14.6 percent in 2014 [5]. Poverty levels have also increased in a handful of census tracts, specifically in the suburb’s central region. In tract 1542, the percentage of families living below the poverty line increased from 5.8 percent in 2000 to 18.2 percent in 2014 [6].

Classifying West Haven Using Owen’s Typology

To better understand the processes of economic ascent in West Haven, we’ve attempted to classify West Haven using the neighborhood types identified by Ann Owens in her paper on ascending neighborhoods [7]. Interestingly, it seems there are two distinct sections of West Haven.

The two southwestern census tracts, which are the furthest out from New Haven, resemble an “upper-middle-class white suburb.” They have high white populations, but their housing is too old to be considered a “new white suburb,” and their education levels aren’t high enough to be considered an “affluent neighborhood.” The median years houses were built in the two tracts are 1959 and 1952, whereas the housing in most new white suburbs was built after 1970 [7]. Likewise, whereas half of the residents in an affluent neighborhood have bachelor’s degrees [7], only a quarter of the residents in southwestern West Haven have bachelor’s degrees [8]. Interestingly, the education levels in southwestern West Haven aren’t significantly higher than the levels in the rest of West Haven where, in most census tracts, roughly a fifth of residents have bachelor’s degrees [8]. Thus, the relative wealth in southwestern West Haven doesn’t appear to be a result of increased education levels. One possible explanation is that some southwestern West Haven residents have accrued their wealth over generations [7].

Meanwhile, the rest of West Haven resembles a “diverse urban neighborhood,” given its high minority population and proximity to urban New Haven.

Owens has documented economic ascent in both upper-middle-class white suburbs and diverse urban neighborhoods. Regarding upper-middle-class white suburbs, she specifically notes that they are “more likely to experience ascent over time, suggesting a transition of these neighborhoods to an extremely affluent status reflecting the increase in economic segregation over time” [7, p. 358]. This observation aligns with our earlier observations. Although West Haven appears to be ascending, economic segregation also appears to be on the rise.

Housing

Zoning

Zoning laws have guided development in West Haven, contextualizing the shifting population patterns mentioned in previous sections. Southeast West Haven is composed of a central business district surrounded by multi-family residences. South of the business district is shoreline commercial retail. At the heart of West Haven is its only affordable housing project, 15 Glade Street. The affordable housing is surrounded by other multi-family complexes. There are two large swaths of land in central and northern West Haven zoned for industrial planned development. The proximity to these industrialized spaces may explain why property values are relatively low in West Haven compared to other nearby suburbs [15]. These low prices may further explain why the minority population has been increasing.

The more affluent southwestern section of West Haven consists almost entirely of single-family detached residences surrounded by open spaces along the shoreline. The region is entirely residential, unlike the rest of West Haven, which consists of a blend of residential and commercial areas [15]. Some residents have made it clear that the commercial areas deter wealthier families who hope to provide a safe environment for their children. When describing a commercial area, one commenter on the New Haven Independent explains, “no parent would want their kid to be raised anywhere in that neighborhood to begin with” [16] highlighting the assumption that the parents who do raise their children in the area must not care as much about their wellbeing.

Listings

There are 525 homes/apartments up for sale/rent in West Haven. Of these listings, 27 are rentals, 256 are homes for sale, while the remaining 160 are listed as “pre-foreclosure.” This last fact is particularly interesting because Zillow defines the pre-foreclosure stage as “the period between the time in which a Notice of Default or lis pendens has been issued to the homeowner and after the property is sold at a foreclosure auction” [17]. This might suggest that the families who live in these 160 listings are facing financial troubles. Nevertheless, this value shouldn’t be taken at face value because the definition is broad and could include families that have paid their debts.

Retail

Retail in West Haven consists primarily of department stores such as Wal-Mart, Sears, Family Dollar, Dollar General, and Super Stop and Shop. The suburb also hosts many auto shops: Monro Muffler Brake and Service, G B Wheels, Saveway Tire Center, NAPA Auto Parts, Star Tires Plus Wheels, Discount Tire Center, Sherwin Williams Automotive Finishes, and Larkin Tire East [12]. It’s possible that many of West Haven’s blue-collar residents work in the automotive industry. West Haven is also home to a small Turkish enclave neighborhood [13]. This explains the presence of Makkah Halal Meat and Istanbul Import Market.

Schools

Minority Student Population

Figure 3. The minority student percentages in West Haven’s public schools over time.

The minority student population in West Haven’s public schools has consistently increased since 1990, reflecting the general increase in West Haven’s minority population. However, the breakdown of the minority student population reveals an anomaly. Although the number of Hispanic students has increased considerably since 1990, the number of black students has remained almost constant despite increases in the suburb’s black population [14].

One potential explanation for this is that black middle-class families are sending their children to private schools. In his case study of Rolling Acres Public Schools, L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy notes that “The reputation of Rolling Acres Public Schools among white families was stellar, yet among black families, particularly the black middle class, RAPS was viewed as hazardous for educating black children” [9, p. 140]. Perhaps black middle-class families feel this way about West Haven’s public schools and have the financial means to send their children elsewhere. The median household income of black families in West Haven is higher than that of Hispanic families [4], so black families may indeed have more school choice agency than Hispanic families.

Test Scores

Figure 4. West Haven 3rd graders and high schoolers’ scores on the SBAC. ELA stands for English and Language Arts.

Regarding scores on the SBAC, Connecticut’s new standardized test, nearly all public schools in West Haven (elementary, middle and high) underperformed relative to the state. There was one exception however, visible in Figure 4. Edith E. Mackrille Elementary’s 3rd graders performed better than the state in both math and reading [10]. This school resides at the border between the affluent southwestern census tracts and the less affluent central census tracts. Interestingly, Seth G. Haley Elementary, which lies at the heart of the affluent southwestern census tracts didn’t perform nearly as well as Mackrille [10]. This suggests that neighborhood wealth and school performance don’t always go hand-in-hand. It’s possible that the most wealthy parents are sending their kids to private schools outside West Haven, directing their resources away from the public school system.

Reviews

On greatschools.org, no West Haven school receives a GreatSchools rating higher than 6 out of 10. These relatively low ratings aren’t surprising given that they’re based primarily on test scores. However, the user ratings for West Haven’s schools are reasonably high, usually around 4 out of 5 stars. Some positive comments include: “I am a current Junior at West Haven High. I personally have had a great educational experience,” “WHHS is a great school u get what u put in,” and “I got great writing classes there.” Of course, not all comments are positive. One less positive comment states: “Unfortunetly as a public school it has been caught up in the degradation of schools by unions, local, state, and national politics” [11].

Perception vs. Reality

Negative Perception

The news tends to portray West Haven in a negative light. Running a search for West Haven on the New Haven Register’s site brings up several stories about crimes. There are only a handful of positive accounts among the generally negative accounts. Comments on articles are similarly negative: “Good start to Friday news with another West Haven resident in cuffs. That town doesnt need a carousel, the land should be used to build a jail big enough to hold all these idiots if thats possible,” and “West Haven was a great town prior to the 90’s….anyone still living there AND owning property needs to get out ASAP” [16]. The chronology in this second comment is important. The commenter marks 1990 as the cutoff date for when West Haven was desirable. It was also around 1990 that West Haven’s minority population started to grow.

The crime rates in West Haven reflect the general trend that we have identified throughout this report; they are lower in the wealthier single-family residential areas to the southwest and higher in low-income areas with multi-family housing. Minorities moving into eastern West Haven may not only be causing white flight, but also informing the assumptions that white residents have about the crime that is occurring in the city. Perhaps this dynamic is fueling the negative perception that some residents have of West Haven and its future?

A More Positive Reality

Community posts on Facebook groups made by West Haven community members are much more positive and tend to reveal the characteristics of a tight-knit group of concerned citizens. West Haven – What’s Happening, for example, is a group composed of 2,897 members that “posts information of events and activities” in the city [18]. Recent posts demonstrate a more desirable side of West Haven, one in which neighbors happily attend each other’s events and are supportive of one another’s causes. Communication is free flowing and no negative comments are to be found. It may be that this forum specifically facilitates this type of communication; however, this is certainly a side of West Haven that is not perpetuated in the media. After taking a deeper, unbiased look at the suburb, it starts to become much more desirable.

Works Cited

1. Social Explorer, Population Data Set. U.S. Census Bureau. Web. 9 February 2016.
2. Social Explorer, Race Data Set. U.S. Census Bureau. Web. 9 February 2016.
3. Cohen, Elizabeth. A Consumers’ Republic. New York: Vintage Books, 2003. Print.
4. Social Explorer, Income Data Set. U.S. Census Bureau. Web. 9 February 2016.
5. Social Explorer, Unemployment Data Set. U.S. Census Bureau. Web. 9 February 2016.
6. Social Explorer, Poverty Data Set. U.S. Census Bureau. Web. 9 February 2016.
7. Owens, Ann. “Neighborhoods on the Rise: A Typology of Neighborhoods Experiencing Socioeconomic Ascent.” City and Community 11.4 (2012): 345-369. Print.
8. U.S. Census Bureau. Social Explorer, Education Data Set. Web. 9 February 2016.
9. Lewis-McCoy, R. L’Heureux. Inequality in the Promised Land: Race, Resources, and Suburban Schooling. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2014. Print.
10. Busemeyer, Stephen, and Matthew Kauffman. “How Did Your School Do On The Connecticut SBAC?” Hartford Courant. Hartford Courant. 27 August 2015. Web. 21 February 2016.
11. GreatSchools. GreatSchools. Web. 21 February 2016.
12. Google Maps. Google. Web. 21 February 2016.
13. Turkish Cultural Center Connecticut. Turkish Cultural Center Connecticut. Web. 21 February 2016.
14. Elementary / Secondary Information System. National Center for Education Statistics. Web. 9 February 2016.
15. “Zoning Regulations.” City of West Haven. City of West Haven. Web. 21 February 2016.
16. New Haven Independent. New Haven Independent. Web. 21 February 2016.
17. Zillow. Zillow. Web. 21 February 2016.
18. “West Haven – What’s Happening.” Facebook. Facebook. Web. 23 February 2016.