Making the Case? Unpacking Family Case Management Effects and School Effects in Neighborhood Redevelopment Initiatives

April 2025

Mixed-income initiatives provide critical investments in neighborhoods, including investments to improve schools, and provide case management and family support services to low-income families. The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) is one of the largest and most comprehensive mixed-income neighborhood redevelopment initiatives to date; however, research has yet to examine the CNI’s impacts on educational outcomes. We applied an advanced difference-in-difference method to dynamically estimate the effect of attending a CNI partner school and receiving CNI family case management services on student performance in math and reading, as well as attendance and behavior. We found that attending a CNI school significantly decreased punishment, while case management services significantly increased reading performance. However, dynamic modeling revealed that the effects on academics were short-lived, while the effects on punishment were more durable. Moreover, the effects differed across both gender and age, representing substantial heterogeneity.

Keywords

Housing; Neighborhood Effects; Choice Neighborhood Initiative; Mixed-Income

Education level

K-12 Education

Topics

Families and Communities