How does economic segregation in schools impact lower-income students’ college enrollment and employment? Using data from Texas, a large and representative state, I find that the typical (median) lower-income student experiences schooling with nearly ten times fewer upper-income classmates than their wealthier peers. This low exposure to upper-income classmates is mainly driven by residential and school socioeconomic segregation, not classroom assignment. To identify why exposure to upper-income peers may matter for long-term outcomes, I try to isolate the role of peers from access to resources using within-school, between-cohort variation in the share of upper-income students, controlling for school trends. I find that lower-income students in cohorts with a higher share of upper-income peers are (marginally) more likely to enroll in a four-year college and earn higher wages in early adulthood. These positive effects do not seem to operate through changes in access to school resources, and the increase in college enrollment appears to be driven by exposure to lower-achieving upper-income students. Increasing exposure to lower-income students has no detectable impact on upper-income students’ wages in early adulthood, suggesting that improving cross-income exposure may be non-zero sum.

Public schools may add academic tracks to attract or retain upper-income and higher-achieving students. However, tracking may also exacerbate sorting by student income and test scores within schools. I exploit variation in the timing of an Advanced Placement (AP) course addition within specific school subjects and find that the introduction of an AP course does not reduce lower-income students' exposure to upper-income classmates; if anything, it increases their exposure. This increase is driven by a rise in the overall share of upper-income students at the school following the addition of an AP course, offsetting increases in sorting by income. These findings provide new insights into how tracked courses can influence school environments, connecting the school choice and tracking literature, and contributing to the broader understanding of the equity implications of advanced courses.

While high school graduation rates in the US have risen significantly in recent decades, there remains a substantial portion of students every year who do not obtain a high school degree. Alternative schools, which provide tailored curricula and flexible scheduling, have emerged as a potential solution to improve graduation rates among students at high risk of dropping out, but they may also segregate vulnerable students who might otherwise have graduated from traditional public schools. These schools target students facing barriers such as low academic performance, chronic absenteeism, and caregiving responsibilities. Using variation in the timing and proximity of alternative school expansions in Chicago, we evaluate the impact of alternative schools on key outcomes, including persistence, graduation, college enrollment, and arrests.