The process by which students decide whether and where to attend college has been based most commonly on a college-choice model that is independent of the students' geographic context. However, the ability to attend college close to home is often among the most important factors that U.S. high school students, especially minorities and the socioeconomically disadvantaged, consider. The study presented here mapped the place of residence of a national sample of high school seniors, as well as the location of all colleges within commuting distance of each student, and showed that seniors have a wide range of colleges in proximity.Furthermore, after taking account of important student and zip code-level factors, the study found that each additional college in proximity is associated with a small but significant increase in the odds of applying to college, especially a four-year college. These findings suggest that researchers should stop treating the college-choice process as though it were independent of location and start situating this process within the geographic context in which it occurs. Sociology ofEducation 2009, Vol. 82 (April): 126-146 126T he process by which students decide whether and where to attend college has been based most commonly on a college-choice model that is independent of the students' geographic context. The frequently used three-stage model described by Hossler and Gallagher (1987) highlights the temporal sequence of the process: (1) the predisposition stage, which typically occurs during primary and secondary school and is made up of activities that influence a student's inclination to go to college (e.g., college preparation courses, meetings with guidance counselors, and preparation for entrance examinations); (2) the search stage, which typically occurs during high school and involves identifying specific institutions, gathering information, taking entrance examinations, and applying to colleges; and (3) the choice stage, which typically occurs toward the end of high school, when students receive admissions notices and financial aid offers and select an institution in which to enroll and attend. Although this model has proved to be extremely useful, its focus on the temporal sequence of the college-choice process has by and large taken the spotlight off the geographic context in which college choices are made. In particular, the search stage assumes that students give consideration to all appropriate institutions, regardless of where they are located. However, most students consider only a limited number of colleges, and this small set of institutions is largely determined by location.In the literature on housing, the term geography of opportunity has been used to describe the importance of residential location in determining educational (and other) opportunities (Galster and Killen 1995;Rosenbaum 1995). In that literature, decision making is a result not only of a youth's personal characteristics, but of the local opporat UQ Library on June 22, 2015 soe.sagepub.com Downloaded from

Summary The children from immigrant families in the United States make up a historically diverse population, and they are demonstrating just as much diversity in their experiences in the K–12 educational system. Robert Crosnoe and Ruth López Turley summarize these K–12 patterns, paying special attention to differences in academic functioning across segments of the immigrant population defined by generational status, race and ethnicity, and national origin. A good deal of evidence points to an immigrant advantage in multiple indicators of academic progress, meaning that many youths from immigrant families outperform their peers in school. This apparent advantage is often referred to as the immigrant paradox, in that it occurs despite higher-than-average rates of social and economic disadvantages in this population as a whole. The immigrant paradox, however, is more pronounced among the children of Asian and African immigrants than other groups, and it is stronger for boys than for girls. Furthermore, evidence for the paradox is far more consistent in secondary school than in elementary school. Indeed, school readiness appears to be one area of potential risk for children from immigrant families, especially those of Mexican origin. For many groups, including those from Latin America, any evidence of the immigrant paradox usually emerges after researchers control for family socioeconomic circumstances and youths’ English language skills. For others, including those from Asian countries, it is at least partially explained by the tendency for more socioeconomically advantaged residents of those regions to leave their home country for the United States. Bilingualism and strong family ties help to explain immigrant advantages in schooling; school, community, and other contextual disadvantages may suppress these advantages or lead to immigrant risks. Crosnoe and Turley also discuss several policy efforts targeting young people from immigrant families, especially those of Latin American origin. One is the DREAM Act, proposed federal legislation to create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented youth who meet certain criteria. Another effort includes culturally grounded programs to support the college preparation of immigrant adolescents and the educational involvement of immigrant parents of young children.

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Using a national sample of children 3 to 16 years old, this study found that the lower test scores and increased behavior problems of children born to younger mothers are not due to her age but to her family background. First, for nonfirstborn children, maternal age at first birth has a significant effect on test scores, whereas maternal age at the child's birth does not. Second, this study replicated a controversial study by Geronimus, Korenman, and Hillemeier (1994) and found that the disadvantage of children born to younger mothers is greatly reduced when maternal family background is controlled through a comparison of children born to sisters. Third, maternal age is not an important predictor of children's test score rates of improvement over time. This evidence suggests that maternal age is not causal.

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