High-achieving minority students in racially integrated public schools are less popular among their ethnic peers and more isolated than similar white students, according to a new study by Harvard economist Roland G. Fryer, Jr. published in the winter 2006 issue of Hoover Institution's Education Next.

At low GPAs, there is little difference among ethnic groups in the relationship between grades and popularity, but when a student achieves a 2.5 GPA (an even mix of Bs and Cs), clear differences start to emerge. Beyond this level, Hispanic students in particular lose popularity at an alarming rate. As GPAs climb above 3.5, the experience of black and white students diverges: black students tend to have fewer and fewer friends while white students find themselves moving to the top of the popularity pyramid. For Hispanic students at the highest levels of achievement, it is even more discouraging. A Hispanic student with a 4.0 GPA is the least popular of all Hispanic students, and Hispanic-white differences are the most extreme.