9512	Assessment
Research Question	The basic research question seems reasonable and clear, although exactly what it means becomes a little less clear on closer examination.  When neighborhood residential composition (note, it is not really the housing that changes) changes, it would seem that a series of possible changes related to local school student achievements occur.  These include, among others: change in the economic distribution of residents, change in the ethnic/racial distribution of residents, change in the proportion and identity of more affluent students, change in the proportion and identity of disadvantaged students, and changes in the education offered in the schools.  It is not obvious from the problem statement, which of these possible changes are at issue.
Relevant Literature	The references in the topic proposal are appropriate; no plan for expanding the literature review is offered.    Note an ambiguity in the presentation.  We cannot tell if the literature you are citing really concerns the effects of attending socioeconomically diverse schools, or the effects of attending more affluent schools?  These are not the same thing.
Causal Interpretations	The discussion of possible causal influences is okay, but a bit uneven and unfocused.  Note that it particularly neglects discussion of possible selection effects.  If the neighborhood residential composition changes, not only do people move in, but they also move out.  This means that we have possible selection effects for those who stay as well as those who move in.  (And we must not lose track of the fact that those who move out, must move in someplace else unless they leave the city.)  So, the disadvantaged who remain cannot be assumed to be a random selection and thus may not be comparable to the disadvantaged residents from before.
Data	The data sound fine, assuming they do contain all the needed information.  If it is possible to track students who go from one neighborhood to another, it could allow for some valuable refinements to the research.
Research Value	The discussion of research value is fine, except that it does not address how this study will complement and expand beyond earlier studies.
Timetable
Priorities for Developing a Full Draft	This topic proposal is in good shape.  Aside from delving further into the relevant literature, it would seem a good idea to develop a more refined and better specified data analysis strategy tied to a better elaborated set of causal mechanisms.
Miscellaneous Notes