Location, location, location. This mantra of real estate agents and their clients alike is now the target of a new report from the Brookings Institution linking housing prices and zoning practices to effectively depriving low-income students of high-quality schools. Using test scores from schools in the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country, senior research analyst Jonathan Rothwell found that housing costs an average of 2.4 times more--close to $11,000 more per year--near a high-scoring public school than near a low-scoring one. High-priced homes are linked to zoning practices because they are typically located in areas that have intentionally been zoned to keep population density low, according to the study released last week. It shows that the average low-income student attends a school that scores at the 42nd percentile on state exams, while the average middle-/high-income student attends a school that scores at the 61st percentile on state exams. These test-score gaps between poor and more-affluent students were especially pronounced in the Northeastern part of the country, which claimed six of the top 10 largest gaps among the regions ranked by the report. While the idea that economic segregation is a function of zoning practices isn't new, Mr. Rothwell said his research is among the first to explicitly link the two and tie the results to access to high-quality schools. In this case, quality was determined by state test scores as listed on GreatSchools.org.