Geospatial Analysis: A New Window Into Educational Equity, Access, and Opportunity

Cobb, Casey D.

doi:10.3102/0091732x20907362

Cited by 21 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 93 publications

(150 reference statements)

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“…The case studies of the school districts' student assignment policies alongside our analysis of segregation at multiple geographic scales provide insight into whether and under what conditions districts' assignment policies might decouple the link between school and residential segregation. Additionally, exploring segregation at multiple geographic scales can lead to a deeper understanding of educational equity, access, and opportunity by revealing new dimensions of segregation (Cobb, 2020). Findings from this study can inform school district leaders' approaches to increasing school diversity through a legally permissible and ubiquitous practice: the drawing of school attendance zone boundaries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Student Assignment Policies and Racial and Income Segregation of Schools, School Attendance Zones, and Neighborhoods

Taylor

Frankenberg

2021

Educational Administration Quarterly

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Purpose: This article examines the relationship between educational and residential segregation in three school districts with differing approaches to student assignment. Racial and income segregation within school districts is often only examined at the school level, even as school patterns are often related to residential and attendance zone segregation depending on integration policies aimed at decoupling these relationships. Research Method/Approach: Using an innovative data set, the School Attendance Boundary Survey, along with Census and Common Core of Data data, this analysis examines racial and income segregation at the neighborhood, school zone, and school levels in three districts with varied student assignment policies to explore the relationship between districts’ diversity policies and school, attendance zone, and residential segregation. Findings: We find that, despite high residential segregation, educational segregation varies in these three districts. In the two districts that sought to increase diversity in their student assignment policies, educational segregation was lower than in the third district that did not consider diversity, despite similar levels of residential segregation. The findings suggest that district leaders’ use of diversity-focused student assignment policies may be one way to disrupt the link between residential and school segregation. Conclusions: Understanding the segregation of educational boundaries within school districts, and the relationship between school zone segregation and segregation at other geographic scales, offers insights into how district leaders could utilize student assignment policies to reduce racial and income segregation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Student Assignment Policies and Racial and Income Segregation of Schools, School Attendance Zones, and Neighborhoods

Taylor

Frankenberg

2021

Educational Administration Quarterly

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“…In the field of educational research, most scholars using GIS have centered issues of justice, equity, and access in their spatial research from the very outset (Cobb, 2020). From analyzing the distribution of preschools (Webster & White, 1997) to mapping literacy-rich environments (Jocson & Thorne-Wallington, 2013) to producing asset-based cartographies of possibility (Green, 2015), educational researchers have used spatial analysis to develop knowledge based on the understanding that space, place, race, income, and opportunity are all deeply interconnected, particularly in the United States (Cobb, 2020;Mann & Saultz, 2019). Inspired by this body of work, my objective in this research is to reveal spatial configurations of power that may contribute to educational inequities.…”

Section: Critical Gismentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping choice: A critical GIS analysis of English learner enrollment

Sartori

2023

EPAA

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In many ways, Arizona is on the forefront of school choice: in addition to a state-wide open enrollment law, it was one of the first states to adopt charter school legislation in 1994 and currently has the second-highest percentage of public school students attending charter schools in the nation. Despite the extensive research on school choice, less is known about whether choice systems meaningfully impart more opportunities for students classified as English learners, a diverse group that has been the subject of multiple discriminatory policies and has one of the lowest graduation rates in the state. The current paper uses geospatial analysis to examine English learner participation in school choice in one Arizona metropolitan area. The results indicate that charter schools consistently under-enroll EL students regardless of demographic variability across geographic locations. Charter school locational patterns may be one contributing factor to EL enrollment disparities, though they are not likely to be the only reason. Employing a conceptual framework of motility or “mobility capital” (Kaufman et al., 2004) and a critical stance on the spatial dimensions of neoliberal reforms, findings suggest that unregulated school choice may not reliably provide improved schooling options for students classified as English learners.

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“…Thus, especially as theories and methodologies from geography have become more popular in educational research (Butler & Sinclair, 2020;Cobb, 2020;Mann & Saultz, 2019;Yoon et al, 2018), researchers have increasingly examined the role of geography in enabling or restricting school choices (Lubienski & Lee, 2017). Much of the geographic research on school choice has focused on spatial factors, such as where schools are located and students' commute distance and time (M. R. Scott & Marshall, 2019), with subsequent attention to the role of transportation access (e.g., Stein et al, 2020;Trajkovski et al, 2021).…”

Section: Purpose and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Race, Geography, and School Choice Policy: A Critical Analysis of Detroit Students’ Suburban School Choices

Singer

Lenhoff

2022

AERA Open

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The purpose of this study is to advance our thinking about race and racism in geospatial analyses of school choice policy. To do so, we present a critical race spatial analysis of Detroit students’ suburban school choices. To frame our study, we describe the racial and spatial dynamics of school choice, drawing in particular on the concepts of opportunity hoarding and predatory landscapes. We find that Detroit students’ suburban school choices were circumscribed by racial geography and concentrated in just a handful of schools and districts. We also find notable differences between students in different racial groups. For all Detroit exiters, their schools were significantly more segregated and lower quality than those of their suburban peers. We propose future directions for research on families’ school choices as well as school and district behavior at the intersection of race, geography, and school choice policy.

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Geospatial Analysis: A New Window Into Educational Equity, Access, and Opportunity

Cited by 21 publications

References 93 publications

Student Assignment Policies and Racial and Income Segregation of Schools, School Attendance Zones, and Neighborhoods

Student Assignment Policies and Racial and Income Segregation of Schools, School Attendance Zones, and Neighborhoods

Mapping choice: A critical GIS analysis of English learner enrollment

Race, Geography, and School Choice Policy: A Critical Analysis of Detroit Students’ Suburban School Choices

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