Rethinking the School Closure Research: School Closure as Spatial Injustice

Tieken, Mara Casey; Auldridge-Reveles, Trevor Ray

doi:10.3102/0034654319877151

Cited by 67 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 97 publications

(274 reference statements)

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“…First, online education could increase access for higher education for students who live in education deserts. Geographical inequalities in access to resources such as high quality K-12 public education and nutritious food along the lines of race and class are well documented in the US [ 4 – 6 ]. Similar spatial inequalities in access to higher education have been termed “education deserts” and are defined as places with no colleges or public universities within 25 miles or with access to only one community college as the only public broad access institution within 25 miles [ 7 , 8 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online biology degree program broadens access for women, first-generation to college, and low-income students, but grade disparities remain

et al. 2020

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Online education has grown rapidly in recent years with many universities now offering fully online degree programs even in STEM disciplines. These programs have the potential to broaden access to STEM degrees for people with social identities currently underrepresented in STEM. Here, we ask to what extent is that potential realized in terms of student enrollment and grades for a fully online degree program. Our analysis of data from more than 10,000 course-enrollments compares student demographics and course grades in a fully online biology degree program to demographics and grades in an equivalent in-person biology degree program at the same university. We find that women, first-generation to college students and students eligible for federal Pell grants constitute a larger proportion of students in the online program compared to the in-person mode. However, the online mode of instruction is associated with lower course grades relative to the in-person mode. Moreover, African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American, and Pacific Islander students as well as federal Pell grant eligible students earned lower grades than white students and non-Pell grant eligible students, respectively, but the grade disparities were similar among both in-person and online student groups. Finally, we find that grade disparities between men and women are larger online compared to in-person, but that for first-generation to college women, the online mode of instruction is associated with little to no grade gap compared to continuing generation women. Our findings indicate that although this online degree program broadens access for some student populations, inequities in the experience remain and need to be addressed in order for online education to achieve its inclusive mission.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online biology degree program broadens access for women, first-generation to college, and low-income students, but grade disparities remain

et al. 2020

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“…A growing number of researchers have interrogated the relationship between school closures and spatial injustice. For example, a recent research review on school closures challenges the notion that closing schools is a neutral process and reveals how the process disproportionately affects low-income, racially segregated communities in urban and rural contexts (Tieken & Auldridge-Reveles, 2019). The studies included in this chapter similarly reveal the spatial distribution of closures and surface counternarratives that challenge the myth of closed schools as “failed” places (Ewing, 2018).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Place Matters: A Critical Review of Place Inquiry and Spatial Methods in Education Research

Butler

Sinclair

2020

Review of Research in Education

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Place is an inescapable aspect of daily life and is intimately linked to our life experiences. An expanding body of research has investigated how place shapes the “geography of opportunity” as well as students’, families’, and stakeholders’ experiences in and around schools. While researchers have begun to investigate the spatial context of education, the notion of place remains somewhat underconceptualized in education research. This chapter draws on an interdisciplinary review of 60 empirical, education-related studies to understand how researchers have accounted for place, the theoretical and conceptual frames in which they ground their work, and their data collection methods. We find that researchers have used place inquiry and spatial methods to investigate diverse education-related phenomena, such as school choice and teaching and learning. Beyond using place to identify and describe inequalities, we argue that place inquiry and spatial methodologies can strengthen the potential of education research to disrupt systems of power and oppression by also advancing our knowledge of the nature of and potential solutions to educational injustice.

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“…Examining the question in terms of access clears the way for interdisciplinary research teams to reframe schools as geographically tied to communities, not just students. Indeed, students themselves are geographically tied to communities and will not thrive in isolation (Tieken and Auldridge-Reveles, 2019). While we conducted our analysis at the state level, this process could and should be applied nationally or regionally in exploring the future implications of new policies or closures.…”

Section: The Consequences Of Uneven Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

School deserts: Visualizing the death of the neighborhood school

Alexander

Massaro

2020

Policy Futures in Education

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The purported purpose of school choice policies is to increase students’ access to “good schools.” There is little discussion, however, of where those good schools are located, nor of the ways in which the distribution of good schools mirrors broader patterns of uneven development in the United States. Given that schools are neighborhood assets and that the distance which students travel to get to school affects their success, the locations of schools matter tremendously and are inextricable from questions of social and spatial justice. We introduce and argue for the explicit use of the term “school desert” as a way for scholars to understand and describe the spatial injustice of school closures and for activists to argue the importance of effective local schools. Spatial visualization and rendering of social problems is an invaluable strategy for effecting policy change. As cities move increasingly to a “de-spatialized” geography of schooling where catchment zones are less determinate of where a student attends school, it is important to consider where the desirable schools are and where they are not. A more nuanced visualization of school locations than neighborhood demographics offers a new lens through which to examine the (un)intended effects of school closures on students, communities, and development. Using Pennsylvania as a case study, we use a geographic information system (GIS) to evaluate the broader reverberations of school choice policies and determine who, demographically, has access to high-quality schools. In light of this research, we also propose an innovative analytic and methodology that describes the educational inequity which is caused by spatial relationships between students’ homes and high-quality schooling. Through the concept of a school desert we explore the (un)intended spatial implications of school closures. School deserts occur as a result of school choice policies that justify school closures. Closures and the location of good schools are geographically uneven, tempered by the federal and local policies that ensure income and racial segregation in US housing. Our analysis of Pennsylvania reveals the uneven distribution of access to good schools in the same way that mapping food deserts displays how market forces have failed to evenly distribute quality food. We find that areas with high-quality schools are significantly wealthier and whiter than school deserts, a conclusion which mirrors those concerning other low-quality neighborhood assets. School deserts as a methodology demonstrate that if students do not have geographic access to good schools, then school choice policies do not, in fact, offer choice.

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Rethinking the School Closure Research: School Closure as Spatial Injustice

Cited by 67 publications

References 97 publications

Online biology degree program broadens access for women, first-generation to college, and low-income students, but grade disparities remain

Online biology degree program broadens access for women, first-generation to college, and low-income students, but grade disparities remain

Place Matters: A Critical Review of Place Inquiry and Spatial Methods in Education Research

School deserts: Visualizing the death of the neighborhood school

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