ERIC Number: EJ1034304
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 33
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0017-8055
EISSN: N/A
Educational Gerrymandering? Race and Attendance Boundaries in a Demographically Changing Suburb
Siegel-Hawley, Genevieve
Harvard Educational Review, v83 n4 p580-612 Win 2013
In this article, Genevieve Siegel-Hawley illuminates the challenges and opportunities posed by demographic change in suburban school systems. As expanding student populations stretch the enrollment capacities of existing schools in suburban communities, new schools are built and attendance lines are redrawn. This redistricting process can be used either to foster school diversity or to exacerbate racial isolation. Drawing on data from the U.S. Census, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and the school district, along with mapping software from Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Siegel-Hawley examines the relationship between overcrowding, racial isolation, and the original, proposed, and final high school attendance zones in a changing suburban district. Findings indicate that school officials responsible for the rezoning process failed to embrace the growing diversity of the school system, choosing instead to solidify extreme patterns of racial isolation within high school attendance areas. The segregative impact of the district's new attendance zones may be subject to legal scrutiny, a consequence that could--and should--discourage other school systems from adopting similarly harmful redistricting policies.
Descriptors: Race, Attendance, Geographic Information Systems, Suburban Schools, Educational Change, School Districts, Crowding, Social Isolation, Census Figures, Statistical Data, Student Diversity, Zoning, Racial Segregation, High Schools, School Demography
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Virginia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A