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ERIC Number: EJ1390747
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-189X
EISSN: EISSN-1935-102X
Redrawing Attendance Boundaries to Promote Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Elementary Schools
Gillani, Nabeel; Beeferman, Doug; Vega-Pourheydarian, Christine; Overney, Cassandra; Van Hentenryck, Pascal; Roy, Deb
Educational Researcher, v52 n6 p348-364 Aug-Sep 2023
Most U.S. school districts draw "attendance boundaries" to define catchment areas that assign students to schools near their homes, often recapitulating neighborhood demographic segregation in schools. Focusing on elementary schools, we ask: How much might we reduce school segregation by redrawing attendance boundaries? Combining parent preference data with methods from combinatorial optimization, we simulate alternative boundaries for 98 U.S. school districts serving over 3 million elementary-age students, minimizing White/non-White segregation while mitigating changes to travel times and school sizes. Across districts, we observe a median 14% relative decrease in segregation, which we estimate would require approximately 20% of students to switch schools and, surprisingly, a slight reduction in travel times. We release a public dashboard depicting these alternative boundaries and invite both school boards and their constituents to evaluate their viability. Our results show the possibility of greater integration without significant disruptions for families.
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2993
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 2112533