Document Type
Article
Department/Program
Sociology
Journal Title
American Journal of Education
Pub Date
8-2009
Volume
115
Issue
4
First Page
569
Abstract
We examine whether student enrollment in nonneighborhood schools changes levels of racial segregation in public schools across urban school districts by comparing the racial composition of schools and their corresponding attendance area. This comparison was made possible by using geographic information systems (GIS) to link maps of elementary, middle, and high school attendance boundaries with 2000 census data, the Common Core of Data, and the Private School Survey for the 22 largest school districts. Results show that public schools would be less racially segregated if all children living in a school district attended their local, neighborhood schools. Similarly, findings reveal that private, magnet, and charter schools contribute to overall racial segregation within most school districts. Finally, while segregation levels in school catchment areas become lower from elementary to middle to high schools, the difference in segregation between catchment areas and the schools that serve them remains constant across all levels.
Recommended Citation
Sohoni, Deenesh and Saporito, Salvatore, Mapping School Segregation: Using GIS to Explore Racial Segregation between Schools and their Corresponding Attendance Areas (2009). American Journal of Education, 115(4), 569-600.
https://doi.org/10.1086/599782
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1086/599782
Publisher Statement
© 2009 by The University of Chicago.
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