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.
Skip Nav Destination
Close
Article navigation
1 December 2013
Research Article|
December 23 2013
Educational Gerrymandering? Race and Attendance Boundaries in a Demographically Changing Suburb
Harvard Educational Review (2013) 83 (4): 580–612.
Citation
Genevieve Siegel-Hawley; Educational Gerrymandering? Race and Attendance Boundaries in a Demographically Changing Suburb. Harvard Educational Review 1 December 2013; 83 (4): 580–612. doi: https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.83.4.k385375245677131
Download citation file:
Close
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionCiting articles via
Nací Allá: Meanings of US Citizenship for Young Children of Return Migrants to Mexico
JOANNA DREBY, SARAH GALLO, FLORENCIA SILVEIRA, MELISSA ADAMS-CORRAL
Examining the Role of Gender in Educational Policy Formation: The Case of Campus Sexual Assault Legislation, 2007–2017
DAVID R. JOHNSON, LIANG ZHANG