There goes the neighborhood school: Towards an understanding of gentrification's effects on public schools

Abstract

The growing presence of middle-class families in urban neighborhoods and schools has catalyzed interdisciplinary investigations designed to investigate the transformative promises and challenges of gentrification for public education. This three-article dissertation expands our understanding of school gentrification through complementary, qualitative investigations designed to understand the meanings and implications of demographic and cultural changes for urban schools. Study 1, “Responding to Gentrification: Navigating School-Family Partnerships Amid Demographic Change,” draws on data collected through a multisite case study of three elementary schools in Washington, DC to investigate how school staff respond to gentrification. This study foregrounds the perspectives of 21 school staff members (i.e., teachers, administrators, support staff, and external partners) and finds that staff members recognized the potential of gentrification to alter their school’s existing cultures and implemented several strategies to promote inclusive school-family partnerships. This study’s findings suggest that when school staff are intentional about equity, they can minimize the marginalization and exclusion of longtime resident parents in gentrifying school communities. Study 2, “School Gentrification and the Ecologies of Parent Engagement,” adds to the growing conversation about middle-class parents’ engagement in gentrifying schools. This study foregrounds the perspectives of 17 middle-class parents and finds that their experiences in and perceptions of gentrification influenced their motivations for and practices to engage in their children’s schools. This study’s findings reveal the potential of collectively-oriented middle-class engagement to improve the experiences of all students and families in gentrifying schools. Study 3, “What’s Best for my Child, What’s Best for the City: Values and Tensions in Parent Gentrifiers’ Middle and High School Selection Processes,” draws on retrospective interviews with a sample of 20 parent gentrifiers to understand how families select secondary schools for their children. Although interviewed parents espoused many civically-oriented values that might suggest an automatic preference for neighborhood schools, just two of the interviewed parents had children enrolled in these schools during the study’s focal year. This study’s findings reveal critical differences between elementary and secondary schooling decisions and reveal the limits of civic values in informing parent gentrifiers’ schooling decisions.