Abstract
Spatial analysis of students' neighborhood characteristics/school performance in Philadelphia
Track: GIS for Administration, Planning and Policy
Author
Access to a quality education is unevenly mapped by the demographic context of the communities in which public school students live. A growing body of research suggests that this geographic effect deeply challenges the goal of equalizing educational opportunities. This paper explores the relationship between students’ neighborhood characteristics and school performance in Philadelphia’s public schools using spatial analysis methods. Data include student and school locations as well as block-level census information and Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) scores for grades 5, 8 and 11 during 2005-2008. Multiple regression and K-function analyses in conjunction with geographic information systems (GIS) were employed to test hypotheses linking students’ community attributes to their academic success. Contextual factors, such as the percentage of the population holding a 4-year college degree and the proportion of families with a female head of household, were found to be strong predictors of student achievement. Across all nine datasets, the geographic diversity of the student population was positively associated with school performance. In most cases, significant clustering was detected among schools reporting scores in the first quartile, and the locations of the bottom and top schools were discovered to be spatially dependent. A range of policy implications is offered.
Kimberly Edmunds
Research for Action
3701 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
United States
Phone: 2672351645
E-mail: kedmunds@researchforaction.org