Abstract

Using GIS to Understand Finance Reform on Poor Neighborhoods
Track: Education
Author(s): Linda Loubert

The purpose of this study is to model the neighborhood characteristics as well as school characteristics to understand what happens to school quality in "poor" neighborhoods after finance reform occurs by using GIS. School characteristics including academic achievement are good proxies for modeling quality. Adding neighborhood characteristics such as percent renters, and percent change in renters helps us to understand how those who either choose not to own or who cannot afford to own a home fit into traditional models for understanding the effects school finance reform. Neighborhood data as provided by the U.S. Census tracts can help explain those differences and then those differences, along with school quality, can be examined in a before and after scenario of school finance reform. This work goes as a step beyond traditional examination of "poor" schools and their funding amounts by incorporating the power of GIS.

Linda Loubert
Morgan State University
1700 E. Cold Spring Lane
Montebello Complex 215-D
Baltimore , Maryland 21251
United States
Phone: 443-885-1259
Fax: 443-885-8274
E-mail: lloubert@moac.morgan.edu