Mapping Injustice: A Practitioner's Perspective on the Use of a Geographic Information System in School Planning Decisions

• In Event: 35.038 - Critical Geographies of School Choice: Methodologies Toward a More Democratic Education Policy Making

Abstract

Objectives
This paper looks at the use of GIS by teacher union staff and their community partners to evaluate and confront school planning decisions by the school district. Until recently, the district itself was the only entity producing maps. Since the union has acquired the capability to produce maps, the staff and the public can evaluate the geo-political dynamics at play in school planning and so-called school choice. The resultant geo-spatial data analysis has allowed for a deeper discussion of and a counter narrative to the district’s position that it is simply responding to market demands. These maps, used in fliers and union-published research reports have been used to help move the public into action against school planning decisions, however the extent to which these maps have had any real effect on decision making is questionable.

Theoretical framework, methods and data sources
This paper is based on a practitioner researcher’s (union research staff) application to critical geography analysis. The series of maps in this study combine various layers of housing and demographic information with school enrollment, school closures and charter expansion. The level of detail and variations in the maps in this study are in response to feedback from CTU staff, teachers and community residents seeking to have a better understanding of the variables affecting school closings and charter expansions. These maps were analyzed at community hearings, public forums, teacher union meetings, and by two teachers who used these maps in their high school classrooms. The data for this study include CPS school locations, former public housing locations, foreclosure rates (Woodstock Institute), CPS enrollment data, census data, local news sources.

Conclusions
Using GIS software has enabled the union to evaluate school planning at a level previously only available by school district staff. Maps, when simple and clear, are very effective tools in telling a story that has multiple, complex variables to a non-academic audience who can then be moved into action (i.e., fighting against school closings or charter expansion). However, there are methodological issues limiting the extent to which the union can use GIS in affecting decision making in school planning due to both the union staff’s technical and analytical capabilities and also the hegemonic power of the school district under mayoral control and corporate education reformers.

Scholarly Significance
This study is significant because it is a case study that illustrates the practice of participatory GIS for the purpose of distributive, procedural, and capacity-building empowerment, enabling union and community activists to challenge the free-market narrative for school planning while also highlighting the limitations in the extent to which this practice ultimately changes the power dynamics or actual decision making (Elwood, 2002).

Author

• Sarah Hainds, Chicago Teachers Union