Critical Geographic Information System: A New Spatial Approach to School Choice Policy Research

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

Abstract

Objectives
In this paper, we introduce the notion of critical GIS (Geographic Information System) to bridge a long-held methodological division between quantitative and qualitative research in the geography of education. We do so to propose a methodological direction that can better inform the complex processes and effects of education policies for the most marginalized urban populations. Our objectives are two-fold. First, we discuss these current methodological divisions, particularly in the geography of school choice, and how those divisions limit what we have learned about the consequences of education policy. Second, we present an innovative methodology of critical GIS that has brought together (purportedly) objective, neutral and scientific study with (explicitly) subjective, situated and qualitative approaches to geographic research.

Critical review of spatial research in school choice
School choice is ideal for a spatial study because of the importance of issues such as proximity, access, and the assignment of meaning to specific neighborhoods. Yet, the geographic study of school choice has been characterized by two distinct traditions. On one hand, we have a growing body of empirical research that focuses on the spatial patterns of student movement from one school to another, with additional analysis of the movements by class and race (Butler, Hamnett, Ramsden, & Webber, 2007; Gulosino & Lubienski, 2011; Taylor, 2002). On the other, we have a large body of qualitative literature, exploring cultural, racial and political meanings of school choice (André-Bechely, 2007; Gulson, 2006; Reay, 2007). We argue that this methodological division has made it difficult to conduct and produce a complex analysis of school choice effects in multiple scales. As such, we follow Courtney Bell’s (2009) lead on bringing together the spatial algorithm of school choice with the analysis of the spatial meanings, and we do so in order to generate a more complex understanding of the spatial dynamics of school choice.

Theoretical and methodological perspectives
We propose a new mixed-methods approach of critical GIS (CGIS) to school choice policy research. CGIS, developed within critical human geography, provides a unique framework that combines macro spatial patterns of educational choice with micro social interactions and meaning-making of educational choice. It does so by introducing wide-ranging critical social theories into the analysis of geographic information systems (Kwan, 2009; Pavlovskaya, 2009; Schuurman, 2010). As part of this panel, we hope to discuss not only the analytic power of CGIS, but also the challenges of using it in education research.

Scholarly Significance
CGIS has much potential to create an integrative framework that bridges the methodological division, and will therefore help enlarge our analytic lens for understanding and addressing the phenomenon of school choice from multiple perspectives. This paper will inform education policy researchers about the analytical robustness of CGIS, specifically how it can help map the broader spatial patterns of school choice. It will also shed light on how CGIS enables us to further investigate the areas where there is comparatively less participation in school choice, and analyze how school choice affects those who are often excluded from the policy table.

Authors

• Ee-Seul Yoon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Christopher A. Lubienski, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign