Public School Closure and Neighborhood Change: An Analysis of Newspaper Coverage in 12 Cities

• In Event: 26.046 - Magnets, Open Enrollment, and School Closures

Abstract

Recently, large urban school districts have deployed school closure as part of their suite of market-based education policies. School closures exacerbate differential access to opportunity, with closures occurring in primarily disinvested, low-income neighborhoods with majority residents of color. These policy decisions have been met with significant community opposition and extensive journalistic attention. Given the controversial nature of school closures and this growing body of media coverage, this paper presents an analysis of national and local newspaper coverage of public school closure in 12 cities between 2005 and 2013. It provides insight into the contested nature of this reform strategy, and reveals the perceived and actual interrelationships between educational and urban policy-making and planning in the current context of market-based reform.

Author

• Ariel H Bierbaum, University of California - Berkeley