School Suspension Rates and Community Context: Using GIS Mapping to Understand Neighborhood Variables

• In Event: 54.080 - Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: 54.080-5 - Nourishing the Body and the Mind: An Examination of Contextual Factors to Student Success

Abstract

This study uses a sociocultural framework to examine the extent to which a school’s location has an effect on its discipline practices. It uses locational data, school suspension rates, teacher and parent survey responses, crime data, and demographic data. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is used to determine the extent to which schools with certain discipline characteristics are dispersed, clustered, or random. Distance to institutions or events in the community that are hypothesized to have an effect on student behavior are tested as a correlate with suspension rates in nearby schools. Finally, a time-lapse series of maps displays changing suspension rates and demographics of Philadelphia over the last 8 years, examining the relationship therein.

Authors

• Tesla DuBois, University of Pennsylvania

• Abigail Gray, University of Pennsylvania