"They're Almost Exclusively in Neighborhoods of Color": A Spatial Analysis of School Co-Location in Denver, Colorado

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Race(ing) Space: Critical Spatial Analyses and Counter-Cartographies in Communities of Color

Abstract

Since 2007, Denver Public Schools has had a school co-location policy where two or more schools can be located within the same district facility. We use geographic information systems (GIS) to visualize patterns of school co-location and qualitative methods to understand how teachers in co-located schools experience the reform. We found co-located campuses to be concentrated in poorer and more racially and ethnically diverse parts of the city. Interviews with teachers confirmed they too understood co-locations to be imposed on less affluent communities. When spatial dimensions of schooling and education reform efforts are considered, we can better attend to why and how many reform efforts exacerbate inequalities rather than ameliorate them.

Author

• Wagma S. Mommandi, University of Colorado - Boulder