School Attendance Zone Boundaries and the Connection to Schools, Neighborhoods, and Opportunity

• In Event: Understanding the Changing Relationships Between School Attendance Boundaries and Student Populations

Abstract

Objectives:
We analyze school enrollments, attendance zones, and residential populations in Fairfax County District, Virginia: a diversifying and growing suburban district near Washington DC. We analyze changes to Fairfax attendance zone boundaries (AZBs), how local residential patterns relate to AZB changes, and the effect of AZB adjustments on school and housing segregation in the district over time.

Theoretical perspectives:
Although our country has become increasingly diverse, our schools remain largely segregated (Author, 2019). Suburban spaces especially have seen increases in the racial and economic diversity of their overall populations (Frey, 2014), but school districts and individual schools are not equally diverse due to the segregating effects of boundary lines (Richards, 2014). These boundary lines shape educational outcomes for students by deciding which schools students have access to. Due to the importance of school attendance zones, buying a home in particular neighborhood allows one to essentially buy access to a particular school, especially when schools are perceived as offering unequal educational opportunities (Holme, 2002; Goyette & Lareau, 2014). Advantaged families often work to change attendance zones or district boundaries to preserve their privilege, resulting in intense conflicts over district rezoning proposals (Siegel-Hawley, 2013; Author, 2018).

Data and analysis:
After digitizing and cleaning LSABs boundary files for each year (1990, 2000, 2010, 2020), we combine these files with data from the Census and NCES Common Core of Data in order to investigate how likely boundaries are to change over time and how boundary changes are correlated to changes in racial composition. We are also interested in where boundaries are not changed. We examine AZB/residential relationships at the elementary, middle, and high school level.

Preliminary findings:
Fairfax County was subject to a desegregation case in the 1960s and affected by Virginia’s policy of massive resistance although it had a small percentage of black students. Since desegregation rezoning efforts in the 1960s, the district has tried to balance tremendous growth with equity. In 2017, the district & county leadership adopted a “One Fairfax” plan to address diversity in education & other social policies (e.g., housing).

Elementary school demographics alone illustrate growth in overall enrollment and racial diversity since 1992 (Table 1). The rapid growth in Fairfax has required opening of new schools and adjusting school attendance zone boundaries. In Virginia, districts are allowed to make minimal change to boundaries without public discussion. Preliminary findings illustrate many boundary change types: 1) as new schools open and 2) to redistribute students. Our analysis will consider each type of boundary changes at the district and school/catchment level for segregation of students and community.

Implications:
This work has important implications for educational leaders and researchers. This study will highlight how district decisions to modify AZBs over time can contest, or worsen, processes of residential and school segregation. In terms of research, these data represent a significant advance for understanding the links between residential and school sorting processes, and ultimately the racial composition of schools.

Authors

• Erica Frankenberg, The Pennsylvania State University

• Chris Fowler, Pennsylvania State University

• Hope Elizabeth Bodenschatz, The Pennsylvania State University