QuantCrit School-Level Equity Index: Mapping Educational Redlining

• In Event: Critical Race Theory and Epistemic Mechanisms

Abstract

We introduce the Educational Redlining Index for Educational Disparity (ERI-ED), a QuantCrit, GIS-based measure of structural exclusion in Delaware. Merging 2022 school-level administrative records with a georeferenced 1937 FHA redlining map, we generated percentile and relative-risk scores across four domains—diagnostic labeling, restrictive placement, resource access, and discipline—and linked them to school catchments. ERI-ED scores spanned 0.18–0.79 (M = 0.49). Six of the eight most exclusionary schools are located within or along the borders of historically “hazardous” areas; such location adds 0.21 to a school’s ERI-ED (SE = 0.07). Each 0.10-point rise in the index predicts a 4–5-point widening of racialized opportunity gaps in ELA and mathematics. Findings illustrate how historical racial cartographies continue to shape present-day educational opportunities.

Authors

• Sojung Park, University at Albany - SUNY

• Nicholas S. Bell, University of Connecticut