A DuBoisian approach: A critical geospatial inquiry into the nexus of school closings/openings

• In Event: Institutional Responsibility, Leadership, and Counterstorytelling in Education

Abstract

At the nexus of schools being closed and reopened are stories of displacement. In cities like Chicago, school choice policies and portfolios at the district level shape the shifts between neighborhood schools being closed and selective schools being opened. This is a study of the enrollment numbers at that moment– when schools are closed and others reopen in the same buildings– to quantitatively examine displacement through school choice through a critical geospatial lens in Chicago over the last twenty-five years. Taking inspiration from DuBois’s data portraits for his use of aesthetics and counternarratives, I then use creative cartography– fabric maps– to engage with the public and scholars through an exhibition for interdisciplinary conversations about school choice. This inquiry will bridge critical conversations on the impacts of school choice across the disciplines of urban planning, educational policy and social foundations.

Author

• Kristy Ulrich Papczun, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Education