Urban School Leaders' Perceptions of and Response to Gentrification

• In Event: 21.034 - Neighborhood Gentrification and Schools: Implications for Equity and Diversity

Abstract

New York City is home to the most segregated school district in the country (Kuscera & Orfield, 2014). Yet, it is also a place where the potential of gentrification for school integration has become concrete reality. The district implemented a Diversity in Admissions Pilot program in 2015—the first serious desegregation attempt since the 1960s. Today, nearly 50 schools citywide are enrolled in the program. The program allows individual schools to set aside a percentage of seats for students in certain subgroups to offset rapid increase of white and/or advantaged students, which can create a temporary state of diversity, but can also turn into new segregation (e.g. school gentrification; Posey-Maddox, 2014).

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to (a) examine the perceptions of and response to gentrification through interviews with urban school leaders, parent coordinators, and parent advocates working for integration (n=35), and (b) to explore how school communities work to create integration. I use the conceptual framework of educators as cultural workers as an analytical tool to examine the tensions, successes and challenges inherent in the implementation of the diversity in admissions program (Giroux, 1992). In particular, I draw from Giroux’s argument that educational leaders should navigate borders of difference and challenge practices of privilege to reimagine education in a diverse democracy. The main research question was: How do school leaders and parent advocates describe the phenomenon of school gentrification and integration in New York City schools participating in the diversity in admissions program?

The program has generally been viewed as a positive step in achieving more desegregated schools (Potter, 2017). However, it was clear from the interviews that principals must have a vision of equity in order for school integration to be achieved and sustained over time. Successfully integrated schools do not allow gentrifier families to wield their privilege and power in ways that benefit their children over the collective good. On the other hand, when schools allow school gentrification to go unchecked, principals and parents were regretful of the loss of diversity, and were struggling to find ways to attract families of color back to the school.

Interview participants also expressed a need for district support and cited two major challenges in program implementation—meeting diversity targets and moving beyond desegregation to integration. This gap between policy and practice has prompted some schools to be creative in admissions and to implement racial justice trainings. A principal in a zoned elementary school replied, “We also need to promote bonding, and real relationships, across lines of difference. That goes for parents, and kids.” Ultimately, there is a need for gentrifying schools to obtain support and resources in efforts to both safeguard school diversity and implement inclusive practices.

There is much to learn from this research about the ways in which school communities perceive and respond to school gentrification, and what individual schools can do to create more integrated school communities. Understanding the process of school integration could help “school district leaders and advocates…[to] think of demography not as destiny, but as opportunity” (Ryan, 2010, p. 281).

Author

• Allison Roda, Molloy College