Media mention: Swain's study examines link between school choice policies and gentrification
Traditionally, choosing a good school means choosing a good neighborhood. However, increases in “school choice” policies-designed to improve schools by giving parents more control over where their children attend classes-weaken the link between schools and neighborhoods.
In a recent study published in the journal Sociology of Education, Francis Pearman II, an assistant professor of urban education at the University of Pittsburgh, and Walker A. Swain, an assistant professor in UGA’s College of Education, consider how school choice policies affect the housing decisions of educated, white families, and in turn, contribute to gentrification.
They found that these households were far more likely to gentrify communities of color when school choice options expand, loosening the ties between urban housing and neighborhood schools.