The "Beating Heart" of a Community: Elements of a Neighborhood School
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For most of Americans, where we live while we’re growing up determines where we go to school. This can create a shared identity and sense of community among students who live together and go to school together, or it can compound the disadvantages of residential segregation. However, the link between home and school is growing weaker—it was challenged first by the desegregation efforts of the 1970s and later by the rise of charter schools and voucher programs. Neighborhood schools, or schools where there is a one-to-one relationship between the neighborhood and the school, so all students in a given neighborhood go to the school and the school consists only of students from that neighborhood, are less and less common. Despite this, many parents still feel like they’re getting the “neighborhood school” experience. If not residence, what makes these schools neighborhood schools?
To answer this question, I conducted 46 in-depth interviews with parents of elementary and middle school children in Philadelphia. Most of these parents (26) have children at one of four focus schools. All four of these schools are relatively high-performing (scoring more than 50% on the School Progress Report), majority African American, and are roughly 50% out-of-catchment. These interviews revealed four major qualities that parents felt contributed to the “neighborhood school” atmosphere of their children’s schools: location and appearance, diversity, community engagement, and parent relationships.
The appearance of the school is a key component of why parents choose (or do not choose) a school: many parents cited the school appearing welcoming as a reason for their choice. Parents who chose their neighborhood school despite an unwelcoming appearance felt that the school’s appearance was indicative of the community’s lack of investment in the school. The location of the school within the community was also important—schools that were located on the other side of major roads were seen as less a part of the neighborhood than schools located near popular stores and parks. The school’s actual engagement with the community is also important. Parents feel that schools need to both give to and take from their neighborhoods: they should invite neighborhood residents who are not parents into the school for community events and effectively use the resources of those non-parent community members.
The demographic preferences of parents, especially middle class white parents, have been heavily researched. My findings are consistent with that research in that I found that parents of all races do not want their child to be the only member of their race at their school. However, my findings deviate from previous research in that most of the middle class white parents expressed an explicit preference for racial diversity at their children’s schools—many said it was important that the school reflected the demographics of Philadelphia and/or their neighborhoods. Race and class were also important for building parent relationships: the presence of a few parents who were reached beyond race and class boundaries to develop relationships was critical to parents feeling like they belonged at the school.
Comments
Hi Molly, this is a really…
Hi Molly, this is a really engaging project! Have you listened to the recent podcast "Nice White Parents"? It speaks to your final point about your research deviating from the major literature regarding concerns of white middle class parents. In your experience of doing this project, do you feel that the decline of the neighborhood school (or put another way, the rise of charters and vouchers) is a good thing/is it working?
I love your poster design!…
I love your poster design! Great use of color and graphics.
Interesting findings
I was curious to hear that you found the look of a building to play such a big role. Was that a finding across race/class differences?
Interesting findings
I was curious to hear that you found the look of a building to play such a big role. Was that a finding across race/class differences?
Interesting findings
I was curious to hear that you found the look of a building to play such a big role. Was that a finding across race/class differences?
Interesting findings
I was curious to hear that you found the look of a building to play such a big role. Was that a finding across race/class differences?
Interesting findings
I was curious to hear that you found the look of a building to play such a big role. Was that a finding across race/class differences?
Interesting findings
I was curious to hear that you found the look of a building to play such a big role. Was that a finding across race/class differences?
Interesting findings
I was curious to hear that you found the look of a building to play such a big role. Was that a finding across race/class differences?
This is a great topic to…
This is a great topic to research! I am from Philadelphia and went to a local charter school. I went to school with a lot of people who lived near me, but also kids who were from different parts of the neighborhood too! I agree that the school produced a neighborhood feeling, as well as a high level of diversity with all of the students and faculty. For high school, I went to a private school for high school, which was 40 minutes away from my house. I lost this neighborhood school feeling, but also grew into a whole new community. Also love the design!
Wow, this a really cool…
Wow, this a really cool research project! I'm curious about what current methods schools use to promote greater parent interaction across demographic lines and how effective or ineffective they are.
Great poster design!
Your poster is very visually pleasing and I love the way in which you organized it!
When I first examined your poster I thought it was very interesting that appearance was one of the factors included. I went to a high school that wasn't the best looking inside or out (it is super old, one story, we had no air, the lockers were tiny), but it actually is one of the best schools in my county. The teachers really cared about the students, it was extremely diverse, and overall it just really felt like a second family. Despite this, many parents decided to send their kids to the newer, renovated high school in my county.
Great Poster & Project
This subject matter is so incredibly important to study. The poster also has a great design! How do you plan to continue and elaborate on the work you have done?
Loved the poster and project!
The poster was really well done and easy to navigate! Your findings on race and class boundaries were really interesting- to what extent does one factor 'outrank' the others? Is there any one, such as location and appearance vs. diversity, that is more 'important' than the others?
Great topic!
This is a really interesting and important topic! I am interested to know whether you have future directions/plans for this project as well as any long term goals that the project is working for.
Very interesting
As others have noted, I think the point about school appearance is very interesting. I would be interested in learning more about what sorts of interventions are affective in making a school's appearance more appealing, and would also be interested in hearing students' perspective on school appearance.