School Choice, Opportunity and Access: A Geographic Analysis of Public School Enrollment in New Orleans

<p>The primary objective of the study is to identify the extent to which the current school choice policy in New Orleans has afforded students in underserved neighborhoods or city planning districts the opportunity to attend quality schools elsewhere in the city. Though all students in New Orleans have access to schools outside their neighborhood, more than two-thirds (68%) of public school students attended a school within their planning district or in the adjacent planning district in the 2011-12 school year. In staying close to home, just one-fifth (22 percent) of students attended a quality school. A clear relationship existed between a planning district’s service level and its socio-economic and racial make-up as well as the performance level of its students’ schools. The results of this analysis suggest that the lack of quality schools in low-income and minority areas significantly limits those families’ access to quality schools even under New Orleans’ far-reaching school choice policy.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

M.U.R.P.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Urban and Regional Planning

Year

2013

Author dc:creator

• Zimmerman, Jill

Contributors dc:contributor

• Marla Nelson
• Renia Ehrenfeucht
• Laura Hawkins

• School Choice
• Parental Choice
• Public Education
• School Quality
• Charter Schools
• Policy
• Education Policy

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1681

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-2650