“Close and desirable for whom?”: parents traversing racialised spaces and places in gentrifying U.S. schools

ABSTRACT

Within public schools in gentrifying U.S. neighbourhoods, affluent, White families’ priorities collide with those of families from economically disadvantaged and racially minoritized groups. Grounded in raced-classed theories of space and place, we examine how various indicators of gentrification intersect with parents’ experiences in schools and how parents negotiate competing claims to space amid neighbourhood change. We foreground interviews with parents from gentrifying schools in Greater Boston and Washington D.C. Findings reveal how neighbourhood racial and socioeconomic changes informed parents’ connections to schools. Residential proximity to schools and commercial centres shaped parents’ sense of belonging in schools. Parents’ negotiation of racial, spatial, and classed hierarchies in schools and neighbourhoods reveals a need to situate their experiences and perspectives as foundations for school reforms and urban planning initiatives that address and contest social and educational inequities.

KEYWORDS:

• Gentrification
• school choice
• parents
• public schools
• urban education

Acknowledgments

We are very grateful for the encouragement and feedback from Alexandra Freidus, David Jackson, and the anonymous reviewers on previous versions of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by fellowships from the American Educational Research Association and the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation

Notes on contributors

Jasmine Alvarado

Jasmine Alvarado is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy at SUNY-University at Buffalo. Her research interests are in family engagement in U.S. schools, educational leadership, bilingual education, and the intersection of schooling and societal processes.

Alisha Butler

Alisha Butler an Assistant Professor in the College of Education Studies at Wesleyan University. Her research investigates the overlapping ecologies of schools and neighborhoods that shape students’ and families’ schooling experiences, including how gentrification impacts public education and the politics of parent engagement in urban schools.