2016 - Middle-Class Mothers on Urban School Selection in Gentrifying Areas

Attribution: Roberts, Amy, & Lakes, Richard D.
Researchers: Amy RobertsRichard D. Lakes
University Affiliation: Georgia State University
Email: rlakes@gsu.edu
Research Question:
1.) What schooling options do mothers in gentrifying areas consider in the school-selection process? 2.) What forms of communication do they utilize to exchange information regarding school options?
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Education and Urban Society
Journal Entry: Vol. 48 No. 3 pp. 203-220
Year: 2016
Findings:

  • While the mothers expressed an equity agenda honoring educational diversity actual school selections outcomes belied their liberal intentions.

  • The narratives presented are consistent with DeSena’s (2009) research that middle class parents will express a politically progressive ideology but act in their own self interest

  • Social practice played a significant role in this study. Virtual and neighborhood networks were essential to the formation of knowledge production in this study.

  • Authors found that social networks became information sources for the parents who framed educational decision-making in market terms.

Keywords: ChoiceCultural CapitalDiversityParentsRegions: SouthMethodologies: QualitativeResearch Designs: InterviewsAnalysis Methods: Content Analysis Sampling Frame:Residents of Kirkwood or Grant Park neighborhoods
Sampling Types: NonrandomAnalysis Units: NeighborhoodParentData Types: Qualitative-Cross Sectional
Data Description:

  • The study participants were selected based on the criteria that they were residents of the gentrifying neighborhoods, Kirkwood or Grant Park, with a child below age 5.

  • 30 mothers were selected from a narrow pool of eligible candidates.

  • The qualitative method phenomenography was chosen as an analytical tool for this study.

  • The final stage of the analysis entailed a revision of the classifications to reflect distinct identities of the the phenomenon and relationships of subjects.

Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts