In response to a rapidly changing educational system and public discourse pushing for school choice and accountability, the City of Chicago announced sweeping changes to its educational system. Renaissance 2010 called for a restructuring of schools and the creation of a new school, effectively dismantling the longstanding traditions which position…

This study examined how parents' perception of neighborhood conditions are associated with school absenteeism and participation in afterschool activities, and how social support networks moderate those linkages among two-parent and single-parent families. Data from the second and third Waves of the "Making Connections" Survey were…

Measuring the existence and patterning of white flight (WF) using aggregate data has a long history in the social sciences. In this article, we assess past measurement approaches and identify several technical and conceptual limitations. To address these shortcomings, we propose a new multicomponent approach to detecting WF that requires tracts to…

Students, families, and communities across Chicago are affected by gun violence, but the levels and experiences differ greatly by location and by the racial composition of communities. In Chicago, recent rates of violence rose sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then declined to pre-pandemic levels in 2022. Still, there were more than 4,000…

Structured out-of-school programs (OSPs) can be contexts in which youth can be producers of their own positive change (Eccles & Gootman, 2002). However, despite a considerable body of research documenting the benefits of participating in OSPs, there is a lack of knowledge about how youth of color in low-income communities define positive…

As school choice increases, parents are expected to act like consumers choosing from a school marketplace. However, to what extent do parents understand and enact this new role? Drawing on organizational theory, we examine the mismatch between the ostensive (ideal) and performative aspects of the school choice enrollment routine. Analyzing…

The process and results of defining neighborhoods may look different depending on the purpose. In this brief, the authors focused on how neighborhoods in Chicago are defined. The initial goal of this work was to answer questions about how access to and enrollment in school-based pre-kindergarten (pre-k) may have varied by neighborhood…

Although the current COVID-19 crisis is felt globally, at the local level, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected poor, highly segregated African American communities in Chicago. To understand the emerging pattern of racial inequality in the effects of COVID-19, we examined the relative burden of social vulnerability and health risk factors. We…

Learning in data-rich environments has been a focus of learning sciences research since the inception of the field, with increasing interest in the ways learners "narrate data." This article examines the narration of data from the perspective of "learning on the move," identifying mobilities of data, and of the narratives in…

Research has demonstrated that families are consistently willing to pay more for homes situated in catchments with better quality schools. However, few have considered whether other school characteristics are capable of capitalizing home values in this way. Using data from the city of Chicago, we investigate whether traditional magnet schools may…

Informed by austerity politics, struggling school districts have closed buildings to pursue cost savings. We investigate the factors affecting which schools are shuttered, proposing that the share of students with an Individualized Education Program (SIEP) influences the way building utilization is measured because of the different instructional…

We use social learning, self-control, and social disorganization theories to develop hypotheses related to tobacco and alcohol use among a racially diverse sample of Chicago adolescents. Data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods were used to test models that examine relationships between neighborhood-level and…

Borders are constructs that shape our understandings of our societies, communities, and the world. Geospatial borders draw distinctions between neighborhoods and schools that are deemed 'worthy' and 'unworthy' of economic, social, and political investment. This paper employs the theoretical framework of 'discriminate biopower' to argue that…

Background/Context: The corpus of scholarship on Black male students who play sports focuses on students at the collegiate level, thus ignoring the regional, neighborhood, and K-12 educational backgrounds and experiences of these young people before some matriculate into a college or university. This omission suggests the need for more robust…

Adolescent bullying is a concern for adolescents, parents, teachers, school officials, and the general public. The purpose of the study is to apply Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems perspective and explore factors that are correlated with bullying perpetration and victimization among 638 urban African American adolescents in Chicago's Southside.…