ERIC Number: EJ1474731
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Jul
Pages: 24
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-1245
EISSN: EISSN-1552-3535
Available Date: 0000-00-00
School Choice and Neighborhood Relationships in Urban Areas: An Exploratory Study in Arizona
Alissa Ruth1; Abraham Ibukunoluwa Oyewole1; Robin G. Nelson1; Azrael Giles1; Angel Luis Molina Jr.1; Monica Trejo2
Education and Urban Society, v57 n6 p519-542 2025
Traditional school enrollment practices, especially in urban areas, were guided by neighborhood boundaries and students had to attend their zoned school. However, there has been an increase of "school choice" policies across the United States, in which parents are allowed to openly enroll their children in schools regardless of boundary restrictions. Concomitantly, there is an increase in loneliness and a decrease in social connectedness in individualistic, market-based economic countries. Using qualitative interview responses from Arizonan urban residents (n = 109), this research investigates how feelings of neighborhood connectedness are related to school choice. Parents who send their children to their assigned school (n = 56) tend to like their neighborhoods more and have deeper relationships with neighbors and so do their children. Whereas, parents who choose other schools for their children (n = 53) and their children have fewer neighborhood relationships. These findings contextualize how school choice negatively correlates to neighborhood connectedness.
Descriptors: School Choice, Neighborhoods, Urban Areas, Social Influences, Interpersonal Relationship, Social Capital, Sense of Community, Academic Achievement, Friendship
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Arizona
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Arizona State University, Tempe, USA; 2Columbia University, New York, NY, USA