Across North America and the United Kingdom, children attending schools in urban, low-income, ethnically enriched neighbourhoods continue to experience significantly lower academic achievement in comparison to children who live in predominantly white, affluent neighbourhoods (Noguera, 2017; Henry, 2021; Welsh, 2016). These disparities have been appropriately labelled an ‘opportunity gap’ to note their source in oppressive societal systems rather than in deficits of individual students (Carter & Welner, 2013). While research demonstrates that intensive school interventions can positively impact academics, these interventions have nominal impact for racialised students in low-income, segregated neighbourhoods. Jang and Reardon (2019) refer to this phenomenon as the ‘extreme tipping point of disadvantage’. We believe this persistent disparity requires unique theorising of the context, and methodologies responsive to geographic segregation.

‘While research demonstrates that intensive school interventions can positively impact academics, these interventions have nominal impact for racialised students in low-income, segregated neighbourhoods.’

Decolonial theorists provide generative ideas for addressing persistent racialised gaps. They locate longstanding societal forms of oppression of Indigenous and racialised peoples, and the related privileging of white Euro-Western bodies, as being rooted in contemporary societal structures that were created through colonial expansion, dispossession and enslavement (Mignolo, 2012; Wolfe, 2006). Through a decolonial lens it becomes apparent that there is a need to understand and address these racialised educational disparities not only through school-based interventions, but also through analysis of colonialism within patterns of geographic segregation.

My recent mixed-method research study with Dr Ee-Seul Yoon was designed through a decolonial approach. This approach is rooted in an analysis of student movement within a mid-sized Canadian city marked by profound segregation. We constructed our research through geo-spatial mapping of data on ‘student mobility’ overlayed with ethno-cultural and economic data. Student mobility is a measure of students’ unprogrammed school changes that has been shown to be consistently related to poor academic outcomes. This mapping visualises the intersection of mobility with economic segregation and racialisation.

The maps below were created by Dr Yoon and demonstrate the correlations between low income, racialisation and student mobility. In each map, the black bars represent the mobility rate of 59 elementary schools; the size of the bar reflects the degree of mobility. Figure 1 demonstrates that the highest mobility is found in the lowest-income areas. Figure 2 reveals that the highest numbers of racialised people are living in areas with higher student mobility. We correlated this data with broad academic achievement data.

Figure 1: Student mobility and family income

Figure 2: Student mobility and visible minority status

We then engaged in an historical analysis of the neighbourhood marked by segregation. Drawing on a range of scholars in urban geography, we considered how colonialism has manifested historically through treaties and legislation, and how this is operating contemporarily within local governance. For example, we observed the alignment between economic imperatives in an 1871 treaty with more recent neoliberal state governance privatising community resources while excluding Indigenous-led organisations. We found in the analysis that within the history of this place there has been continued Indigenous dispossession through mechanisms of neoliberal state governance.

To reveal reasons behind student movement in this context of dispossession, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 stakeholders. I interviewed parents, youth, leaders of community-based organisations, as well as principals, teachers and staff in local schools. The interviews revealed that mobility was being spurred predominantly by a lack of safe and affordable housing and contemporary state policies removing Indigenous children from families. We found related policies were privileging capitalist structures and routing state funding to schools while defunding community-based supports.

This research confirms that student mobility is a complex phenomenon related to a tipping point of extreme disadvantage that cannot be addressed solely within school systems. These findings suggest that meaningful intervention will be through social policy and funding community-based supports. We are mobilising this research to influence change in multi-level policies and governance. We hope this research also provides potential collaborations for researchers similarly researching this phenomenon in unique global contexts.

This blog post relates to a paper presented at the BERA Conference 2024 and WERA Focal Meeting on Tuesday 10 September at 9:00am. Find out more by searching the conference programme here.

References

Carter, P. L. & Welner, K. G. (2013). Closing the opportunity gap: What America must do to give every child an even chance. New York: Oxford University Press.

Henry, W. (2021). Schooling, education, and the reproduction of inequality: Understanding Black and minority ethnic attitudes to learning in two London schools. Race Ethnicity and Education, 24(4), 560–577. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2020.1798386

Jang, H., & Reardon, S. F. (2019). States as sites of educational (in)equality: State contexts and the socioeconomic achievement gradient. AERA Open, 5(3), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419872459

Mignolo, W. D. (2012). Local histories/global designs: Coloniality, subaltern knowledges, and border thinking. Princeton University Press.

Noguera, P. A. (2017). Introduction to ‘racial inequality and education: Patterns and prospects for the future’. The Educational Forum, 81(2), 129–135. https://www.inmotionmagazine.com/er17/pn17-inequality.html

Welsh, R. O. (2016). Student mobility, segregation, and achievement gaps: Evidence from Clark County, Nevada. Urban Education, 53(1), 55–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085916660349

Wolfe, P. (2006). Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native. Journal of Genocide Research, 8(4), 387-409. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623520601056240