Project Director

Davis, Rachael Tawbush

Department Examiner

Lynberg, Jennifer; Philipp, Stephanie

Department

Dept. of Education

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

School district gerrymandering, the process of drawing district lines that intentionally steep the demographics to create a more homogeneous student population, has been a significant factor in cementing Alabama’s reputation as being academically underperforming. This is especially true in central Alabama’s Jefferson County, where forced integration and shifting area demographics have resulted in a significant number of unusual school district secessions. In this paper, I argue that school districts within Jefferson County, Alabama, have created boundaries that put certain students at an educational disadvantage, which has had significant impacts on third grade reading achievement in struggling districts. I perform a statistical analysis to research the following question: To what extent is third-grade student achievement correlated with the percentage of low-income students attending either the local school or local educational agency? Using the Pearson Correlation Coefficient, r, to establish a relationship, I find that there is a highly significant relationship between a school’s third grade reading achievement and the percentage of students enrolled in free and reduced lunch (r=-0.94). I reject the null hypothesis, which states there is no statistical correlation between student socio-economic class and third grade reading achievement. Rather, I accept the alternative hypothesis, stating that there is a statistical correlation between student socio-economic class and third grade reading achievement. I then discuss factors contributing to the observed achievement gap through analyzing extreme variation in defining characteristics, including racial demographic, median household income, per-pupil spending, per-pupil expenditures, teacher credentials, and teacher-to-student ratio. This data is presented alongside a legal discussion of how these districts have been able to uphold segregative school district secessions.

Degree

B. S.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Science.

Date

12-2023

Subject

Gerrymandering--Jefferson County (Ala.); School districts--Jefferson County (Ala.); Reading (Elementary)--Jefferson County (Ala.)

Keyword

Educational inequality; educational opportunity; education; gerrymandering; Alabama; segregation

Discipline

Elementary Education

Document Type

Theses

Extent

45 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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