The Geography of Local Education Reform: An Analysis of Renaissance 2010 and Gentrification

Since 2004 the Chicago Public Schools has implemented Renaissance 2010—a policy of closing failing schools and opening new, usually charter, schools in their stead. While this policy has received support from traditional Chicago institutions as well as Chicago’s business and civic elite, individuals in communities affected by school openings and closings pose an alternative narrative. Many of these individuals claim that Renaissance 2010 harms their children’s academic progress. Some even claim that Renaissance 2010 is a method to attract middle-class families to the area by closing and rebranding community schools as charter schools. This paper seeks to test that second claim, specifically the relationship between Renaissance 2010 and gentrification. Information on the locations of school openings and closings, demographics of schools between 2000 and 2010, and 2000 census and 2009 American Community Survey data reveal that there is a significant, positive relationship between the locations of school changes and neighborhood gentrification. However, new schools opening in these communities serve the same demographics of all other schools in the area. While these findings do not speak to intention or causality and therefore cannot fully validate community members’ alternative narrative, they do give credence to their claim