Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Leadership & Policy Studies

Committee Chair

Charisse Gulosino

Committee Member

Angela Brown

Committee Member

Sharon Griffin

Committee Member

Stephen Zanskas

Abstract

This dissertation examines the geography of educational inequality in Shelby County, Tennessee, arguing that where students live and attend school is not random but the outcome of historical, socioeconomic, and political forces that shape access to opportunity. Using secondary data from state, federal, and U.S. Census sources, the study employs tract-level stepwise linear regression and Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping to investigate whether “place is destiny” for public school students. Results reveal a powerful and persistent relationship between socioeconomic need and educational outcomes. The Socioeconomic Need Index (SNI) is the strongest predictor of academic underperformance, chronic absenteeism, and lower accountability ratings, even when controlling for charter presence, urban designation, pupil–teacher ratio, and the proportion of students with disabilities. Spatial clustering demonstrates that high-performing, low-need schools are concentrated in affluent suburban municipalities, while low-performing, high-need schools are located in North and South Memphis and Millington. These patterns mirror the county’s racial and economic segregation and expose an east–west gradient of educational opportunity. The findings substantiate critical geographic theory by showing how systemic forces, rather than individual or institutional failings, shape outcomes across place. Resource insulation in affluent suburbs and mobility barriers in high-need tracts reproduce inequity, while charter expansion offers only limited mitigation. The analysis challenges neoliberal assumptions that market-based reforms foster equity and underscores the need for targeted, place-based policy interventions. Shelby County’s fragmented district structure—marked by a failed merger, rapid demerger, and state takeover—further entrenches disparities, isolating Memphis’s predominantly Black and economically disadvantaged schools within an inequitable accountability regime. This research advances theoretical linkages between critical geography and race, revealing how spatialized systems of privilege and punishment sustain educational injustice. By integrating GIS mapping with critical analysis, the study contributes a replicable framework for visualizing and confronting structural inequities in education. It concludes that geography does not merely correlate with educational outcomes—it organizes them. Achieving equity requires reimagining accountability, redistributing resources, and replacing punitive systems with justice-centered, place-conscious reform so that no child’s future is determined by their ZIP code.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.”

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

Open Access

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