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Category Archives: Student Web Posts
Do Test Scores Matter?
Never having gone to a school fair I thought it would be interesting to experience one in Hartford. On December 15th, Trinity College hosted a Regional School Choice Magnet Fair. This was definitely a new experience for me. First I was shocked … Continue reading → Continue reading
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May the Best School Win
I attended the school choice fair not quite sure what to expect as I left my bed on a nippy Saturday morning. In my head sat the quaint image of a few tables and some science fair boards, awkward teachers … Continue reading → Continue reading
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My First School Choice Fair
After spending an entire semester learning about school choice, I thought that I was more than prepared to attend my first school choice fair. Shockingly, when I arrived to the school choice fair on the morning of December 15th, I … Continue reading → Continue reading
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Can racial segregation create successful schools?
The quality of public education and housing demographics are inextricably linked; most American families live in racially and socioeconomically homogeneous communities that dictate their neighborhood school demographics and the quality of their local school (Mickelson, 2011). There is a plethora … Continue reading → Continue reading
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Connecticut ‘Takes the Wheel’ on Education Reform: Project Concern
Amanda Gurren–Trinity College Connecticut ‘Takes the Wheel’ on Education Reform: Project Concern Conventionally, students attend school in the district where they live, but the option to choose other educational alternatives has been a part of Connecticut’s state policy for years. One … Continue reading → Continue reading
Posted in history2
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The Home Owner’s Loan Corporation “Redlining” Map and Effects on Hartford, CT
What Is It? In 1933, The Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC) was established as part of the New Deal in response to the numerous home foreclosures during the 1920’s and early 1930’s. The HOLC helped hopeless homeowners refinance their mortgages … Continue reading → Continue reading
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Hartford’s Great Migration Johnson’s Eyes
During the years 1910 to 1930, there was a huge shift in the demographics of Northern cities. This period known as the Great Migration was a period of mass movement for Southern African Americans in search of job opportunities and … Continue reading → Continue reading
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Race Restrictive Covenants in Property Deeds (Edited)
“No persons of any race except the white race shall use or occupy any building on any lot except that this covenant shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of a different race employed by an owner or tenant.” This … Continue reading → Continue reading
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Hartford: the Poster Child for Portfolio-Based School Reform
Setting the stage—an overview of The Hartford Public Schools (HPS) reform: Urban education is in a state of crisis and reform efforts must be reevaluated in order to properly address and confront the systemic issues that plague urban school districts. … Continue reading → Continue reading
Posted in essay2012
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The Missing Link: The Connection between Housing and School Policy in the Sheff v. O’Neill Case
The court’s decision in favor of Brown v. Board in 1954 that declared separate but equal education for black and white students unconstitutional gave African Americans hope in their fight for true equal opportunities. In a post Brown era, residents in the … Continue reading → Continue reading
Posted in essay2012
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School Desegregation in Hartford: Insight from a Florida Girl
The majority of my education took place in Polk County, FL. One of the largest counties in the state, Polk County is located smack dab in the center—amid swampland and just a quick drive away from Walt Disney World. I … Continue reading → Continue reading
Posted in essay2012
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Is There Hope for Hartford? The Inclusive Zoning Policy of Montgomery County Has Had Dramatic Impacts on the Educational System
Education is often regarded as a primary means of social mobility in the United States. This disregards that some children have opportunities to top schools, while others do not have this advantage. The opportunity to attend high-achieving schools depends on what … Continue reading → Continue reading
Posted in essay2012
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What’s Space Got to Do With it? How School Environment Influences Learning
Learning Spaces in Magnet Schools Introduction Visit any school for the first time and you will immediately notice the environment that you enter. Believe it or not, a school’s environment can play an important role in the school’s overall perception … Continue reading → Continue reading
Posted in essay2012
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Does buying a home also buy you entrance into a school?
This home-buying simulation is designed to help readers discover how wealth and housing affects schooling opportunity. Readers will randomly choose a demographic of a Hartford family and will navigate the home-buying and school selection process, based on this demographic, using … Continue reading → Continue reading
Posted in essay2012
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Test for Student
My EDU 308 students are writing web essays. I am testing embedding google maps into a WordPress post for them. View Hartford CT in a larger map Continue reading
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Are All Magnet Schools Created Equal?
Families in Hartford and surrounding suburbs of the Greater Hartford area are given many options when it comes to where they send their kids to schools. Students no longer necessarily attend their neighborhood or town public school but have an … Continue reading → Continue reading
Posted in essay2012
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How to Lie with Maps
The following maps are generated from the same data but were altered in style (purposely) to portray Connecticut school district-level racial data in two very different ways. I sought out to create one map depicting sharp racial divisions between districts … Continue reading → Continue reading
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How to Lie Using Maps
Both of these maps were generated using the exact same information, however both maps portray two very different interpretations. Surprisingly enough, just like statistical data can be manipulated to show to sharply contrasting graphs, simply manipulating the legend and the number of … Continue reading → Continue reading
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How to lie with maps
In merging school district racial data from the Sheff v. O’Neil case with Connecticut town boundaries, I was able to create two maps that showed two different understandings of racial diversity with the same data. In order to manipulate … Continue reading → Continue reading
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Lie With Maps
In class we used a Google Fusion Table to combine a map of Hartford and its surrounding neighborhoods with data on the demographics of each Connecticut town. We then adjusted the map’s settings to color each town depending on what … Continue reading → Continue reading
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