Transportation and Geographic Constraints to Educational Access and School Integration in a Context of School Choice By Ngaire Honey Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Leadership and Policy Studies September 30, 2017 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Claire E. Smrekar, Ph.D Carolyn J. Heinrich, Ph.D Joanne W. Golann, Ph.D James C. Fraser, Ph.D Copyright © 2017 by Ngaire Noelle Honey All Rights Reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to all of the individuals who have supported me in this process. I would like to thank my advisor, Claire Smrekar, for all of her guidance and encouragement over the course of my doctoral studies. Additionally, I appreciate the thoughtful feedback and support provided by my other committee members: Carolyn Heinrich, Joanne Golann, and James Fraser; as well as the training and advice provided by other faculty with whom I have had the pleasure to work during my tenure at Vanderbilt. Special thanks to all my fellow doctoral students for their support, feedback, and friendship. I am quite grateful to have completed this program with such a caring, encouraging, and driven cohort, including Dominique Baker, Richard Blissett, Chris Redding, Ben Skinner, and Walker Swain. I would not be the scholar I am today without the support of these colleagues and friends. I would also like to thank the many friends who have provided emotional support outside of academe during my studies, in particular Victoria, Anna, Rachel, Miquela, Jeff, Chantelle, and Michael. Most importantly I want to thank my wonderful family for all of their encouragement, support, inspiration, and love. I want to thank my dad, Rex, for instilling in me a love for learning. I would like to thank my mom, Sandra, for always encouraging me to follow my dreams and supporting me through the ups and the downs. My sisters, Rochelle and Larisa, have always been two of my best friends and have served as sources of inspiration professionally. I am also fortunate to have loving and supportive in-laws and extended family who have been there for me and cheered me on in this journey, including Michael E., Mary Lynn, Michael H., Jonny, Ali, Jim, Judy, Larry, among others. Finally, my amazing husband, Adam, has been my rock and closest companion on this journey and I am immensely grateful for all of his love and patience as I completed my graduate degrees and as I pursue my academic interests. I would not be the person or scholar I am today without all of my wonderful colleagues, friends, and family. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................. ii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1 Nashville Context ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Conceptual Framework ........................................................................................................................... 11 Research Questions ................................................................................................................................ 16 2. Literature Review .................................................................................................................................... 18 School Resegregation: History and Concepts ......................................................................................... 18 Geography of Opportunity ...................................................................................................................... 20 Geography of Opportunity Framework .............................................................................................. 20 Geography of Opportunity and Education .......................................................................................... 21 Geography of Opportunity: How Education Contexts Matter ............................................................ 24 Transportation Expansion and Schools ................................................................................................... 27 Educational Opportunity: Academic and Social Impacts of (De)Segregated Schools............................. 30 School Choice and Segregation ............................................................................................................... 34 Evidence of Role of School Choice in School Segregation .................................................................. 36 Heterogeneity in School Choice Set Formation ...................................................................................... 38 Parent and Researcher Conceptualizations of Quality ....................................................................... 40 Lack of Information and Differential Access to Information .............................................................. 41 Disparities in Capital ........................................................................................................................... 43 3. Data ......................................................................................................................................................... 51 Operationalization and Measures........................................................................................................... 51 Segregation and Integration ............................................................................................................... 51 Distance ............................................................................................................................................... 52 Student Characteristics ....................................................................................................................... 53 School Characteristics ......................................................................................................................... 53 Neighborhood Characteristics ............................................................................................................ 54 Sample/ population ................................................................................................................................ 54 iv 4. Part I ........................................................................................................................................................ 56 Part I Methods ........................................................................................................................................ 56 Part I Results ........................................................................................................................................... 57 Part I Discussion ...................................................................................................................................... 96 5. Part II ..................................................................................................................................................... 101 Part II Methods ..................................................................................................................................... 101 Part II Results ........................................................................................................................................ 106 Group Trends and Common Trends Assumption.............................................................................. 106 Results of Regression and Differences-in-Differences Models ......................................................... 118 Subgroup Analysis Results ................................................................................................................ 125 Part II Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 133 6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 145 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................................. 148 Appendix A: School Characteristics ........................................................................................................................... 166 B: Working Sample .................................................................................................................................... 169 C: Alternative Integration Measures ......................................................................................................... 171 D: Subgroup Placebo Tests........................................................................................................................ 176 E: Student Fixed Effects Models ............................................................................................................... 183 v LIST OF TABLES Table