Getting from Here to There: The Role of Geography in Community College Students’ Transfer Decisions

A Brief History of the Geography of Education Policy: Ongoing Conversations and Generative Tensions

“…Things are changing. Mixed-methods geospatial approaches are making inroads into exploring increasingly complex questions in education policy research (Hogrebe & Tate, 2013; Jabbar, Sanchez, & Epstein, 2017; Jocson & Thorne-Wallington, 2013; Yoon & Lubienski, 2017). This research is bringing qualitative and quantitative data together intentionally and meaningfully.…”

“…Similarly, in a study that sought to understand comprehensively how community college students’ agency interacts with the constraints of geography in the forms of distance, location, and cost, Jabbar et al (2017) applied a convergent mixed-methods research design. Their study used a survey that collected spatial data (i.e., georeferenced data with coordinates based on longitude and latitude) and nonspatial data (i.e., preferences, constraints, and other factors).…”

Geospatial Analysis: A New Window Into Educational Equity, Access, and Opportunity

“…Indeed, there have been increased calls for moving beyond post-post-positivistic geospatial research and toward more mixed and qualitative methods (Elwood & Cope, 2009; Lubienski & Lee, 2017; Yoon & Lubienski, 2018), as well as the application of critical perspectives in GIS research (Hogrebe & Tate, 2012; Jabbar et al, 2017; Yoon, Gulson, & Lubienski, 2018). Those calls are now being answered, and more qualitative GIS studies have emerged (Bell, 2007; Jabbar et al, 2017; Yoon, Lubienski, & Lee, 2018), including “participatory GIS” (Dunn, 2007; Elwood, 2006; Weiner & Harris, 2008; Yoon & Lubienski, 2018), those that engage marginalized communities and their members (Ghose & Welcenbach, 2018; Hogrebe & Tate, 2012; Kwan & Ding, 2008), or those that are emancipatory in nature (Sui, 2015). Mixed-method approaches invite both etic and emic perspectives, giving deeper accounts of “place” and pushing GIS research to consider not only multiple ways of knowing but also multiple ontologies.…”

“…Jabbar et al (2017) conducted one of the few GIS studies focused on higher education. They examined the spatial distribution, and hence accessibility, of 4-year-institution options available to community college students in central Texas.…”

“…However, the relationship between school access and family socioeconomic status was inconclusive, exhibiting the similar "unpatterned-inequality" (p. 483) found by other accessibility studies. Jabbar et al (2017) conducted one of the few GIS studies focused on higher education. They examined the spatial distribution, and hence accessibility, of 4-yearinstitution options available to community college students in central Texas.…”