Abstract:
This work explores the social and economic influence public school boundary changes have on class reproduction at the community level. The boundary change implemented by Fairfax County Public Schools (Virginia) at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year affecting Annandale High School, W.T. Woodson High School, and Thomas A. Edison High School serves as a case study to explore this topic. For the purposes of this project I focus solely on the boundary change as it relates to W.T. Woodson High School and Annandale High School. In crafting this thesis, I reviewed relevant literature and analyzed secondary data regarding the aforementioned schools and the communities they support. The result of this work informs subsequent sociological research regarding school boundary changes and is intended to serve as an example of how these changes should be critically assessed in order to minimize myriad forms of social inequality that can be tied to them.
