Why Schools Matter in Suburban History and Policy Presenters: Jack Dougherty & Jasmin Agosto, Trinity College (CT) Ansley Erickson, Columbia University Heather Schwartz, Teachers College, Columbia Univ. Discussant: Emily Straus, SUNY at Fredonia

Living and Learning on the Line : How Private Housing and Public Education Shaped Metropolitan Hartford Jack Dougherty and Jasmin Agosto Cities, Suburbs, and Schools Project Trinity College (CT) October 2009

Lines that divide city & suburban municipalities

Lines that divide school attendance zones within districts

History of a city and three divergent suburbs

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy?

1) Schools do not fit neatly into mainstream suburban history

Most suburban historians have focused on public policies that promoted housing, highways, lower taxes, white flight, and the ‘American Dream’......but rarely mention suburban schools, or explain their growing significance during the post-war era Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 1) Schools do not fit neatly into mainstream suburban history

Most educational historians focus on rise and decline of big-city school systems...but rarely examine transformation of some rural villages into elite suburban school districts...or variation across metropolitan regions, as resources and reputations of different suburban districts have risen or fallen over time Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 1) Schools do not fit neatly into mainstream suburban history, nor do suburbs fit into educational history

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? Educational historians stopped at the city line, while urban & suburban historians halted at the schoolhouse door Need to bridge the gap between the literatures to help explain suburban growth and variation

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 2) Many suburban schools gradually shifted from migration deterrents to powerful magnets during the post-war era

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 2) Many suburban schools gradually shifted from migration deterrents to powerful magnets during the post-war era West Hartford 1920s: strong housing, but weak school magnet Most permits for 1 or 2-family homes in any CT municipality, 1922

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 2) Many suburban schools gradually shifted from migration deterrents to powerful magnets during the post-war era West Hartford 1920s: strong housing, but weak school magnet High school facility -- “unsatisfactory from practically every standpoint” Elementary schools -- overcrowded that 3 out of 7 ran “illegal” half-day sessions of less than three hours 1923

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 2) Many suburban schools gradually shifted from migration deterrents to powerful magnets during the post-war era West Hartford 1920s: strong housing, but weak school magnet High school facility -- “unsatisfactory from practically every standpoint” Elementary schools -- overcrowded that 3 out of 7 ran “illegal” half-day sessions of less than three hours “There seems no good reason for West Hartford schools to be satisfied with merely achieving standard results… Superior schools are the desire of the people.” 1923

City schools still recognized as superior through the 1950s “Hartford is to be commended for maintaining the ‘gold standard’ of its college preparatory students... [its reputation] is widely and favorably known through eastern collegiate circles.” - Strayer survey, 1937 Pageantry of elite public education at Hartford Public High School, 1938 Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy?

3) Selling & buying of private housing linked to public schooling fueled suburban upward mobility in post-war era.

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 3) Selling & buying of private housing linked to public schooling fueled suburban upward mobility in post-war era. Real estate agents increasingly market selected schools: During 1954 dispute over redrawing school attendance zones, a parent told West Hartford Board of Education: “Whenever real estate men sell property, they tell their clients that they [the buyers] are in the Sedgwick, Webster Hill, or Bugbee areas.”

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 3) Selling & buying of private housing linked to public schooling fueled suburban upward mobility in post-war era. Real estate agents increasingly market selected schools: During 1954 dispute over redrawing school attendance zones, a parent told Board of Education: “Whenever real estate men sell property, they tell their clients that they [the buyers] are in the Sedgwick, Webster Hill, or Bugbee areas.” WH school superintendent criticized agents for promoting “social class consciousness”: “Doesn’t it boil down to some people thinking there is more prestige to going to one school than another?”

1951 Hartford Courant, May 1, 1960 Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 3) Selling & buying of private housing linked to public schooling fueled suburban upward mobility in post-war era. Real estate agents increasingly market selected schools:

1951 Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 3) Selling & buying of private housing linked to public schooling fueled suburban upward mobility in post-war era. Real estate agents increasingly market selected schools:

1951 Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 3) Selling & buying of private housing linked to public schooling fueled suburban upward mobility in post-war era. Government (and private) increasingly market test scores: Hartford Courant, Jan 6, 1999 Once a year in print, 1990s

1951 Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 3) Selling & buying of private housing linked to public schooling fueled suburban upward mobility in post-war era. Government (and private) increasingly market test scores: Hartford Courant, Jan 6, 1999 Once a year in print, 1990sInstantly on web, 2000s

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 3) Selling & buying of private housing linked to public schooling fueled suburban upward mobility in post-war era. How much more were homebuyers willing to pay to live on the higher-scoring side of a school attendance zone line?

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 3) Selling & buying of private housing linked to public schooling fueled suburban upward mobility in post-war era. How much more were homebuyers willing to pay to live on the higher-scoring side of a school attendance zone line?

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 3) Selling & buying of private housing linked to public schooling fueled suburban upward mobility in post-war era. How much more were homebuyers willing to pay to live on the higher-scoring side of a school attendance zone line? From 1996 to 2005, a one- standard deviation increase in test scores associated with 2% increase in price ($3,800). Yet West Hartford buyers became even more sensitive over time to rising percentages of non-white students.

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 3) Selling & buying of private housing linked to public schooling fueled suburban upward mobility in post-war era. Suburban consumers become increasingly motivated by the logic of buying into “good neighborhood” for “good schools”: Data: US Census, Current Population Survey

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 5) Diverse suburbs vary by race... Dougherty et al, 2007

Q: Why do schools matter in suburban history and policy? 5) Diverse suburbs vary by race but also fiscal stress, which is directly linked to education costs & tax capacity. Potential for political realignment between urban vs. suburban + rural areas Myron Orfield & Thomas Luce, Connecticut Metropatterns, 2003 Dougherty et al, 2007