Gentri-Migration: A Contextualized Journey into the Urbanization of Suburban Schools

Abstract

As urban neighborhoods are gentrified, urban natives are often displaced and must find other housing. This study will explore the impact migration of urban natives has on suburban school districts. The purpose of this narrative inquiry is to explore what factors contribute to teachers’ continued work at suburban schools as the school demographics shift from urban native migration. The goal of the research is to find themes that can help prepare new teachers to work in diverse settings and increase teacher retention in urban areas. Interviews and journals will serve as a basis for data analysis to compare and contrast themes when the teachers stay during demographic shifts. Through in-depth interviews and journals, the researcher will story her experiences. The researcher will seek insight into what issues, if any, educators faced as diversity in student populations increased, and what is at the heart of the teachers’ stories of staying during a shift in demographics. The inquiry will be conducted in the primary school district of a diverse small city, adjacent to a major city in the southwest United States. The researcher will use the participants’ stories adjacent to her own to identify common themes as the suburban school district experienced an increase in socioeconomic diversity. The teachers’ experiences will be collected through an interviewing process in which they will be asked a series of open-ended questions. Research questions are as follows:

• What effects do gentrification have on surrounding suburban school districts?

• What are issues faced by teachers on a changing demographic landscape?

• What are some elements of stories that act as counter narrative to stories to leave by?