What’s Her Number? Zip Codes Tell Us A Lot About Public School Quality
In the old saw about real estate, the three most important factors are location, location, location. The same is true of our nation’s public schools. A location that is desirable usually has good public schools because good schools attract families and businesses, which drive up real estate prices. In turn, high-priced real estate increases property taxes, which help fund public schools, which attract more affluent families. And so on.Location matters for schools in rural areas, where family farms are fading into history, as well as for segregated and impoverished inner-city neighborhoods where many businesses have shut down and middle-class families have moved away.
When it comes to location, a ZIP code—a mere five digits—can frequently describe the quality of the education that public school students receive and sometimes even the direction their lives will take. During this school year, NEA Today will be visiting Zip codes across the nation to examine the significance of location on public education. Here’s part one of the series:
Zip Codes:
53916 – Trenton, WI: Where Have All the Country Schools Gone?
78237 – San Antonio, TX: A Decades-Old Battle
37206 – East Nashville, TN: Amid Great Challenges, Progress
20814 – Bethesda-Chevy Chase, MD.: Exclusive and Inclusive
95206 – Stockton, CA: Pain and Promise
53916 – Trenton, WI: Where Have All the Country Schools Gone?
78237 – San Antonio, TX: A Decades-Old Battle
37206 – East Nashville, TN: Amid Great Challenges, Progress
20814 – Bethesda-Chevy Chase, MD.: Exclusive and Inclusive
95206 – Stockton, CA: Pain and Promise
53916 – TRENTON, WISCONSIN: WHERE HAVE ALL THE COUNTRY SCHOOLS GONE?
Beverly Smith was a teaching assistant at Trenton Elementary School in a tiny Wisconsin farming town before the school closed in June 2013 after more than half a century.
Like many rural schools shuttering their doors around the country, Trenton Elementary consolidated with a larger school—Prairie View Elementary—which absorbed Trenton’s nearly 100 students and six classroom teachers, but not its three teachers’ assistants. For educators at small, country schools, there are no