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Gerrymandering In A Selection Of Central Alabama School Districts, Rebekah Cahill

Honors Theses

School district gerrymandering, the process of drawing district lines that intentionally steep the demographics to create a more homogeneous student population, has been a significant factor in cementing Alabama’s reputation as being academically underperforming. This is especially true in central Alabama’s Jefferson County, where forced integration and shifting area demographics have resulted in a significant number of unusual school district secessions. In this paper, I argue that school districts within Jefferson County, Alabama, have created boundaries that put certain students at an educational disadvantage, which has had significant impacts on third grade reading achievement in struggling districts. I perform a …