Neighborhood Environment and Influences

Research on Context – Assessment of

Neighborhood Environment and Influences

Two Suggested Activities

that could be used as instruments for assessing neighborhood environment and influences

In researching how to assess neighborhood environment and influences on students, there were very few methods found to assess these factors in an authentic way; it appears that in this area of assessment (aside from its relation to individual health) there is a need for more studies and exploration to be conducted.

However, our Research on Context PLC group found two ideas to suggest, for how to assess neighborhood environment and influences. .

      1.   Neighborhood Observation/Survey

[This is basically the activity from Part II (The Surrounding Community) of the MAT 612 Funds of Knowledge Community Inquiry Activity (C.I.A.) Project.]

A drive around the neighborhoods and cultural centers near the school, focusing on the questions asked in Part II but also, as needed, creating more questions to answer, is one way to assess neighborhood environment and influences on the students.

Also, as suggested in “Teaching Diverse Learners: Principles for Culturally Responsive Teaching” (a reading from MAT 600), to “gain cross-cultural skills necessary for successful exchange and collaboration”, it is also recommended to visit local community centers, where they exist.

      2.   Demographic Research

Another approach you can take to find out about neighborhood environment and influences is to conduct some demographic research online. This can be done in a few ways.

[If conducting this type of research, you should first find out the boundaries of the school—where students come to the school from. The school’s website will likely have at least general information about this, and the school’s district website will likely have more information and possibly a map of schools’ boundaries.]

The first way is to go to a major real estate site (we tried it at Remax.com), and search for available homes. (At Remax {and possibly other sites} an advanced search can be done which allows you to search for a specific address.) The zip code or address of the school can be entered to show what is selling around the school, how much it is selling for, how big the homes are, how many are selling (all of which may give some indication of general socioeconomic status in the area. After doing this for the school’s address or zip code, use the school boundaries to search in at least a few more neighborhoods where residents attend the school, and look for the socioeconomic information for those places also.

A second way—which can also provide other family information—is to go a demographic data site like http://zipskinny.com/ or http://www.city-data.com/, and enter a zip code that is in the school’s boundaries. You will be presented with information about educational levels, race, gender, age groups, occupation, marital status, household incomes, educational levels, and population density. However, there are two drawbacks to this information: 1) information is usually only available by zip code and not for individual neighborhoods, and 2) as of September 2011, zipskinny.com information is only from the 2000 census, and city-data.com information is not as of 2010 or 2011.

A third way to help determine neighborhood environment is to look at limited census data information directly. The 2010 Census Interactive Population Map, located at http://2010.census.gov/2010census/popmap/, can be searched for areas as small as a census block level (about a neighborhood street), with the option to examine population, race, ethnicity, age/sex, and housing status.