Contemporary patterns and issues of school segregation and white flight in U.S. metropolitan areas: towards spatial inquiries

The geography of education issues has long been an under-researched area in geography literature. This article reviews studies on school segregation and white flight and emphasizes the importance of investigating these educational issues within U.S. metropolitan areas. We discuss the characteristics of school segregation and white flight as a consequence of contemporary educational policies and the increasing diversity of public school populations. In consideration of the intrinsic geographic nature of the aforementioned educational phenomena, we call for spatial social science research to explore new trends and patterns of white flight and school segregation in U.S. metropolitan contexts using advanced geospatial approaches as location-referenced educational data become increasingly available.