Evaluation of School Family System Using GIS

Abstract

This paper proposes a method of school redistricting using geographic information system, with a focus on evaluation of the school family system. Considering the physical environment of education, the method treats school redistricting as a spatial optimization problem, or to be more exact, a spatial allocation problem. The physical environment is measured by the total distance to school, the number of students who cross arterial roads on their way to school, the number of students who belong to different schools after redistricting, and the area of regions that belong to different school districts after redistricting: These measures are used as objective functions in optimization. Constraints include the number of schools, the maximum distance between student and school, and the maximum number of students who cross arterial roads on their way to school. The results of optimization are evaluated in terms of the average and maximum distances to school, the number of students who cross arterial roads on their way to school, the number of students who belong to different schools. after redistricting, etc.
Under the above conditions, the school district system is optimized in two cases. One is the case where the school family system is not introduced, that is, the school district is determined separately for elementary and junior high schools. The other considers the school family system explicitly, where any elementary school district belongs to exactly one junior high school district. The method is applied to school redistricting in Kita-ku, Tokyo.
The average and maximum distances between student and school slightly increased with the introduction of the system. This problem, however, can almost be resolved by adding the maximum distance between student and school as a constraint. Consequently, it is reasonable to say that the school family system is a possible option in terms of the physical environment of education.