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Open Access Publications from the University of California

About

Welcome to the Berkeley Review of Education, a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal published online and edited by students from the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. The Berkeley Review of Education engages issues of educational diversity and equity within cognitive, developmental, sociohistorical, linguistic, and cultural contexts. The BRE encourages submissions on research and theory from senior and emerging scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers. To submit a paper, please click on "Submit article to this journal" in the side bar.

Articles

Geography and College Choice: A Systematic Literature Review Using Critical Race Spatial Analysis

This systematic literature review analyzed the theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches higher education researchers used to examine the intersections between geography and student college choice. The literature review was guided by Critical Race Spatial Analysis, a conceptual framework and methodological approach for studying the interconnections between race, racism, space, and educational opportunity. The synthesis and analysis of 24 peer-reviewed empirical journal articles revealed that higher education researchers typically failed to employ a theoretical framework to conceptualize these intersections or relied on race-neutral economic perspectives to study geographic disparities in college choice. The analysis of the methods used by higher education researchers found that scholars over-relied on quantitative research approaches, such as regression analyses. These findings suggest that future research examining the intersections between geography and college choice should consider employing critical, raced-gendered, and spatial theories, as well as qualitative or mixed methods to address pressing gaps in college choice research.