In a report looking at the 2006-07 school year, WCPSS demographer Maja Vouk found that 79.6 percent of the 128,260 WCPSS students in that year attended a school within five miles of their home. Of the 102,051 students attending school within five miles of their home, 87,324 were assigned to school and 14,727 by choice.
Students attending a school by choice, such as those going to magnet and year-round schools, or transfers, who use their own transportation, tend to live further from the attending school than “by assignment” students.
In 2003-04, Vouk did the first distance analysis of WCPSS students. In that report, 78.7 percent of the 108,585 WCPSS students attended a school within five miles of their home. Of the 85,468 students attending school within five miles of their home, 71,769 were assigned to school and 13,699 by choice.
In looking at the 2006-07 distance analysis by grade level, the report finds that:
- 89.8% of the elementary school students are assigned to a school within five miles of home, and 99.0 percent are assigned to a school within 10 miles;
- 81.1% of the middle school students are assigned to a school within five miles of home, and 99.0 percent are assigned to a school within 10 miles; and
- 84.2% of high school students are assigned to a school that is within five miles of their home, and 99.5 percent are assigned to a school within 10 miles.
The analysis describes a straight-line distance between the node where the student lives and the student’s school.
You can find the full report online here or the report summary here.