Schools in Southampton: A Quantitative Approach to School Location, Closure and Staffing
研究了1965-1976年英国出生率下降导致学龄儿童减少、学校关闭的现象，以南安普敦为例，用多维尺度分析探讨拟关闭学校的社会特征，并分析家长择校的影响，发现基于固定师生比的人员配置规则使资源从最需要的学校流失。
Between 1965 and 1976 the number of children born in the UK decreased by about one third. The fall in the number of births was followed by a fall in the number of children on roll in compulsory education, which resulted in many schools being closed. This paper examines the dynamics of falling rolls in the city of Southampton. Multidimensional scaling techniques are used to explore the social characteristics of the schools proposed for closure. The paper examines also the consequences of the exercise of parental choice of school. It is shown that social dynamics and staffing rules based on constant pupil/teacher ratios remove resources from the schools that are most in need of them.