| This thesis deals with determining locations for current elementary schools offering the English-Chinese Bilingual kindergarten (ECBK) program for preschool children in Edmonton, and simultaneously optimally allocating them to new school locations. The p-median model generates excellent results for kindergarten locations, which to a large extent reduce the average distance from residences to schools. However, the application of the p-median model is based upon prior assumptions regarding constraints and target function. Therefore a survey was applied to validate the main assumptions, and to identify the reasons why parents sent their children to kindergartens as well as the factors influencing parents who are selecting ECBKs. The results indicated parents are more concerned about "quality" such as the quality of education and teacher quality rather than travel time when they select a kindergarten. The factor of travel time or transportation mode doesn't appear to significantly influence school selection. |
