"The racial gap is widening with the increase in charter schools in Arizona and other states due to a lack of regulation and enforcement of existing civil-rights regulations, a group of researchers based at the University of California-Los Angeles said in a new report.
The UCLA Civil Rights Project report, 'Choice Without Equity,' revealed what researchers deemed a troubling pattern of racial stratification in charter schools across the country."
The UCLA Civil Rights Project report, 'Choice Without Equity,' revealed what researchers deemed a troubling pattern of racial stratification in charter schools across the country."
They said they believe state and federal intervention can turn the trend around.
Gary Orfield, the project's co-director, said the Obama administration's recent grant programs, such as Race to the Top, and charter-school grants that encourage the expansion of charters and development of new ones, are a timely opportunity for regulation.
"We don't want Race to the Top to become a race to the past," Orfield said, referring to the new federal grant program meant to raise school achievement.
Based on data collected from 2000 to 2007 by the National Center for Education Statistics, the researchers found patterns that indicate charter schools in Arizona, California and other Western states have become havens for "White flight."
Of the 98,728 students enrolled in Arizona charter schools in 2007, 52 percent were White, 34 percent Latino, 7 percent Black, 4 percent American Indian and 3 percent Asian.