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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Charter schools raise question of new segregation - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Charter schools raise question of new segregation - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Charter schools raise question of new segregation

Published: Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1A

For more than 50 years, the notion that racially mixed schools are in the best interests of all students has been a basic underpinning of America's educational landscape.

But increasingly across the nation, publicly funded charter schools are popping up that call out their intent to cater to specific racial or ethnic groups – African American, Latino or Hmong students, for example, who on average have far lower test scores and far higher dropout rates than whites and some other Asian groups.

Is it a return to segregation? Is it legal?

Those are the questions being debated after Margaret Fortune, a former adviser to two California governors and a leader in education reform circles, successfully petitioned the Sacramento County



Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/17/3409615/charter-schools-raise-question.html#ixzz1EDnmLEJL