The Promise of Integrated Schools
New research shows more districts opting for diverse schools, as others face resistance.
Kristina Carr and Hanna Benn deliver flowers to their teachers Air Base Elementary School, one of the first in Miami-Dade County to integrate black students 50 years ago. Wilfredo Lee / AP
Charlotte, North Carolina, became a national model for school desegregation in the 1970s, busing students to balance the racial composition of its schools. Decades later, Charlotte is a city where no racial or ethnic group constitutes a majority of residents—whites (45 percent), blacks (35 percent), and Latinos (13 percent) top the city’s multicultural mix. And within this diverse and fast-growing urban metropolis, the city’s students are once again segregated by race and class, with levels reminiscent of the pre-1970s era.
It’s not uncommon to find public schools across the country with students isolated by race and income. As headlines chronicle the problem, the debate continues—from the court of public opinion to state courts—over how to integrate schools. Two recent reports offer the latest research to point to hopeful trends as more school districts pursue integration—with promising benefits shown for students of color and their white peers in racially diverse classrooms. Yet the research does not reveal how to bridge the gap between belief and action. Policymakers and parents who both support integration, and are universally willing to expend political and social capital to bring about racially and socioeconomically diverse schools. Instead, efforts to make that a reality have ultimately lagged.
It’s not uncommon to find public schools across the country with students isolated by race and income. As headlines chronicle the problem, the debate continues—from the court of public opinion to state courts—over how to integrate schools. Two recent reports offer the latest research to point to hopeful trends as more school districts pursue integration—with promising benefits shown for students of color and their white peers in racially diverse classrooms. Yet the research does not reveal how to bridge the gap between belief and action. Policymakers and parents who both support integration, and are universally willing to expend political and social capital to bring about racially and socioeconomically diverse schools. Instead, efforts to make that a reality have ultimately lagged.
The first of two companion reports issued by The Century Foundation, a progressive policy and research think tank, tracks the growth of socioeconomic integration in education over the last 20 years. In 1996, the group identified just two school districts nationwide that used socioeconomic status as a factor in student assignment policies. By 2007, the number of districts with socioeconomic-integration polices had increased twentyfold, with roughly 40 using this strategy. Today, 91 school jurisdictions deliberately blend affluent and less-advantaged children, totaling over 4 million students, about 8 percent of K-12 public-school enrollment. For contrast, there are more than 15,000 school districts in the U.S., some 50 million students in K-12 schools, and 92 percent of students remain in racially and socioeconomically homogenous schools. Still, researchers say the raw numbers—comprising traditional public schools and charter schools—indicate a dramatic shift.
“The real story here is about the momentum,” said Kimberly Quick, the co-author of the school integration study and a policy associate at the foundation. “The districts and charter networks identified intentionally, and in most cases voluntarily, chose to integrate their schools during an era in which integration was under-discussed and under-supported.” Noting that both Acting Secretary of Education John King and the White House have recently made school integration The Future of School Integration - The Atlantic: