Sunday, May 24, 2009

Issue 7 – Has Resegregation Diminished the Impact of Brown?

Like all other educational issues, this one is very complicated.  In order to answer the question, you have to understand the history of desegregation.  I looked up additional information on the History Channel website and found the following information.  The first major event happened in 1896 in the case Plessey v. Fergusen where it was ruled that “separate but equal” was constitutional according to the 14th amendment.  In 1954, this ruling was reversed in Brown v. Board of Education.  However, it was very difficult for the federal government to enforce this law.  In 1957, the “Little Rock Nine” brought attention to the struggle of true desegregation.  The Arkansas governor tried to send in the National Guard to STOP the nine African American students from entering Central High School.  Not until President Eisenhower and the federal government stepped in by sending the National Guard and Army to protect the students, were they able to safely enter.  The 1960s brought President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Act, which helped increase the desegregation movement in America. 

So the question is: Has Resegregation diminished the impact of Brown?  Gary Orfield, Erica D. Frankenberg, and Chungmei Lee say “Nearly half a century ago, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) initiated decades of progress in the struggle to desegregate public schools. But now that progress has been reversed: Segregation has been increasing almost everywhere for a decade.”  On the other side, William G. Wraga writes, “Although desegregation has yet to be satisfactorily achieved and gains toward that end stalled during the 1990s – halted by federal court decisions – the impact of the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown decision remains significant.”

I thought it was very interesting to read about how different diversity in America is today compared to the 1960s.  Latinos are quickly becoming one of the largest minority groups and diversity is not isolated to the west and south anymore.  The most segregated group by race and income is the Latinos.  According to the The Civil Rights Project in 2002, “As both Latino and African American enrollments outpace the growth of white enrollment, every region is becoming more heavily minority.” 

Orfield, Frankenberg, and Lee feel that court actions since the 1970s have caused the progress of desegregation to be reversed.  They also discuss residential patterns and school choice programs, but do not think that these have played a significant role in resegregation.  They feel that the problem of resegregation is now on educators to solve.  Orfied et al. cite The Civil Rights Project again, “Resegregation would not matter so much if racial segregation were not linked to unequal education. Nine-tenths of intensely segregated schools for African Americans and Latinos have high concentrations of poverty.” 

Wraga discusses the three ideals of American education that were affirmed through the Brown decision: Unifying function of public education, educating enlightened citizens, and publicly supported education.”  He says, “No longer can these ideals be taken for granted.”  One of Wraga’s main points is that school choice programs are causing resegregaton.  I thought this was very interesting: “Proposals for school choice, charter schools, and magnet schools often promote segregation in a variety of ways, targeting students on the basis of academic or vocational ability, aptitude, or aspiration; gender; and even race.” 

I have two questions that I think would make for great discussion:

  1. Do you think school choice programs cause resegregation?
  2. How do educators fix the problem of unequal education caused by segregation?  

50 comments:

  1. http://www.civilrights.org/resources/civilrights101/desegregation.html

    School Desegregation and Equal Educational Opportunity

    "EARLIER, education researchers Robert L. Crain and Rita E. Mahard reviewed a number of studies looking at the link between desegregation and achievement and found that where desegregation is begun early, it often resulted in educational gains for African American children. These conclusions are bolstered by the National Assessment for Educational Progress, a large-scale study for the Department of Education that showed major gains for minority children in the South during the 1970s when desegregation occurred on a large scale."

    "THE "SECOND GENERATION" OF SCHOOL DESEGREGATION PLANS, as Gary Orfield calls them, seek to address these and other issues. These plans continue to call for desegregation, including mixing mandatory and voluntary plans, magnet schools, and "controlled" choice (i.e., student choice of schools consistent with desegregation goals). But they also include educational improvements such as pre-school programs, early grade reading programs, reduced class sizes, and counseling. The tools for this new generation of plans are likely to be complex and require careful management by desegregation advocates in assessing their impact on long-term goals."

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  2. In response to, do school choice programs cause resegregation? Wraga seems to be saying that one of the most important ideals that Brown V BOE affirmed is the right to an equal public education for all students, he goes on to imply that NCLB is chipping away at this responsibility of state governments on page 112 he cites the propensity and move towards privatization in several areas of education from vouchers and school choice to outsourcing custodial services. He goes on to express concern that the pursuit of profits will soon overshadow the “public voice- and possibly the public interest.” (p112.) Orfield by contrast states that “The data also suggest that private school choice does not play a large role in the trend toward increased public school segregation.” (p104.)
    When parents decide where to buy a home one of the primary things they consider is the school system. If they wish for their children to attend a school where all of the children look alike, they will buy a home in a more affluent suburb where if children are of a different race from their own child, they will be of the same economic status. The true reality of the issue, is the economic factor, one has only to cruise the neighborhoods of school systems where diversity is not the norm. Cruise a neighborhood in Sheffield Lake although not affluent over 90 percent white, Bay Village, Bath, Amherst or Vermillion. There are very few minority students in the mentioned districts, and charter schools do not exist. In districts such as Cleveland Public, Lorain City and Elyria minority students are the norm. In Lorain City we have approximately 50 percent white, 25 percent African-American, and 25 percent Latino. My children attend school in Lorain City because; I want them to have the experience of going to school with people who are different from them. I want them to understand that different is not bad or wrong; it rather should be respected and understood. In these economically disadvantaged school systems charter schools continue to grow, we have two new ones opening in the fall. Children are taking advantage of the school choice option where they can receive vouchers to attend private religious schools from the government this is a direct result of NCLB. So back around to the question, do I think that school choice programs contribute to resegregation? In a way I do, but I think it has less to do with parents wanting to put their child in a segregated environment and more that they want to remove their child from a failing school. The problem lies in as more students leave, the system failure accelerates, the students who are leaving are those who generally have involved parents, and are informed. Eventually this could lead to the down fall of the urban districts. Whites fleeing to cities where minorities are underrepresented, open enrollment and school choice programs all contribute to the under minding of Brown V BOE.

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  3. Did everybody see the article in the Plain Dealer today (Sunday)? "Do Numbers Tell Story of Failure - or Success?" REALLY great article that touches on all of the issues we are reading about.

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  4. Missed that one. I did see something that I wanted to point out, but I forgot... lol

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  5. When I hear of the term school choice programs it reminds me of Holt. His idea "that young people should have the right to control their own learning"(Noll,p.25)pops into my mind.I think school choice programs can be part of the solution or part of the problem. If students and parents are making these decisions based on race then that would imply segregation based on raced. Thus, my question is what motivates people to use the school choice programs? I don't think educators alone can fix the problem of unequal education caused by resegregation. I see the role of an educator is to make sure they have attained the skills needed to successfully educate our young people. This is done through training, education and experience. Now, I think educators could make more of an impact on this issue if they were part of the goverment and state regime that make the laws. Educators could also become a part of the local and state school boards. Maybe in these instances the experiences that educators receive can be used to help solve the issues in education i.e desegregation. After all, making decisions about education with the imput of educators seems logical.

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  6. Oh yeah Jessica I enjoyed that last comment..... It made me laugh... thanks lol

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  7. When I think of school choice programs I think of parents having control over where their children go to school. I think it might a great idea in theory and maybe a quick-fix solution to our problems in the short-term, but is causing more segregation. Orfield et. al talk about large districts and how whites do not want to be the minority so they go to private schools which changes the "racial composition of city schools." And whites are only 3-4% of the population in magnet/charter schools.

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  8. Teachers in the classroom today did not create the problem or the system that is causing segregation. David makes a good point that if it is up to the educators to fix the problem then they should be able to be apart of the decision making process on a local, state, and federal governmental level.
    In answering the first question posted on this blog, I think parents and their children (that are involved and informed, as pointed out by Jessica)are looking for a better education if their school is failing and the vouchers, charter schools, and religious schools are all options on the table as choices. The indirect result of these options maybe a cause and effect of segregation today. Not all charter schools and religious school are not all white in make up and scope.

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  9. To answer the questions given, "Do I feel that school choice cause resegregation?" and "How do teachers/educators fix the problem of unequal education caused by segregation?" I did do some outside research, as I am unfamiliar with school choice programs. The answer to the first question is No, I do not feel that school choice programs cause segregation. I feel that economic status and cultural grouping causes segregation. As Jessica said in an earlier post, when people look for a house they are looking for the school district that works best for them, what they can afford. When you look are most larger districts, even in smaller suburbs you see areas where cultural and ethnic groups have gathered together for example "Chinatown, Little Italy, Ukranian Village in Parma, what used to the be Polish sector off of Fleet Ave. in Cleveland. When the immigration started, especially to Cleveland, groups of ethnic backgroups lived and grouped together, that is what causes resegregation.

    To answer the second question, teachers aren't the catch all fixings of all the schools problems. Teachers can't fix what they didn't cause, we haven't caused all the people to settle where they have. We educate what we have, in a classroom we can be there for the students, we educate them on culture and environment.

    If you read an article in the USA today it discusses more about the issues discussed in the text.http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/03/post_33.html

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  10. I agree with David, in his first sentance of his first comment. When thinking of school choice progams, you think of Holt. I didn't think of that until you said that, it makes sense, however, it would be nice if they'd let the kids choose instead of the parents that can be very afraid of 'change' in there public schools.

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  11. I do think that school choice programs can have a slight effect on resegregation. However, from our reading it appears that "an increasingly conservative judiciary, which has issued a series of rulings reversing earlier progress, has played a major role in the resegregation of U.S. schools"(Noll,p.104). There have been "key decisions in the 1970's that have blocked effective desegregation efforts outside the south (Noll,p.105). "Mulliken v. Bradley(1974) which restricted the use of inter-district desegregation remedies"(Noll,p.105). The 1980's were hit with "a solid conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back desegregation policies(Noll,p.105). In 1991 Board of Education of Oklahoma v. Dowell created standards for dismissing long- running desegregation orders and allowed neighborhood schools(Noll,p.105). There are other cases mentioned in our text that further constricted the desegregation remedies i.e. Freeman v. Pitts(1992) and Missouri v. Jenkins (1995)(Noll,p.105). Educators I think, need to get involved in fixing the problems of unequal education because as we see through the NCLB mandate that the government will come in and close schools and take over control of districts that fail to reach the expectations set by politicians and business men.

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  12. Are you guys against neighborhood schools? Do you think that children should be bussed against their will across town? Just wondering.

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  13. Very interesting website showing the causes of residential segregation.

    http://www.umich.edu/~lawrace/causes1.htm

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  14. This is an interesting quote from an article that was in the Washington Post, in 2005.
    "Kozol notes that some of the most segregated schools in the country are named for civil rights leaders, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall, 51 years after the Supreme Court ruled in Brown that separate educational facilities are "inherently unequal."

    Few educators would dispute Kozol's central contention: that many mostly black schools are in worse shape, physically and academically, than their counterparts in mostly white neighborhoods.

    "The main reason I wrote this book," Kozol said in an interview yesterday, "is to inspire Americans to look very hard at the virtually complete apartheid in increasing numbers of our school districts -- including in Prince George's County -- and to address it courageously. They should ask themselves honestly: Is this the kind of country they want to live in?"

    To those who point out that segregation today is not imposed by law, Kozol replied: "Whether the causes of school segregation are residential, social factors, economic factors, whatever they may be, segregated schooling is the oldest failed experiment in American social history. It didn't work in the past century. It's not going to work in the century ahead."

    Kozol's solution -- not likely, he conceded, to be enacted soon -- is to repeal No Child Left Behind, establish universal public preschool for needy children, drastically reduce class sizes in schools that serve the poorest children (to 18 or fewer students per teacher) and give white suburban schools financial incentives for a new racial integration initiative with massive, but voluntary, systems of crosstown transportation.

    Kozol said he wanted to spark an urban-school uprising. "We need a movement by people who actually get chalk dust on their hands every day because they spend their lives with children," he said."
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/16/AR2005101601146.html. It is interesting to note that Kozol is a proponent for repealing NCLB.

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  15. In regards to the question...Do you think school choice programs cause re segregation? - I do not feel school choice programs have caused re segregation, but I do believe the programs have not helped in putting an end to it. Wraga states, "Not only occurs along racial and socioeconomic lines. Proposals for school choice, charter schools, and magnet schools often promote segregation in a variety of ways, targeting students on the basis of academic or vocational ability, aptitude or aspiration; gender and even race." (Noll, 110) I work at a charter school and I do not feel that it is segregating anyone because it is an alternative to public schools. Parents have the choice where to send their child whether it is to a public school, private school, or even an all girl or all boy school. Charter schools do not separate racial groups or gender groups. A charter school promotes learning for all and it's the parent's decision on where to send their child and that's based on where they feel they are getting the best education as well as a safe school for their child to attend. I agree with Jessica when she said it's more about economic status and cultural grouping causes segregation. I think we will continue to have segregation, but it's a different version of it now than what it was in the 1950's.

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  16. for Jessica's comment, I am for neighborhood schools. I believe neighborhood schools work for a number of reasons. The students all know each other in their school. The parents all know the other parents of their child's friends from school. It promotes reassurance for their child's safety in school as well as their commute to school whether they are walking or carpooling with a friend. Overall in neighborhood schools, I feel communities work together more such as if fundraisers are going on at a school or charity events to raise money for a sick child, the community works closely like a family versus a community where the children next door to them go to completely different schools and are involved in different activities than their child is.

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  17. When asked the question, How do educators fix the problem of unequal education caused by segregation? I don't believe that educators have the means possible to actually fix that problem. I agree with David when he stated that "Educators could also become a part of the local and state school boards." Just being educators in the school district is not enough to desegregate the school systems. Educators need more power and more say in order to have any type of impact on that issue.

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  18. I do not think that school choice is causing resegregation. I agree with Jessica in that parents choose private, magnet, and charter schools for their children not to segregate but to flee a failing school system. Parents are just looking for their children to get the best possible education. I agree that it is important for children to learn about others that are different from them. I think a child can do that in most any setting. Even if a child attends a school with only children of the same sex and race as themselves, there will still be differences between them. However, I do not think children should go to schools with only their own race or sex, different cultures have much to teach one another and to learn from each other. I think that parents make the choice to change schools not due to racial conflicts but because they feel like the school their child is in has somehow failed their child. Maybe their child is not receiving enough attention, maybe the child’s grades are slipping, perhaps the parents do not feel that the administration is sympathetic to their child’s specific needs and that another school would be. There are many, many reasons why parents choose to move their children from one school to another. Orfield remarks that the data does not support the notion that school choice is affecting resegregation (104).
    I think educators have to work hard to build bridges between various socio economic groups. Children come to school with all different experiences, sadly many with hardly any positive experiences at all. Educators must strive to make their classroom a hub of harmony and to then extend that hub to the entire school, then community, then county and so on.

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  19. I response to do you think school choice programs cause resegregation, I would have to say yes, I believe that they do. It started back in the 1950s and 1960's in order to dodge the High Court's desegregation order. (Noll, 109) Back then, if given the choice to send your African American child to a school where he/she was the majority, or the minority, I would think the parents would want their child to be the majority. Given the landmark decision in Brown vs. The Board of Education in 1954 to initiate the process to desegregate schools, I think that parents always have the best interest in mind for their children, and it wasn't an instant "okay, everyone will be alright with my child attending an all white school just because this court case was won". I think that they would want to protect their children from being taunted and excluded in school and given the opportunity, still keep them in a school in which they were the majority, thus resegregating the schools.

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  20. First and foremost I need to clarify my first comment to this post. I should have used the word "resegregation" obviously, and NOT "segregation" when answering the question if school choice is causing resegregation. My fault for not proof reading three times before posting the comment!

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  21. As it relates to educators becoming more involved in the process as the saviors of the unequal education caused by segregation. If and when educators become involved in local, state, or federal government they will become politicians. If educators become administrators they will have to review the balance sheets and make decisions. They will become businessmen or businesswomen. Now we have reached a fork in the road, if you don't want politicians or business people making decisions in education, who else is out there to make the tough calls in operating a school or school district? Is Eugene Sanders an educator, businessman, or a politician?

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  22. Great point, Tom; I think you're right, if teachers get into politics, they (necessarily) become politicians. They may retain their experience, ideals, and goals--but their "job" is now different. I think the input from teachers needs to come from teachers as teachers: the politicians need to seek (and follow!!) teachers' professional counsel.

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  23. David asks: "Thus, my question is what motivates people to use the school choice programs?" and Jessica (and others)seem to think that it has "less to do with parents wanting to put their child in a segregated environment and more that they want to remove their child from a failing school." Probably so, but the problem is that they seem to be inexorably linked....(Orfield et al, p. 106.)

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  24. I like the resource Jessica presented by Kozol and his statement reguarding education and history. I thought that one of the uses of history is to keep us from making the same mistakes again and again. So, One thing that would be new is to have educators become politicians. I wonder what that would look like? After all politicians do have their own personal backgrounds and agendas which maybe different than the politicians we have today. I know our country is waiting to see what our president, who is different from our histories past presidents, will do. This is a new day and time and change is on the way. We need educators anywhere we can get them not just in the classroom. Now that would be a change.......

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  25. As for the first question, do school choice programs cause resegregation?, I agree with what people have commented that parents are choosing these schools more because of living in failing school districts and not because of wanting to segregate their children. The only problem with this is that, whether they intended for it to or not, it is furthering segregation. If parents choose to send their kids to private schools, that is their choice but other parents don't always have this option available to them whether it be due to finances or some other reason. Therefore, this can cause segregation.

    Orfield et al. discusses the idea "that resegregation would not matter so much if racial segregation were not linked to unequal education" (Noll 106)and this is because as the segregated schools stand now, they have high areas of poverty. I do agree that schools that are located in poorer areas do not have the resources that other school districts have, which reminded me of Houston's argument that schools need good resources in order to properly educate students. To say that educators can fix the problems of unequal education caused by resegregation is a hard task to accomplish, so I agree with David's comment on this. As educators, it is our job to teach the skills that students will need in order to be successful outside of school. The problem is though, these segregated schools don't always have teachers that will willingly work in these districts. As Orfield et al. says "The racial and poverty composition of schools is strongly linked to...the ability to attract and retain talented and experienced teachers..." (106) Educators should be involved in trying to fix these problems but I don't think it's possible for them to do it on their own.

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  26. In response to KScott's post, I think the segregation, which some experts argue is worse than it was in the 1960;s, is linked to school choice, and I don't think that it is for the reason that parents don't want their children going to school with minority children. However, do their reasons matter? It is the result that matters and the reality is schools in low income areas have consistantly lower test scores, lesser resources to educate those children that need the most intervention, inexperienced teachers and are facing sanctions due to NCLB. The real question in my mind is can anything be done to correct the problem?

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  27. I would willingly work in a public school district and would remain there if jobs would just open up (failing or not) I am glad to have a job right now but I would much rather be in a traditional public school district then where I am. I think working in a troubled school district would be a fierce challenge and I would embrace it. Two of my all time favorite movies are "To Sir with Love" and "Lean on Me"... I do like where I work, the work I do and the children I work with; however, I feel that in a public school the work would be so rewarding and I would have more job security and of course there is the money. I think that we need to implement Houston's agenda for fixing education (127).

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  28. Regarding the first question, I also agree with the majority here that school choice programs are not directly causing resegregation, however according to all the statistics in these two articles resegregation does seem to be a side effect. In the articles Orfield, Frankenberg, and Lee seem to think that “private school choice does not play a large role in the trend toward increased public school segregation” (Noll, 104). Meanwhile, Wraga states that “free-choice plans resulted in resegregation of schools” (Noll, 110). I agree with Jessica’s initial comments that “the true reality of the issue is the economic factor”. I think that parents do greatly consider the school districts when looking for places to live, and it is a fact that the better the school district the more expensive housing prices. Just do a search online for the same size house in Avon Lake vs. North Ridgeville, or any other comparison you can think of. So, as the other Jessica stated in her comment people end up living where they can afford, searching out the district that works best for them. So, people are naturally dividing themselves based on finances and what they can afford, and Orfield et al. states that “schools faced with both minority enrollments and high poverty rates rarely excel” (Noll, 106).

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  29. Perhaps school choice is one of the major contributing problems to the public schools' failures. Maybe all the money that is going to charters and magnets would be better spent on public schools. Of course much of the money for charters and magnets comes from corporations or individuals... Did all these problems exist before NCLB started handing out labels to schools? Also I really feel that some of the "experienced" teachers are the problem. Many are burnt out others are just stuck in their ways. We need a huge wave of buy outs. Get some fresh, innovative, motivated, energetic, new teachers into these failing districts.

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  30. In response to the second question, it seems to be the conversation is coming to a catch-22. I agree with everyone that stated that educators cannot be held responsible for problems that they did not create, and be expected to fix them. They can only be expected to fix issues like resegregation if they are brought into the law making process at the local, state, and federal levels. However, I agree with Tom and Dr. Scott that teachers should not enter into the world of politics and business, they should remain the professionals that they are and instead work with the politicians, and hope the politicians would follow their advice. This could start as low as the local level, where local politicians should be talking to teachers frequently about what is needed in the neighborhood schools. I think this would make the community more supportive of the school and agendas the politicians are trying to pass for the schools, if the politicians can go on record saying that they have met with a committee of various teachers across the district for “x” amount of weeks to uncover and solve issues.

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  31. I agree with Ali! I am a new teacher that was lucky to work the year I was in upstate NY, now I am in OH back on the job hunt and pickings slim to none. I'd be all for these buyouts, to get some fresh teachers in the schools!

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  32. Since everyone is on this posting/blog, I just wanted to share an observation on all three issues this week. Presently, we have 31 comments on this post relating to Resegregation, 14 comments on Inclusion and 8 comments on our Boys in classroom. Very interesting in how the class is concentrating on this subject and we are already at Tuesday of this week!

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  33. Selected Historic Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court - http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/historic.htm

    The Issue Before the Court:

    Does racial segregation of children in public schools deprive minority children of equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment?
    Supreme Court Ruling: The Supreme Court ruled unanimously to end racial segregation in public schools.

    Summary and Excerpt of Ruling

    The high court ruled unanimously to overturn the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. The decision of the court was delivered by Chief Justice Earl Warren. After outlining the facts of the case and history of the Court's thinking on the "separate but equal" doctrine, Warren stressed the importance of education in the consciousness of American life:

    The rational of the Court's decision was based on the dehumanizing effects of segregation:

    "Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system."

    The basis of the decision rests on the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which applies the standard of equality to the actions of the states as well as the Federal government in a concept known in legal circles as "incorporation." Warren wrote:
    "We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment."

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  34. I thought it was interesting to read the actual words behind the Brown decision.

    "deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school system."

    "sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn."

    I'm not sure we're doing any better today than we were back then! I know in some cities schools are more racially diverse, but in the Cleveland area, it seems we haven't made much progress.

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  35. I agree with Ali on the topic that experienced teachers that are burnt out need to let the new, energetic teachers have their turn! I was lucky to get a job this year after subbing in the district for 3 years. I now teach with another 3rd grade teacher that is still teaching after 37 years, and she's not planning on retiring this year, so next year will make it 38! Every day I hear her grumble about how bad her kids are and how horrible her day is. She doesn't even walk her class to specials (gym, art, ect) she stays in the room and lets them wander down there all over the hallways by themselves. (of course loud and disruptive!) I know many young teachers that are just waiting to get their chance at a job that would be a much better choice, but the elder teachers won't retire.

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  36. I'm sorry - one more from the supreme court's Brown decision...

    "In Sweatt v. Painter, supra, in finding that a segregated law school for Negroes could not provide them equal educational opportunities, this Court relied in large part on "those qualities which are incapable of objective measurement but which make for greatness in a law school." In McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, supra, the Court, in requiring that a Negro admitted to a white graduate school be treated like all other students, again resorted to intangible considerations: ". . . his ability to study, to engage in discussions and exchange views with other students, and, in general, to learn his profession." Such considerations apply with added force to children in grade and high schools. To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone."

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  37. I also agree with Ali's response about 'experienced' teachers, this response links a lot of our issues together. Technology, testing, perspectives, gender issues all relate to the 'new wave' of education---

    And NO I am fine with neighborhood schools, I have prefered to be bussed to a different district than the one I was educated to get more of a diverse learning environment. Some districts are unfair, when I was in school there was one individual that wasn't caucasion, and he was American Indian, everyone else in the district was white.

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  38. On page 109 it states"... One year year after the Brown decision, the Court issued an implementation directive that left the logistical details to the states. Given the vagueness of the Court's directive, states and localities enjoyued wide latitude, which they exploited and which led, more often than not to flagrant noncompliance." Maybe what is needed is federal stimulas dollars and extra funding to schools districts that maintain a racial balance. Perhaps in this way school systems would do all in their power to balance the racial make-up of thier schools.
    I work in Lorain and currently our student population is a diverse one. We are approximately 50 percent white, 25 percent African American, and 25 percent Hispanic.

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  39. I agree, Jessica, and was thinking the same thing: while the motivation of the choices may be significant, the results are the same regardless. It's interesting that the discussion has focused on the school choice aspect (summarized by Jen: "I think it might a great idea in theory and maybe a quick-fix solution to our problems in the short-term, but is causing more segregation.")First of all, it (again) shows the interrelationship among all these issues. Also, interestingly, the late Al Shanker (former American Federation of Teachers president and one of the leaders of the charter school movement)originally believed that a charter school "“would not be a school where all the advantaged kids or all the white kids or any other group is segregated.” Before his death, however, "the father of charter schools expressed increasing alarm that his idea of teacher-led institutions had morphed into something quite different...states disregarded Shanker’s admonition that charter schools should be diverse, as individual charter schools often appealed to specialized ethnic, religious, or racial groups, raising the very concerns Shanker had about private school vouchers...According to a 2003 report from the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, charter schools tend to be even more racially segregated than regular public schools." (from "The Charter School Idea Turns 20", EdWeek, 3/26/08)

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  40. "Did all these problems exist before NCLB started handing out labels to schools?" Good question, Ali. They did exist, of course (that was the reason for NCLB) but this raises the question of whether the solution has not exacerbated the problem...

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  41. In regards to a comment earlier about “what motivates people to use the school choice programs?" I feel our school's motto best explains school choice programs, "The right choice for parents and a real chance for children." (Constellation Schools 2009) I work in Cleveland and my students have had some difficult times with their home life and attending the public schools near their home. A lot of the students come to our school for their safety and others come to our school for the opportunity to have small instruction where our focus is on learning rather than behavioral issues. Whatever their home life may be, they know they are safe here and that's my top priority rather than focusing on if school choice programs are segregating or not.

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  42. I like your comments about your school’s motto Tiffany. It is important to note that resegregation statistically is occurring, but in a much different manner than in the 1950s and earlier. There are not regulations controlling where African Americans, whites, etc. go to school. Parents are not choosing their kids schools because there are or aren’t African Americans in the school. Today’s resegregation is not a black and white issue; it is a good schools vs. struggling schools issue. So, maybe it’s not the idea of resegregation that we need to worry about, but just doing more to improve those struggling school districts and communities, and desegregation will follow the success of that.

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  43. The Plain Dealer article that I talked about on Sunday is on cleveland.com. Type in "Gallagher school" and there is a three-part story about a school in the Cleveland district struggling to make AYP or they will get shut down. The blogs after the articles are just as interesting as the articles.

    The article touches on all of the complex factors in a "failing school" : 60% of students speak language other than English, 25% are in special education, many come from poverty and homelessness, students come from 31 different countries and speak 19 different languages, some are refugees from Asia and Africa who may have had little or no schooling and witnessed war, physical and verbal abuse in many homes, many relatives in jail, families with histories of illiteracy, hunger, medical issues, lack of preschool experiences because parents can't afford it, attendance issues...

    I like this part: "But is Gallagher truly a failure? That depends on how you measure success."

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  44. I agree with what Dr. Scott and Tom have to say about teachers and politicians. Teachers are not politicians (although they do have to deal a lot with politics working in the school system) and so it is difficult for them to fix what is wrong with the schools by themselves. I agree that politicians should look to teachers for advice and speak with them about what they think the problems and issues are and try and devise a way to fix this.

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  45. Jen B.... always the wise one... How do we measure success? Some how I think with that type of demographic we are a success if the students are coming to school... okay obviously an exageration... but you get the point.

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  46. As it relates to the topics of busing, segregation, and desegregation I wanted to provide a website that talks about the mandatory busing in Cleveland. "It was a failed experiment albeit one based on good intentions." This is the summary from many of the African-American community leaders in Cleveland. The website is http://www.archive.org/details/effectivenessofm00unit
    It is a very lengthy piece of documented history and the title is, Effectiveness of Mandatory Busing in Cleveland: Hearing Before Subcommittee on Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress, First Session, September 1995 (1996).
    Once again are we talking about the importance of programs, ideas, outcomes, blame (busing, segregation, resegregation, teachers need to fix what goes wrong) within the system of education under the veil of helping our students? Are we really helping our students or hurting them? Karen Agne (I know, different author, different issue) highlights a good point about unequal education..."Until we come to realize that education can never be equal unless each student is allowed and enabled to progress at his own highest rate, our efforts to reform our public school system will continue to fail." (Noll, pg. 243)
    It all comes back to the child and working with each student no matter the make up of a school either in the neighborhood, city, suburb, or urban area.

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  47. In the Issue Summary of Issue 7 on pg. 101 states an important view of this entire subject that I related to in my previous comment. It is all about the student and their families.

    One central factor that animates the current appraisals of the desegregation effort is the persistence of the achievement gap among the constituent racial groups. As Hugh G. Price, president of the National Urban League, points out in Achievement Matters (2002), " In virtually every school district across America, African-American children achieve at lowers levels, earn lousier test scores, and place more frequently into special education or remedial or less-challenging classes, and are discouraged from striving to excel academically or demanding excellence from themselves." The result is what he calls a "self-destructive mindset."

    This comment dovetails right to the point of Orfield (pg.106)that racial and poverty composition of schools is strongly linked to test scores, graduation rates, the ability to attract and retain talented and experienced teachers, the range of course offerings, student health, parental involvement, and many other factors that influence educational opportunity.
    ...both race and poverty remain powerfully linked to education inequality. (Orfield pg.106)

    We need to think about "placing the horse before the cart," whereby, resegregation, segregation, busing, "equal but separate schooling" (Noll {Wraga, pg. 108)should be placed in a holding pattern until we solve the core problem of poverty and reaching the urban areas and their students with a plan to propel success in all aspects of their education.

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  48. We were all impressed with Holt and Childress and their ideas of empowering the student about the classes they want to take and the school they want to attend. Wraga sounds the alarm of the threat of privatization of public schools and talks about reaffirming out commitment to the unifying function of common schooling. to the necessity for citizenship education, and to the imperative for a publicly supported system of education. (Noll {Wraga},pg. 112)
    Wraga talks about the introduction of vouchers, ( I am sure he was thinking about religious schools as well) and charter schools and he seems a little worry.
    If the idea is to have our students empowered with their classes and their choice of school, why should educators be concern about vouchers and charter schools?

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  49. Trying to fight resegregation is a difficult task to accomplish. I think in order to fight this, economic status of areas needs to be considered and changed, which is not going to immediately happen. In order to stop people from the school choice, which is helping to promote resegregation, the funding for schools and the failing districts need to be fixed, which again is not an easily solvable problem.

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  50. Ah, yes...funding...it's getting more and more difficult to untangle this web of issues.....

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