Addressing Race, Segregation, and Concentrated Poverty – Broader BOLDER Approach to Education

BBA blogs on reducing racial and socioeconomic segregation

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 20:03:07 +0000

These BBA blog posts offer insights into ensuring that community voices inform school improvement efforts, and strategies to reduce racial and socioeconomic segregation:

In Blowing our Diversity Advantage, Elaine Weiss and Century Foundation Senior Fellow Richard Kahlenberg argue that excessive focus on test scores is depriving our schools and students of the rich opportunities offered by our uniquely diverse student body.
Fiscal Crisis or Physical Crisis, co-authored with Philadelphia eighth grade teacher Elizabeth Hoyson, illustrates the endemic starving of schools serving low-income students of color and the critical need to call out these injustices.
Marc Tucker cites reams of facts to back the assertion of BBA co-chair Pedro Noguera, the Advancement Project’s Judith Brown-Dianis, and Schott Foundation President John Jackson that addressing poverty’s impacts, rather than test-based teacher evaluations, is the right direction for a civil rights-oriented education policy framework.

Leading civil rights organizations advancing educational equity

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 20:01:24 +0000

Leading civil rights organizations are advancing more equitable visions for education.

The National Urban League’s Equity and Excellence Project, relaunched in 2016, seeks to strengthen advocacy, education reform and engagement at the national, state and local levels to address the needs African-American and low-income students.
The National Council of La Raza has numerous issue briefs, reports and other resources in support of equity for Latino students. Expanded Learning Opportunities: Helping Latino Students Achieve Success, 2015, examines how ELO is critical to meeting the needs of Latino students, especially English language learners.

Restorative justice: ending the school-to-prison pipeline

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 19:59:06 +0000

The Schott Foundation has been a leader in addressing so-called zero-tolerance policies and the school-to-prison pipeline, issuing numerous reports and videos on alternatives such as restorative justice that foster strong, supportive school communities. See, for example, Restorative Justice in Oakland Schools; Schools Not Prisons: #DoTheMath; “Talk It Out!” – NYC Students Create Peer Mediation Music Video; and Growing Fairness: Documentary on Restorative Justice.

The Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC): challenging systemic pushout

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 19:57:26 +0000

The Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC) challenges the systemic problem of pushout in US schools and provides publications, tools, data and other resources to advance efforts to create just and fair school climates. 2015 DSC fact sheets explore pushout and alternatives and education vs. incarceration, and policy recommendations include Accountability Guidelines on School Pushout and Charter Schools and a Model Code on Education and Dignity.

School discipline disparities: Civil Rights Project at UCLA

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 19:55:46 +0000

The Office of Civil Rights also documents another race-based disparity that impedes the school success of children of color: harsh disciplinary policies that rely on out-of-school suspensions and expulsions.

The Civil Rights Project at UCLA, led by Gary Orfield and Patricia Gandara, provides a rich resource of data, action research and advocacy tools to address disparities in school discipline policies and practices throughout the nation. See, for example, Out of School and Off Track: The Overuse of Suspensions in American Middle and High Schools.

Civil Rights Data Collection

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 19:53:09 +0000

The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights Civil Rights Data Collection provides key information on education and civil rights issues in public schools including enrollment, access to educational programs/services, and academic proficiency results, separated out by race, ethnicity, sex, and disability. Its 2014 reports reveal widespread, race-based disparities in access to such fundamental education basics as qualified teachers and college preparatory courses.

Compounding problems of concentrated poverty and racial and socioeconomic isolation

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 19:51:57 +0000

Concentrated poverty and racial and socioeconomic isolation compound problems associated with student and family poverty and pose further barriers to student success.

Brookings Institute reports – The Re-Emergence of Concentrated Poverty: Metropolitan Trends in the 2000s and The Growth and Spread of Concentrated Poverty, 2000 to 2008-2012 – document these problems in communities of concentrated poverty, including higher crime rates, underperforming public schools, poor housing and health conditions, as well as limited access to quality public and private services and economic opportunity.
The Urban Institute report, High-poverty schools undermine education for children of color, points to mixed-use housing and multi-zone school district as policy fixes.