Teachers Propose Integrating Schools by Socioeconomic Status

By Andrew Trotter

A task force of teachers is urging the Jefferson County, Ky., school district to integrate its schools based on students' socioeconomic status and "at risk" characteristics rather than race.

"We need children in our school that are a better mixture," Judith K. Sikes, a task force member, said in an interview last week. "These children are all coming to school from the same neighborhood. Everyone has the same baggage; there's not enough diversity socioeconomically."

A policy of assigning students to schools based on socioeconomic status, if adopted, would apparently make the district the only one with such a program in place, according to Kathy Christie, a policy analyst at the Education Commission of...