Desegregation
Read more about efforts to reduce racial isolation in schools, including by courts, agencies, and districts
Equity & Diversity
Secessions Exacerbate Segregation, Study Finds
Court-ordered school desegregation has been more successful in the South than in any other region of the country, but researchers have noted a new threat: the growing number of communities that are seceding from larger school districts to form their own.
Equity & Diversity
Racial Segregation Grows as Southern Communities Splinter Into New Districts
The South, once the nation's most integrated region, has been re-segregating, and in recent years one factor has been smaller communities breaking away from larger districts to form their own systems.
Equity & Diversity
A Losing Fight to Keep Schools Desegregated
Few districts have done as much as Wake County, N.C., to keep schools racially and socioeconomically diverse, but’s it’s a battle the school board says it has been losing. Can it reverse the trend?
Equity & Diversity
Segregation of Latino Students From White Peers Increased Over a Generation, Study Finds
Latino students are less likely today to attend schools with white students, according to new research, but low-income students are increasingly likely to attend school with middle-income peers.
Law & Courts
In Campaign Season, a New Look at Busing
An exchange between two of the top-tier candidates for president highlighted how segregation in education could prove to be a potent issue in the Democratic Party's 2020 primary.
Equity & Diversity
News in Brief
Harvard Closes Education Lab, Suspends Its Leader, in Wake of Harassment Probe
Harvard University has suspended Roland G. Fryer Jr. and shuttered his Education Innovation Laboratory a year after allegations of sexual harassment by one of the leading education economists in the nation were made.
Federal
Joe Biden, Kamala Harris Clash Over Busing, Segregated Schools in Democratic Debate
An exchange between two candidates highlighted how segregation in education could prove to be a potent issue in the Democratic 2020 primary.
Equity & Diversity
Biden's Segregation Comments Resurrect His Anti-Busing History
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s recent remarks on his willingness to work with segregationists resurrected his long-ago efforts to oppose school busing. Will it hurt his campaign?
Special Education
Schools' Racial Makeup Can Sway Disability Diagnoses
Three new studies show that a web of factors appear to influence how often black and Hispanic children are identified for special education compared to similar white peers.
Equity & Diversity
Video
New York City Chancellor Richard Carranza on Advancing Equity and Excellence in Schools
“My parents had no privilege. My parents had no treasure. The only thing they had was a dream that their children would be educated, and that they would be cared for, and that they would have the opportunity to do better than what they had done. So when I say to you that I’m an unapologetic, vociferous, sometimes a ravenous defender of traditional public education, it’s because that is from whence I came. If you are an educator, I would very humbly, respectfully say you need to be one, too.”
New York City Chancellor Richard Carranza, one of the most forceful advocates on equity and desegregation, discusses the moral and societal imperative of creating equitable educational opportunities in New York City—and in public school systems across the country—for children of color and low-income students in his keynote address at Education Week’s Leaders To Learn From event in Washington.
Carranza was a 2015 Leaders To Learn From honoree recognized for leadership in English-language-learner education when he was superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District. Read his profile: https://leaders.edweek.org/profile/richard-a-carranza-superintendent-english-language-learner-education/
Law & Courts
65 Years After 'Brown v. Board,' Where Are All the Black Educators?
The landmark Supreme Court had an unintended effect that’s still felt today: Thousands of black teachers and principals lost their jobs.
Equity & Diversity
Video
New York City’s Debate Over Race and Equity in Public Schools
A fight over who gets access to New York City’s most elite public high schools is amplifying larger questions about equity and segregation in the nation’s largest school system. Chancellor Richard Carranza talks bluntly about the segregation of schools before audiences of students, parents, and politicians and he’s pushing an agenda to uproot longstanding practices that he and others argue have denied equitable opportunities for the city’s majority population of black and Latino students. While he and Mayor Bill de Blasio are running into strong headwinds in their push to eliminate the single test that determines who is admitted to the city’s specialized high schools, other efforts—such as eliminating middle school screens in one school zone in Brooklyn—are showing promise for reducing segregation.
Equity & Diversity
The Battle Over Who Gets Into Elite Public High Schools
Chicago’s approach to admissions for selective high schools could be a model for New York City, where black and Latino students comprise a tiny share of students who are selected for its most sought-after high schools.
Equity & Diversity
Wealthier Enclaves Breaking Away From School Districts
Over two years, 27 communities have split from their home districts, and the new districts are mostly wealthier, whiter, and more property-rich than the ones left behind.