A new policy brief from a civil rights group is calling on the federal government to do more to counter racial segregation in the nation’s growing population of charter schools.
According to the brief, which was published last month, the level of racial segregation for black students in charter schools is higher than it is in public schools. Yet while federal funding programs for magnet schools require them to outline how they will prevent or reduce racial segregation, no such provisions are in place for charter schools, write co-authors Erica Frankenberg and Genvieve Siegel-Hawley, both of the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, which published the report.
The brief also calls for stepped-up federal monitoring of student demographics in charter schools, including tracking English-language-learners and students from low-income families. The brief, a prelude to a more-detailed study the project will publish this month, also describes state laws addressing racial stratification in charter schools.
