NCSD STAFF UPDATES
What We've Been Up to Recently
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On June 28th, in the midst of several very troubling Supreme Court decisions, we reflected on the 15th anniversary (!!) of the Court’s ruling in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (“PICS”). The PICS decision placed some limits on how public schools can assign individual students to schools in their voluntary efforts to integrate. Importantly, though, a majority of justices also recognized racial diversity (and the avoidance of racial isolation) in K-12 education as a “compelling state interest.”
As you probably know, the National Coalition on School Diversity emerged as a result of the PICS decision. (You can read more about our origin story here, starting at pg. 5.) We spent much of our first few years correcting misinformation about the decision, and many of our members helped ensure that public school diversity policies fell within the parameters of the law.
Our hope was to get the issue of school integration back into the public conversation about elementary and secondary education, which we have done (with the help of many--including you!). Support for school integration has grown steadily over the years, and we have expanded from a coalition of 9 to one of 60 (and counting...consider joining if you are not already a member).
We are extremely grateful for your support, and although we are concerned about the state of our country, we are also certain that the work we are doing is vital in this moment.
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We are putting the final touches on our refreshed strategic plan, and will have some exciting updates to share (including information about the projects our amazing interns are working on). Stay tuned... | |
NEWS FROM ACROSS OUR COUNTRY
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NPR's All Things Considered, May 29) "I do think that there's a way out, and the way out is threefold. One, let's acknowledge this history and begin to frame the efforts to diversify the nation's educator workforce, you know, mindful of this history. The second way out is to better fund those institutions that have been strong engines for the production of teachers of color. And third, I think we need to message what continues to show up in polls of American parents with school-age children, and that is that they value a diverse teaching force, that they believe in an integrated school system. And I don't think that that message is heard enough, that American parents of school-age children value integrated schools, and they believe in a diverse educator workforce." | | | |
International -
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What Happened When France Sent Low-Income Kids to Wealthy Schools (The 74 Million, June 20) "One of the initial concerns for parents whose children were set to be bussed further afield, according to Baadoud, was the fact that many families don’t own cars. But that was resolved by providing parents with free bus passes to travel from the estates to the schools to meet their children. 'Slowly it was proved that all of these fears were unfounded,' says Baadoud. 'They know it’s an opportunity for their children. It’s something that is unprecedented.'”
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National -
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Facing pushback, Biden administration clarifies charter school rules (Washington Post, May 11) The administration "made clear that a requirement that applicants detail how they would create racially and socioeconomically diverse student and staff populations does not mean diversity itself is a requirement. If the community is not racially diverse to start with, it said, homogenous charters would still be eligible." Read the Department of Education's Twitter thread here.
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These Ways to Cool the Charter School Wars Probably Won't (Washington Post, May 21) "The new guidelines also could be used to promote racial integration. Charters 'can be a great vehicle' for doing so by drawing on students from multiple neighborhoods and appealing to students of diverse backgrounds, said Halley Potter an educational researcher at the Century Foundation."
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A Secret City With a Secret African American History (New York Times, June 11) - "But even now, the eastern Tennessee city of Oak Ridge is not widely recognized for the contributions of its African American work force to a monumental project in U.S. history and its role as one of the first public school systems to desegregate in the South."
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The Real Villain in the Gentrification Story (The Atlantic, June 16) "The real villains in the tale of gentrification are not 20-something new entrants to mixed-income neighborhoods, but NIMBY homeowners in the wealthiest ones. Yet acknowledgment of the pivotal role that they play is often missing. They fade into the background even as their interests are defended by nearly every institution and elected official. This group has steadfastly refused to allow new housing in their communities—not just low-income units but the type of 'luxury apartments' marketed to the young and upwardly mobile."
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California -
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California is richer than ever. Why is it last in the nation for school bus access? (Los Angeles Times, June 22) "Skinner is the author of a bill that would require districts to provide transportation to most students by 2027, with a boost from the state. She points to the pricey legislation’s upside: safety, attendance and environmental benefits, as buses can reduce traffic and the number of vehicles on the road."
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SF Board of Education Votes to Return Merit-Based Admissions to Lowell High (NBC Bay Area, June 22) "Lowell High School will return to academic-based admissions, the San Francisco Board of Education decided Wednesday evening in a 4-3 vote. The board's decision restores merit-based admissions for the 2023-24 school year at Lowell, which had been suspended during the pandemic in favor of lottery-based admissions."
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Colorado -
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Housing market is impacting enrollment at Denver Public Schools (9News, June 8) "Denver Public Schools says it believes the city's expensive housing market is one of the reasons enrollment continues to decline. DPS is planning for thousands of fewer students over the next few years which will lead to a decrease in funding from the state...One reason is the increased cost of housing in the city. DPS sees a smaller yield of students coming from higher priced housing than lower priced housing."
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Connecticut -
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Guilford Schools May Launch Open Choice Program with New Haven as Soon as 2023 (Connecticut Examiner, May 4) “'Guilford continues to be a predominantly white community, and our students would benefit. All of our students would benefit from being in a more diverse environment,' said Freeman. 'Diversity is enriching. It makes the experience better for all, not just for those who might otherwise not be able to attend Guilford because of an address that they carry.'”
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Trinity College students’ analysis finds state far from promises made to desegregate Hartford schools (Connecticut Mirror, May 15) "[A] group of Trinity College students...and their professor...[met] to discuss the new goal line the state agreed to that will measure whether Hartford City Schools are desegregated. Their plan: create a series of graphics to help the public understand what state officials have promised Hartford children — and how close the state is to reaching the new goal line and shedding 26 years of court oversight. To do that, the students spent the semester taking the 87-page settlement filled with hard-to-digest numbers and legal jargon and translating it into a few graphics."
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Kentucky -
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In historic move, JCPS board votes to roll back busing program, overhaul magnets (Courier Journal, June 1) "Wednesday’s vote puts a nail in the coffin of what once was a countywide school integration effort started in the 1970s, effectively gutting the last remnant of the 'busing' plan keeping schools more integrated than they would be otherwise. Under the plan, students in Louisville’s West End — a predominantly Black and low-income area that's home to the only students in JCPS who are still assigned to schools far from home for diversity purposes — will be able to opt to stay closer to home for classes. They would still be able to pick a school elsewhere in the county, too."
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Maryland -
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Opinion: Baltimore’s inclusionary housing law is expiring; let’s create a better one (Baltimore Sun, June 22) "The choice of whether to build an inclusionary Baltimore extends beyond housing. Housing policy is school policy: Children do better academically in more economically and racially integrated classrooms. Housing is health care: Health outcomes consistently improve when individuals have access to affordable, safe, habitable housing. Employment, public safety, accessibility and other parts of a dignified life are all determined in many ways by whether one has access to integrated, affordable housing."
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Massachusetts -
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Boston parents ask federal appeals court to overturn exam school admission decision and let their children attend (Boston Globe, June 7) "The Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence contends the students had earned grades high enough to secure seats at Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy, and the O’Bryant School of Math and Science, but were denied admission because there weren’t enough seats allotted to their ZIP codes under the temporary policy. While Boston is no longer using the temporary admission policy that limited exam school seats last year for each city ZIP Code in an effort to increase diversity, a new policy that was enacted this year also divides seats across geographic regions, this time by grouping together areas with similar socio-economic characteristics. The legal challenge over the temporary policy persists amid growing concerns nationwide over the future of affirmative action."
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New Mexico -
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New Mexico Lawmakers assess challenges to Spanish dual-language program (NBC Latino, June 13) "While dual language programs are offered in thousands of schools across the U.S., New Mexico is the only state where the right to learn in Spanish is laid out in the constitution...The question for lawmakers in the nation’s most heavily Hispanic state is why New Mexico’s dual language programs aren’t being used by the students who most need them. Legislative analysts are expected in the coming weeks to release a report that will highlight challenges facing dual language and other multicultural programs. It will include a look at decades-old trends such as a lack of oversight by education officials, declining participation, and a reduction in the number of multicultural programs, said Legislative Finance Committee spokesman Jon Courtney."
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New York -
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First Person: We took our daughter out of a specialized high school. It was the best decision. (Chalkbeat NY, June 16) "My daughter, I’m sure, is far from the only kid who ever arrived at a specialized high school and discovered that it was the wrong place for them. I wonder how many stick it out for four miserable years because they and their families are convinced that these are the “best” schools in the city. Or that if something’s amiss, it must be the kid who didn’t measure up. Or that it’s impossible to get a good education anywhere else. I am here to say emphatically that it is possible."
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Texas -
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Modern "redlining" is pushing some Texans out of their homes (Washington Post, June 19) "The leveraging of taxpayer dollars for private development was wildly successful — and critics say, destructive — in the city’s economically segregated inner-core neighborhoods, which have its oldest housing stock and most vulnerable residents...Advocates say this new form of 'redlining' spreading to the city’s Tejano west side means many will no longer be able to afford homes in communities their families built over generations."
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New initiative:
- Earlier this month, the Othering and Belonging Institute launched its first-ever transatlantic initiative, the Democracy and Belonging Forum, a space for civic leaders in Europe and the US who are committed to countering pernicious polarization by bridging across lines of difference while centering the needs and concerns of marginalized groups.
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Update:
- METCO hosted a group outing to the Huntington Theatre’s new play Common Ground Revisited, by Boston playwright Kirsten Greenidge. The play retells and questions the Pulitzer-Prize winning history book by J. Anthony Lukas about the court-mandated desegregation of the 1970s. The portrayal of activist Ruth Batson, whose many accomplishments include co-founding and leading METCO, was especially meaningful. The show runs through July 2, and a streaming version is available.
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RESEARCH ADVISORY PANEL (RAP) UPDATES
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Dean Pedro A. Noguera - Separate and Unequal: Despite Decades of Effort American Schools Remain Far from Racially Integrated (Milwaukee Independent, June 4) "For this reason, on the occasion of the 68th anniversary of the Brown decision, I believe it is important to remember why and how civil rights and educational opportunity remain so deeply intertwined. Despite its flaws and limitations, the effort to racially integrate the nation’s schools has been and continues to be important given the type of pluralistic and diverse nation the U.S. is becoming."
- A recent article by Professor Jennifer Jellison Holme's article Growing Up as Rents Rise: How Housing Affordability Impacts Children was published in the Review of Educational Research. "This integrative literature synthesis considers the known and potential impacts of families’ housing affordability problems on child development and schooling outcomes through a review of 64 studies published between 2000 and 2020."
Learn more about our Research Advisory Panel here.
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INDIVIDUAL NCSD MEMBER UPDATES
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CROSS-MOVEMENT RESOURCE LIST
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New Issue Brief: Strong Foundations: Promoting Diverse and Inclusive Preschool Settings "explores and defines diversity across multiple dimensions, points to the benefits of diversity and inclusion for all children and offers policy considerations for leaders seeking to promote the creation of such classrooms." Collaborators included: Trust for Learning, The Hunt Institute, The Education Trust, The Century Foundation, and Educational Alliance’s Manny Cantor Center.
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Who can be my neighbor? How a ‘lens of care’ can transform US cities (Christian Science Monitor, June 2) Sheryll Cashin's "latest work, 'White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality,' chronicles the communal toll residential segregation takes on American society and offers possibilities meant to bring about a more just, joyous, and equitable nation."
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Marblehead Public Schools | | |
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Othering & Belonging Institute | | |
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The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice | | |
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How Public Education is the Foundation for a Multiracial Democracy
Wednesday, July 6th at 7pm ET - Part of NYU Metro Center and Race Forward's H.E.A.L. Together virtual training series.This workshop will explore the role of public education in a democratic society. We will introduce the history of the struggle against the oligarchs for multiracial democracy and the ongoing struggle to establish an equitable multiracial public education system. Led by Cathy Albisa and James Haslam, Race Forward. Register here.
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6/19 - 6/22
Washington, DC
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National Charter Schools Conference
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools - Where the movement meets as the largest national gathering of educators, advocates, and leaders in the charter community. It is where you connect with people, resources, and expertise that empowers and inspires your work. With nationally recognized experts, content curated specially for the sector, and a focus on collaboration, NCSC offers the best learning experience for those shaping K-12 education.
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6/20 - 6/21
Baton Rouge, LA
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National Civil Rights Conference 2022
Civil Rights Conference - The theme for the 2022 conference is Rise, Advocate, Educate, and Cooperate: Fusing Power and People.
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6/28 - 6/30
Cedar City, UT
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ARNA Annual Conference
Action Research Network of the Americas - Each year ARNA welcomes diverse participants from throughout the Americas, including people involved with action research, participatory action research, and practitioner research. A variety of presentation and sharing formats, as well as opportunities for networking and getting involved with global initiatives in action research, are a highlight of ARNA conferences.
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7/13 - 7/15
Washington, DC
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The National Forum on Education Policy
NFEP is looking forward to bringing together policymakers and experts for 3 full days of rich discussion, thought-provoking presentations, and critical connection opportunities within and across states. Hosted by Education Commission of the States.
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Contact Us
National Coalition on School Diversity
c/o Poverty and Race Research Action Council
Mailing Address: 740 15th St. NW #300
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-544-5066
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