|
||||||||||||||||
|
Race and the Metropolitan Origins of Postsecondary Access to Four Year Colleges: The Case of Greater Boston |
|
Press Release Racial Transformation and the Changing Nature of Segregation Cambridge, MA-January 15, 2006-Today, in its fourth annual look at the status of Dr. King’s Dream for equity and integration in American schools, the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University releases new findings showing an American educational landscape that is increasingly multiracial yet, simultaneously, separate and unequal. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the civil rights movement that transformed the status of blacks in the South, where the greatest progress in school integration was achieved. In his last movement, the Poor People’s Campaign, he was leading a multiracial coalition working on problems shared by blacks, Latinos, American Indians and poor people. Were he alive today, Dr. King would doubtless be concerned about the increasing isolation of children whose only chance lies in a good education from the nation’s stronger schools and the profoundly multiracial composition of today’s schools. “Racial Transformation and the Changing Nature of Segregation,” co-authored by Professor Gary Orfield and Research Associate Chungmei Lee, addresses the changing patterns of segregation in the American public school system for the past four decades, focusing on the changes brought on by the dismantling of the desegregation orders in the last decade in districts that have been declared unitary. It analyzes the rise of multiracial schools and the need for a new paradigm to discuss race relations. In large measure, landmark Supreme Court decisions in the last decade have steadily eroded the progress in educational integration made in the past thirty years. More than 50 years after the milestone court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which reversed the policy of racial segregation in schools, our nation’s public school enrollment is undergoing a striking transformation. Author Gary Orfield commented: “Anyone who thinks that the Supreme Court does not make a difference should look at the quarter century of decline in the segregation of Southern schools though the late l980s, the continual, year-by-year growth in segregation since the Court authorized ending desegregation plans in 1991, as well as the impact of the Court's 5-4 decision against city-suburban desegregation in 1974.” Geographically, the most dramatic trends in resegregation are seen
in the South and the Border states for black students and increasing
segregation for Latinos in the West. From 1991-2003, the number
of black students attending majority nonwhite schools rose sharply
across all regions. In the South, this percentage increased from
61% to 71%. Latinos constitute the largest minority and are increasingly
segregated in regions where they are concentrated. Asians are the
least segregated group of students and are most likely to attend
multiracial schools. Key Findings: -Since the 1990s, the percentage of students of every race in multiracial groups has increased. Segregation is no longer black and white but increasingly multiracial. - Attendance in multiracial schools vary by region: more than half of black and Asian students attend these schools in the West and about two fifths of Latino students attend these schools in the Border region. - States where the largest shares of students attend multiracial schools include the three largest states-California, Texas, and Florida-and one state in which the Latino population seems to be exploding-Nevada. - While South and Border regions are resegregating, black students in the South and Border states still have among the highest levels of exposure to white students. - More than three quarters of intensely segregated schools are also high poverty schools. - Nationally, Asians are more likely than students of other races to attend multiracial schools. Conversely, white students are the least likely to attend these schools. - Despite an increase in diversity, white students remain the most isolated group. "The findings show that the white-black paradigm used to describe segregation patterns in the past is no longer applicable to current reality,” according to Chungmei Lee, co-author of the study. “Students who attend segregated schools will become increasingly ill-prepared to participate in a diverse society.” The Civil Rights Project report presents groundbreaking research that examines the causes and consequences of these trends and offers policy recommendations with ramifications for the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, bilingual education, the training of teachers, high school drop-out rates, the competitiveness of an American labor force, and other issues facing society today. About the Report: This report covers patterns of racial enrollment and segregation in American public schools at the national, regional, state, and district levels for students of all racial groups. The report uses the National Center for Education Sciences (NCES) Common Core of Data for 2003-2004 and includes historical data for analyzing trends. Multiracial schools are defined as schools in which at least a tenth of the students are from three or more of the five major racial and ethnic groups: African American, Latino, Asian, Native American, and white. A full report in PDF format may be downloaded from our website: About the Authors: Professor Gary Orfield is Professor of Education and Social Policy and Director of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University. He is an author or editor of many books and articles on school desegregation including, Dismantling Desegregation: The Quiet Reversal of Brown v. Board of Education and School Resegregation: Must the South Turn Back? (University of North Carolina Press, 2005), and other civil rights issues. Professor Orfield’s complete biography is available online at: http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/aboutus/bios/orfield.php Chungmei Lee is a Research Associate at the Civil Rights Project. She received her masters in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Prior to joining the Project, she worked with Harvard’s Programs for Professional Education and helped train education leaders around the world in Education Management Information System (EMIS). At PPE, she also worked on issues relating to the professional development of teachers. As an independent consultant for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), she examined issues such as the financing of higher education and its impact on middle-income and low-income students access to higher education. She holds a B.A. in history from Dartmouth College. Ms. Lee co-authored “Why Segregation Matters: Poverty and Educational Inequality” (2005), “A Multiracial Society with Segregated Schools: Are We Losing the Dream” (2003), and “Race in American Public Schools: Rapidly Resegregating School Districts” (2002), published by the Civil Rights Project. The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University (CRP), founded in 1996, is a leading, national organization devoted to research and policy analysis about critical civil rights issues facing the nation. Its mission is to bridge the worlds of ideas and action by becoming a preeminent source of intellectual capital and a forum for building consensus within the civil rights movement. We achieve this by interweaving strategies of research and policy analysis, and by building strong collaboration between researchers, community organizations, lawyers and policy makers. Our dual objectives are to: (1) raise the visibility of, and attention to, racial justice national policy debates; and (2) arm local and national civil rights and educational organizations with credible research to inform their legal, political and public education efforts. For interviews, contact Audrey Dolar Tejada, CRP Media and Public Relations. Due to the volume of inquiries, e-mail is the preferred means of contact. Please place INTERVIEW REQUEST in the subject line and include your complete contact information and deadlines in the message. Interviews are available in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, as well as in English. Press Contacts: Audrey Dolar Tejada
Professor
Gary Orfield Chungmei Lee 
|