When Schools Dump Diversity

Teaching Tolerance has reported many times [2] and in many ways [3] that the United States is plunging headlong toward racial and cultural re-segregation. That process took an enormous leap in the wrong direction last week when the Wake County school board in North Carolina voted to dismantle its policy of diversifying the schools.

The 140,000-student school system relied largely on busing and magnet schools to create diverse schools based on economic factors. Poor kids and rich kids were often bused out of their neighborhood zones. Meanwhile, prestigious magnet schools brought in suburban kids to inner-city schools.

Critics of the program, which has been in effect since 2000, cited a declining graduation rate over the last five years, a widening performance gap between rich and poor students and an increase in suspensions.

All of those are serious concerns. But they are not necessarily tied to the policy. And they pale in comparison to the benefits the diversity policy created. According to The New York Times [4]:

“Students of all races in Wake continue to outperform state and national averages and have improved on S.A.T. scores and end-of-year tests in recent years, supporters note. There remain significant gaps between races, with 87 percent of white elementary school students performing at or above their grade level in reading, science and math, compared with 48 percent of Hispanics and 46 percent of blacks. But all races made gains over the past school year.”

The Times goes on to explain that:

“Across the country, research shows that students of all races and backgrounds perform better in diverse schools, said Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Diversified schools typically have higher graduation rates, more college acceptances and fewer students in the criminal justice system, Ms. Mickelson said.”

“Some experts say that having middle-class students in a classroom raises the scores of poor students more effectively than increased per-pupil spending, more experienced teachers or lower student-teacher ratios.”

The program was so successful that it was repeated in districts from La Crosse, Wis., to St. Lucie County, Fla. But a newly elected majority of conservatives on the school board decided instead to embrace a new plan that creates “neighborhood schools.”

For decades, conservatives have argued that throwing money at a problem won’t make it go away. They have especially argued this when it comes to schools. But guess what Band-Aid that conservative board members have promised to apply to the impoverished schools who will be hit hardest by this vote. That’s right—greater funding.

Let’s say this greater funding actually materializes. How is that going to re-create diversity in Wake schools? How is it going to undo the incalculable damage this vote will do to race relations over time?

The answer to these questions lies across the state, in the city of Charlotte. In 2002, Charlotte’s schools ended busing to create diversity. The result? The schools are now thoroughly segregated along race and class lines.

The Rev. William Barber, head of the local NAACP, has threatened a lawsuit. “Your plan is wrong,” he told the school board. “It’s wayward. It will make things worse and you know it. Data doesn’t support it. Morality doesn’t support it.”