Divided we Fail

by Sarah Garland

  6. Harris Cooper et al., “The Effects of Summer Vacation on Achievement Test Scores: A Narrative and Meta-analytic Review,” Review of Educational Research 66, no. 3 (1996); National Summer Learning Association, http://www.summerlearning.org/.

  7. Central High School Report Card, 2009–10, 2008–9, 2007–8, 2006–7, Commonwealth of Kentucky, http://applications.education.ky.gov/.

  8. Barack Obama, “Obama: Supreme Court Ruling an Obstacle to Opportunity,” State News Service, Washington, DC, July 2, 2007; also see Russell Berman, “Democratic Candidates Criticize Roberts Court on Race Decision,” New York Sun, June 29, 2007.

  9. Emily Bazelon, “The Next Kind of Integration,” New York Times Magazine, July 20, 2008; Andrew Wolfson and Deborah Yetter, “New Suit Challenges Jefferson Student Assignment Plan,” Louisville Courier-Journal, July 2, 2009; Chris Kenning, “Elementary School Assignments Leave Some Unhappy,” Louisville Courier-Journal, August 9, 2009.

  10. Bazelon, “Next Kind of Integration”; Jordan Schrader, “Districts Try to Spread out Poor Students: Income, Not Race Becoming Basis for Busing,” USA Today, November 2, 2009; Richard D. Kahlenberg, Economic School Integration: An Update (New York: Century Foundation, September 16, 2002), http://www.eric.ed.gov/.

  11. Lloyd Grieger and Jessica Wyse, The Growing Racial Divide in U.S. Children’s Long-Term Poverty at the End of the Twentieth Century (Ann Arbor, MI: Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, November 2008), http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/.

  12. Rakesh Kochhar, Richard Fry, and Paul Taylor, Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics: Twenty-to-One (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, July 26, 2011), http://pewresearch.org/.

  13. Michael J. Puma et al., Prospects: The Congressionally Mandated Study of Educational Growth and Opportunity, The Interim Report (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, July 1993); but also see: Sharon Lewis, Candace Simon, Renata Uzzell, Amanda Horwitz, and Michael Casserly, A Call for Change: The Social and Educational Factors Contributing to the Outcomes of Black Males in Urban Schools (Washington, DC: Council of the Great City Schools, October 2010), http://cgcs.schoolwires.net/.

  14. Wolfson, “New Suit”; Chris Kenning, “Second Parent Asks to Join Student Assignment Suit,” Louisville Courier-Journal, July 23, 2009.

  15. See, for example, Wake County’s retreat from an income-based plan: Stephanie McCrummen, “Republican School Board in N.C. Backed by Tea Party Abolishes Integration Policy,” Washington Post, January 12, 2011.

  16. Linda Shaw, “Integration No Longer a Top Priority for District,” Seattle Times, June 3, 2008.

  Epilogue

  1. David Grissmer, Ann Flanagan, and Stephanie Williamson, “Why Did the Gap Narrow in the 1970s and 1980s?” in The Black-White Test Score Gap, Christopher Jencks and Meredith Philips, eds. (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998), 182–223; Katherine Magnuson, Dan T. Rosenblum, and Jane Waldfogel, “Inequality and Black-White Achievement Trends in the NAEP,” in Katherine Magnuson and Jane Waldfogel, eds., Steady Gains and Stalled Progress (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2008), 33–64; Jacob L. Vigdor and Jens Ludwig, “Segregation and the Test Score Gap,” in Magnuson, Steady Gains, 181–208; Paul Barton and Richard J. Coley, The Black-White Achievement Gap: When Progress Stopped, Educational Testing Services, http://www.ets.org/; Amy Stuart Wells, Jennifer Jellison Holme, Anita Tijerina Revilla, and Awo Korantemaa Atanda, Both Sides Now: The Story of School Desegregation’s Graduates (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009), 19.

  2. Douglas N. Harris, Lost Learning, Forgotten Promises: A National Analysis of School Racial Segregation, Student Achievement, and ‘Controlled Choice’ Plans (Washington, DC: Center for American Progress November 24, 2006), http://www.americanprogress.org/; Harris, “Educational Outcomes of Disadvantaged Students: From Desegregation to Accountability,” in AEFA Handbook of Research in Education Finance and Policy, Helen Ladd and Edward Fiske, eds. (Hillsdale, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum, 2008); Roslyn Arlin Mickelson and Martha Bottia, “Integrated Education and Mathematics Outcomes: A Synthesis of Social Science Research,” North Carolina Law Review 88, no. 3 (2010); Eric A. Hanushek, John F. Kain, and Steven G. Rivkin, “How Much Does School Integration Affect Student Achievement?” paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association, New Orleans, January 2001.

  3. Wells, Both Sides Now, 22–24.

  4. Center for Research on Education Outcomes, Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, June 2009), http://credo.stanford.edu/; Bruce Fuller, ed., Inside Charter Schools: The Paradox of Radical Decentralization (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002).

  5. Stefanie Chambers, Mayors and Schools: Minority Voices and Democratic Tensions in Urban Education (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006); also see Jeffrey R. Henig and Wilbur C. Rich, Mayors in the Middle: Politics, Race and Mayoral Control of Urban Schools (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004).

  6. For example, William L. Sanders, S. Paul Wright, and Sandra P. Horn, “Teacher and Classroom Context Effects on Student Achievement: Implications for Teacher Evaluation,” Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education 11, no. 1 (1997).

  7. Sarah Carr, Hope Against Hope (New York: Bloomsbury, forthcoming).

  8. “NYC’s Disappearing Black/Latino Public School Teachers,” Black Educator blog, December 19, 2006, http://blackeducator.blogspot.com/.

  9. Bill Turque, “Fired DC Principals Go to Court Again,” Washington Post, October 27, 2009.

  10. Joel Hood, “Chicago Teachers Union Accuses CPS of Discriminating Against African-American Teachers,” Chicago Tribune, February 8, 2012.

  11. Laura Pappano, “Closing Time,” Ed.: The Magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (Summer 2011).

  12. Joel Hood and Noreen Ahmed-Ullah, “Protesters Send CPS Board Members Scurrying,” Chicago Tribune, December 14, 2011; Yirmeyah Beckles, “OUSD Meeting Turns into Emotional Protest,” Oakland North website, September 21, 2011; Lindsey Christ, “Parents Protest DOE Official’s Threats to Close 47 City Schools,” NY1, November 22, 2011; Ann Doss Helms, “Claims of Racial Bias Rattle Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools,” Charlotte Observer, October 24, 2010.

  13. Pappano, “Closing Time.”

  14. For example, “Governor Chris Christie Designates Week of January 22rd [sic], 2012 School Choice Week in New Jersey,” State of New Jersey, January 23, 2012, http://nj.gov/governor/.

  15. Concept of black and white double-consciousness: Wells et al., Both Sides, 26–35.

  16. Jeffrey Passel and D’Vera Cohn, U.S. Population Projections: 2005–2050 (Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center, February 11, 2008), http://www.pewhispanic.org/.

  17. Richard Fry, The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of U.S. Public Schools (Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center, August 30, 2007), http://www.pewhispanic.org/.

  18. Office of Public Affairs, “New Guidance Supports Voluntary Efforts to Promote Diversity and Reduce Racial Isolation in Education” (Washington, DC: Department of Justice, December 2, 2011), http://www.ed.gov/.

  19. Richard Fry, Sharp Growth in Suburban Minority Enrollment Yields Modest Gains in School Diversity (Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center, March 31, 2009) http://www.pewhispanic.org/.

  20. Meredith P. Richards, Kori J. Stroub, and Jennifer Jellison Holme, “Can NCLB Choice Work? Modeling the Effects of Interdistrict Choice on Student Access to Higher-Performing Schools” (New York: Century Foundation, May 31, 2011), http://tcf.org/.

  21. Erica Frankenberg, Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, and Jia Wang, Choice Without Equity: Charter School Segregation and the Need for Civil Rights Standards (Los Angeles: Civil Rights Project, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, January 2010), http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/.

  22. Purpose Built Communities, http://purposebuiltcommunities.org/.

  23. See the Brown decision and Irons, Jim Crow’s Children, 162–63: “The primary role
of public education lies in fostering ‘cultural values’ and ‘good citizenship’ among children.”

  INDEX

  Please note that page numbers are not accurate for the e-book edition.

  ABC/Washington Post poll, 120

  accountability and outcomes: achievement gap and, 127, 194, 198; black educators and, 53, 195–96; in black majority schools, 161; black students and, 102, 121, 160, 161, 177–78, 183, 188–89, 195; educational assessment, 105, 121, 125, 177, 191; educational standards and, 104, 105, 106, 161; equal outcomes and, 146–47; failing schools and, 104–5, 120–21; legislation, 125; racial achievement gap and, 97–98, 149; results controversy, 125–26; teacher quality and, 195–96

  achievement gap: accountability and, 127, 194, 198; busing and, 20, 129; closing, 86, 194, 198; persistence of, 167, 189; poverty and, 190; reduction, 105; school desegregation and, x, xi, 168–69, 176, 177–78, 183, 191; school segregation and, 77–78; social issues and, 104; summer learning loss and, 188; test scores and, 97–98, 102, 104, 105, 121, 177–78; widening, 121

  Advance Program tracks: black communities and, 24, 194–95, 197; creation of, 169; decline, 114; racial disparities in, xi, 114, 131, 139, 160, 161, 166; racial guideline exemption of, 15; traditional schools and, 174. See also gifted and talented programs

  affirmative action, 79, 175–76, 182, 191

  affluence and educational opportunity, 101, 114, 121, 128, 176–77, 192, 198. See also poverty

  African Americans. See black Americans

  African Methodist Episcopal Church, 33

  Afrocentric schools and studies, 22, 26–27, 179

  Ali, Muhammad, 8, 22, 65–66, 69

  Alito, Samuel, 182, 185

  all-black schools: Afrocentric, 22, 26–27, 179; black activists on, 32–33, 115, 163–64, 164–65, 166; closures, x, 50; conditions in, 38, 50, 62–63; numbers of, 55; as product of segregation, 118; test scores and, 169. See also black majority schools

  all-white schools, numbers of, 55. See also white majority schools

  alternative schools: racial composition of, 20, 124, 130, 160, 188, 192; special education tracks, 15, 161

  American Civil Liberties Union, 158

  American values, 199

  Anchorage (Kentucky) School District, 88, 90

  anti-busing protest. See busing

  anti-poverty programs, 194–95

  Atherton High School, 67, 96

  athletic success and school desegregation, 39, 82–83, 95

  Autobiography of Malcolm X, 72

  Bakke, Allan, 144

  Ballantine, Thomas, 114

  Ballard High School, 103, 112, 127, 138, 162, 164

  Bardstown, Kentucky, 74, 75

  BCC (Black Cultural Center), 22, 179, 189

  Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 177

  Bittersweet Shopping Center, 22, 93–94

  black achievement: black communities and, 168, 194–95, 197; desegregation and, x, xi, 20, 77–78, 124–25, 126, 127, 128–29, 191; dropout rates and, 102, 114; school funding and, 25, 85–86; social problems and, 26, 104; test scores and, 97–98, 102, 104, 105, 121. See also accountability and outcomes; achievement gap

  black activists and activism: anti-busing, 19, 84–85, 88, 91, 94–95, 112, 113; on black majority schools, 124–25, 126–27, 146; on the Brown decision, 40, 146–47; on desegregation, xi–xii, 32–33, 42, 49, 83–84, 126–27, 128–29; on education reforms, xii, 101, 104–5, 195–96; on school funding, 85–86; view of school choice, 24. See also civil rights movement; specific activists

  black Americans: middle income, 38, 96–97, 116; school expectations of, ix–x, xii, 49–50, 197; unemployment, 37; view of busing, 85–87, 94–95; view of school desegregation, xi–xii, 23–24, 49–50, 120

  black colleges, 33, 108

  black communities: black identity and, 96, 97, 103, 124–25, 128, 197; student achievement and, 194–95, 197; urban renewal and, 50, 62–65, 67, 188, 196

  Black Cultural Center (BCC), 22, 179, 189

  black educators: accountability systems for, 53, 195–96; decline in, 110; demotion of, 160; layoffs and dismissals, x, 53, 110, 153, 195–96; resignations, 110, 114; teacher desegregation and, 57; teacher pay movement, 42; view of school desegregation, 49–50; in white majority schools, 56

  black flight, 9, 96–97, 103, 116

  black identity: duality of, 96, 147, 197; loss of, 96, 97, 103, 124–25, 128, 197

  black majority schools: as alternative schools, 188; black activist view of, 124–25, 126–27, 146; closure of, 50, 90, 110, 115, 160, 196; control of, 180–81; desegregation-rule exemptions and, 140; educational outcomes and, 161; loss of community and, 103; test scores, 121. See also all-black schools; black neighborhood schools; specific schools

  black middle-income families, 38, 96–97, 116

  Blackmun, Harry A., 91

  Black Nationalism, 25–26, 37, 69, 85–86, 96

  black neighborhood schools, 24, 31–33, 38–39, 153, 169. See also all-black schools; black identity; black majority schools

  Black Panthers, 9, 22, 68–69, 71, 119

  black parents: on black identity loss, 103; on busing, 97, 103, 113, 129; education levels of, 105; on school choice, 132–33; on school desegregation, 94, 120, 129, 192; single, 26

  Black Power movements, 21, 70, 96

  black students: achievement, 168, 194–95, 197; advance programs and, 24, 139; assessment testing of, 121, 177–78; and educational benefit of racial diversity, 183, 191, 195; gifted and talented programs and, 166, 169, 191; low-performing schools and, 24–25; magnet schools and, 24, 55–56, 81, 129, 132–33, 133–34; socioeconomic status and, 190; suspension rates of, 146, 160

  black suburban population, 97

  Black Unity League of Kentucky (BULK), 70, 71, 72

  black upper-income families, 124

  Bloomberg, Michael, 196

  Bloom Elementary School, 173, 181

  Board of Education of Oklahoma City v. Dowell, 118

  Boston, 90, 91

  Boston Latin School (Massachusetts), 155

  boycotts, 50, 57

  Braden, Anne: civil rights activism of, 21, 44–45, 46, 64, 70, 74, 130, 159, 187; Communist conspiracy charges against, 48–49, 54; death of, 188; early years of, 44

  Braden, Carl, 44–45, 48–49, 54, 59, 64, 70, 74

  Branch, Taylor, 147

  Breyer, Stephen, 189

  Brown, Linda, 46

  Brown v. Board of Education: black activist view of, 40, 146–47; local school district control and, 117; NAACP and, 77, 78, 183; Richard Nixon on, 79; promise of, 167, 189, 194–95; Supreme Court on, ix, x, 46–50, 56

  Buchanan v. Worley (residential segregation case), 43

  Buechel Metropolitan High School, 124, 146, 188, 192

  BULK (Black Unity League of Kentucky), 70, 71, 72

  Burger, Warren, 117

  Bush, George H. W., 118, 139, 156

  Bush, George W., 177, 182

  busing: achievement gap and, 20, 129; black activists on, 19, 81–82, 84–85, 88, 91, 94–95, 98, 112, 113; black Americans on, 85–87, 94–95; black flight and, 97, 103, 116; black parents on, 97, 103, 113, 129; black student achievement and, 168, 194–95, 197; constitutional amendment on, 87, 88; end of, 117, 120, 195, 198; federal legislation on, 90; as forced assimilation tool, 85–87, 104; James Gordon and, 89, 94, 95, 110; KERA mandated, 121, 125–26, 149, 177, 195; Edwin Meese III on, 116–17; opposition to, xii, 19, 81–82, 84–85, 85–87, 88, 90, 91, 93–94, 94–95, 112, 113; Plan X busing plan, 89, 94, 95, 110; as a political issue, 85–86, 87; racial tensions and, 7, 16, 22, 33, 48, 53, 54, 153, 160; as school desegregation tool, ix, 4–5, 7, 25, 79–80, 84–85, 95, 100, 103–4, 172–74; Supreme Court on, 118, 119, 120

  Cambridge, Massachusetts, 190

  Carmichael, Omer, 52–53, 54, 55–56

  Carmichael, Stokely, 71, 210n42

  Carter, Gene, 117

  CEASE (Citizens for Equitable Assignment to School Environment): on Harold Fenderson, 180;
founding of, 23, 24, 70, 188; Kentucky Alliance and, 159–60; membership of, 19, 20, 27, 151; on the Meredith case, 187; on racial quotas, 27, 132–34, 137–38; role in Hampton cases, 135–36, 137–39, 143–44, 152, 153, 154, 163, 168, 169–70, 187; on school choice, 24, 55–56, 78, 79, 157, 194

  Central High School (Central Colored High School): athletic success of, 39, 82–83, 95; Black Cultural Center in, 22, 179, 189; as a black majority school, 179, 180–81, 187, 188–89; busing and, 95, 104, 112–13; choice provisions and, 56; closure threat, ix, 180; enrollment decline, 22, 23, 114; HEW recommendations for, 81–82; image of, 167–68; improvement funding, 38–39, 50–51, 85–86; as a magnet school, 2–3, 11, 83, 113, 114–15, 131, 137–38, 170; Male High School rivalry, 95; racial quotas and, 23, 27, 124–25, 132–34, 137–38, 140, 162, 169, 170, 179; restructuring, 188–89; student achievement and, 188–89; teacher resignations, 114; as traditionally black school, x, 8–9, 11, 22, 38–39, 66–67, 81; as a white majority school, 95–96. See also Hampton v. Jefferson County Board of Education

  Charlotte, North Carolina, 79–80, 155

  charter schools, xii, 156, 176, 195, 198

  Chenoweth Elementary School (Louisville, KY), 139

  Chicago, 196

  Chicago Defender, 34, 196

  Chisholm, Shirley, 85

  choice movement, 24, 55–56, 78, 79, 157, 194, 196

  Christian County High School (Hopkinsville, KY), 109

  Churchill Downs, 5, 20

  Citizens for Equitable Assignment to School Environment. See CEASE (Citizens for Equitable Assignment to School Environment)

  Civil Rights Act of 1964, 77, 79, 82

  Civil Rights Congress, 44

  civil rights movement: black gains and, 26; black power movements in, 21, 70, 96; boycotts, 57; lunch counter sit-ins, 57; racial turmoil and violence and, 52, 68, 70–72, 76; school desegregation and, ix, 56–57, 89; white flight and the, 64–65

  Clay, Cassius. See Ali, Muhammad

  Clinton, Bill, 156

  Coleman Report (“Equality of Educational Opportunity”), 77–78, 86

  College Hill School, 30–31

  color blindness, 47, 96, 119, 152–53, 187