In 2019, the National Coalition on School Diversity is conducting listening tours in a few places to gather local perspectives about school integration from parents, students, educators, and community stakeholders to help inform the work we delineated in our strategic plan (see pg. 22).
We would love to talk with you!
We are hoping to learn more about your work and, more specifically, your insights on how issues of segregation are playing out locally. We also hope to better understand if integration strategies are being implemented or discussed, and what challenges/opportunities exist.
Some guiding questions:
- Do you care about school integration? Why or why not?
- How does segregation affect your community?
- What’s happening locally?
- What challenges/opportunities exist?
- Any supports that would be helpful?
What is the National Coalition on School Diversity?
Founded in 2009, NCSD is a network of 50+ civil rights organizations, university-based research centers, and state/local coalitions (including parents, students, and educators) working to support government policies that promote school diversity and reduce racial and socioeconomic isolation in our nation’s public schools. NCSD supports its members in designing, enacting, implementing, and uplifting K-12 public school integration policies and practices so we may build cross-race/cross-class relationships, share power and resources, and co-create new realities. Our work is informed by an advisory panel of scholars and academic researchers whose work relates to issues of equity, diversity, and desegregation/integration.
If you’re curious about how issues of segregation and integration are playing out across the country, take a look at The State of Integration 2018, a compilation of essays by NCSD’s staff and members.
How we define segregation and integration
We realize that the words “segregation” and “integration” mean different things to different people, and part of what we seek to better understand is what these terms mean to you.
On our end, we offer a framework known as the 5Rs of Real Integration, which was created by students in New York City (IntegrateNYC).
By INYC’s definition, integration requires a constellation of the following:
- Race and enrollment (equitable enrollment/assignment policies)
- Resource allocation (equitable distribution of resources)
- Relationships across lines of difference (including culturally responsive teaching/curriculum and intergroup contact)
- Restorative justice (addressing the school-to-prison pipeline and disciplinary practices)
- Representation (educator diversity)
Another one of our members, the Reimagining Integration: Diverse and Equitable Schools (“RIDES”) project has a slightly different framework for integration, which they call the ABCDs of Integration.
Get in contact
We are looking to connect with people and organizations working along the spectrum of these issues–please let us know if you have any suggestions! You can email Gina Chirichigno, Director of NCSD, at gchirichigno@prrac.org.