Monday, November 4, 6-7pm
MICA Center for Social Design
131 W. North Avenue, Room 171
“Nothing About Us” is a rigorous, passionate and hilarious exploration of educational segregation written and performed by those most affected and least consulted: NYC Public High School students. What does separate but equal mean to us today? Transformation, empathy, and youth voice drive the conversation in this thirty-minute touring play.
Learning Policy Institute Congressional Briefing – “Separate and Unequal: How School Diversity Matters for Educational Opportunity and Attainment”
On November 14, 2019, we will be partnering with the Learning Policy Institute and the Stanford Graduate School of Education and Center for Education Policy Analysis to present the congressional briefing “Separate and Unequal: How School Diversity Matters for Educational Opportunity and Attainment.”
Registration and a light breakfast will begin at 8:30 a.m. The briefing will start promptly at 9:00 a.m. Breakfast will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Seating is limited. Please RSVP by Tuesday, November 12, 2019.
When: November 14th at 9:00am (light breakfast at 8:30am)
Where: Russell Senate Office Building
2 Constitution Ave, NE
Kennedy Caucus Room
Washington, DC 20002
Remarks by
Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT)
Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH-11)
Speakers
Linda Darling-Hammond, President, Learning Policy Institute
Rucker Johnson, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, Goldman School of Public Policy
Sean Reardon, Professor of Poverty and Inequality in Education, Stanford University
Background
Despite a large body of research showing that school desegregation benefits all students, there is a persistent-but-misguided belief that school segregation doesn’t matter. This briefing will share the research on how school segregation affects student achievement, why school desegregation benefits all students, and what policies can most effectively support school integration.
More than half a century after the passage of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, the nation’s schools are becoming increasingly segregated by race and income, with students of color and students concentrated in high poverty schools with less access to the high-quality resources and opportunities that all children need to succeed and become contributing members of society. During this briefing, speakers will discuss:
New findings from the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, a study of more than 7,500 school districts in the United States documenting the large racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in educational opportunities and success and the role of segregation in those disparities.
Findings from the recently publishedChildren of the Dream: Why School Integration Works, which used longitudinal data going back to the 1960s and foundthat school integration efforts in the 1970s and 1980s were overwhelmingly successfulin improving outcomes both in school and later in life.
NCSD membership is open to organizations that have demonstrated or are willing to demonstrate a commitment to racial and economic school integration in the United States.
Once you fill out the application form and sign the accompanying Membership Statement, the NCSD Steering Committee will consider your candidacy. The steering committee meets four times a year, so it may take up to three months for a final decision. If you wish to follow up with us, please email Gina Chirichigno at gchirichigno@prrac.org.
Thinking About Applying for Membership to NCSD?
The National Coalition on School Diversity (NCSD) engages in research, public education, and advocacy to help expand support for government policies that promote school diversity and reduce racial and socioeconomic isolation. Members are invited to participate–consistent with their organization’s ability and designation–in NCSD’s advocacy efforts, which include, but are not limited to: legislative advocacy, administrative advocacy (e.g. communicating with departments of education and other non-legislative government agencies/bodies), and civil rights litigation at the district, local, state, and national levels.
Membership is free and open to organizations that meet specific criteria, which is described below. In lieu of the annual membership dues that most national organizations require, NCSD requests that members make a voluntary contribution (consistent with an organization’s capacity) to its bi-annual conference. You can learn more about our past conferences here.
Please note: NCSD does not accept applications from individuals.
The Benefits of Joining NCSD
Membership in NCSD provides opportunities to:
Meet, learn from, connect with, and build alliances among our ever-growing, dynamic network made up of people and organizations committed to creating, sustaining, and improving equitable and diverse schools in the United States
Access members-only conference calls that provide up-to-date information and insights about research, practice, and policy work in the field
Amplify your work through our newsletter, which is disseminated to a network of 5,000+ integration supporters nationwide
Connect with a community of peers when you have questions or are looking for information and allies to strengthen your work
Lend your voice and perspectives on school integration with local and national media
Express support and contribute your skills to NCSD’s many advocacy efforts and campaigns at local, state, and national levels
Receive public recognition of your membership and activities on our website and our conference materials
What We Ask of Members
A contribution, consistent with your organization’s capacity, to our bi-annual conference
Keep NCSD reasonably informed about your organization’s integration-related work
Public support for NCSD’s work. This could include publicizing our written products, webinars, or events and supporting NCSD’s advocacy efforts, as appropriate
Recognition of your affiliation with NCSD, e.g. on your website or when speaking at education conferences and similar events
We strongly encourage collaboration and communication between members, in order to inform, enhance, amplify, and better understand each other’s work
Be welcoming, inclusive, and curious about other NCSD members and their work. This might include amplifying and supporting fellow members’ work through social media, issuing invitations to members to be on panels, or simply by connecting by phone or in-person to learn about each other’s work
Make efforts to connect with fellow members when visiting, presenting, and/or attending events in other cities
Particularly if you are experienced in the field, with status and connections to opportunities and knowledge, encourage and support emerging practitioners, researchers, and advocates dedicated to this important work
That you sign our Membership Statement (you must have the proper authority to submit an application on your organization’s behalf).
Please note: NCSD is not accepting applications from individual schools (including colleges/universities) or school districts at this time. Instead, we encourage you to connect with some of the following members and partners, which are better positioned to provide support and guidance to schools and districts:
Beloved Community’s work includes research & data analysis on longitudinal impacts of diverse schools/housing and advocacy for local & regional policies that incentivize socioeconomically diverse schools and housing. Read about their equity audit research study here.
The Bridges Collaborative (housed at The Century Foundation) aims to bring together leaders of school systems, charter schools, and fair housing advocates, and provide them the space and opportunity to learn from one another, build grassroots political support, and develop successful strategies for integration.
The Diverse Charter Schools Coalition works to catalyze and support the creation and expansion of high-quality diverse public charter schools through strategic research, advocacy, membership activities, and outreach.
National Institute for Magnet School Leadership (“NIMSL”) is the technical assistance arm of Magnet Schools of America, whose mission is to provide professional development related to the MSA’s five pillars: 1) Diversity; 2) Innovative Curriculum and Professional Development; 3) Academic Excellence; 4) High Quality Instructional Systems; 5) Family and Community Partnerships.
Reimagining Education: Teaching and Learning in Racially Diverse Schools at Teachers College, Columbia University provides professional development for educators, policy makers, parents, and all stakeholders in K-12 schools around the opportunities and challenges of creating and sustaining racially, ethnically and socio-economically integrated schools.
Reimagining Integration: Diverse and Equitable Schools (“RIDES”) project at Harvard Graduate School of Education helps schools achieve the “ABCDs of True Integration” through coaching, as well as collecting promising practices on the Resources section of our website. (ABCDs – Academics, Belonging, Commitment to dismantling racism and oppression, and Diversity)
We are excited to partner with the Poverty and Race Research Action Council on “The Lines Between Us: At School and At Home” on September 19, 2019.
We will welcome Lawrence Lanahan, author of the new book The Lines Between Us, a story of two families in Baltimore set against the background of decades of segregation and the evolution of the landmark Thompson v. HUD public housing desegregation case. Lawrence Lanahan will be joined by Cara McClellan from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and journalist J. Brian Charles.
The panel discussion will be held in PRRAC’s event space at 740 15th St. NW. Refreshments will be available at 5:30pm, and the discussion will start at 6:00pm.
Who: Lawrence Lanahan, Cara McClellan, and J. Brian Charles
What: “The Lines Between Us: At School and At Home” Where: PRRAC offices – 740 15th St. NW When: September 19th at 6:00pm (refreshments at 5:30pm) Why: To explore interconnections between segregation in housing and schools
“But historically, the defendants in most school desegregation cases were school districts and school boards, and so courts had no power to demand fixes that might have affected the housing market.
That placed outsized expectations on busing that would be the same today, and raises another question: ‘Why was the burden of undoing centuries of discrimination and segregation placed solely on schools?’ said Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who studies the relationship between schools and housing.”
…
“George Romney, Mitt Romney’s father and the secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the Nixon administration, argued for witholding federal money from communities that blocked housing for lower-income and minority families, rather than just transporting African-American children to schools in such places. But President Nixon halted the idea.
‘That could have been a really different turning point in terms of how we think about school desegregation, but also about our neighborhoods,’ said Erica Frankenberg, a professor of education at Penn State.”
This article also references NCSD’s statement regarding the proposed Strength in Diversity Act:
The State of Integration 2018 is a compilation of essays by the National Coalition on School Diversity’s staff and members. It begins with an assessment of current threats to school integration. It then chronicles some of the new progress and opportunities we are seeing at state and local levels.
“A spending bill last year axed the anti-busing language, and it was ‘huge’ that Congress was able to do so after so many decades, said Philip Tegeler, of the National Coalition on School Diversity. Now, he said it needs to finish the job with a ‘final detail’ that would remove the funding restriction permanently.
“‘It’s a throwback, it’s an anachronism from the ’70s, and it just needs to get fixed,’ he said.”
Washington, DC – This week, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Rep. Marcia Fudge (OH-11) respectively introduced the Senate and House of Representatives versions of the Strength in Diversity Act. Specifically, the NCSD-endorsed proposed legislation would provide support and funding for voluntary, local efforts to further the socioeconomic and racial integration of schools. As we approach the 65th anniversary of the Brown decision, it is commendable that Congress is taking steps to support students and the educators working to develop their potential on a day-to-day basis.
Additionally, it is clear that the sponsors along with the co-sponsors, Reps. Bobby Scott (VA-03) and Gregorio Sablan (D-MP), as well as Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Bernie Sanders (D-VT), understand the important role integrated schools play in our diverse, democratic society. As we noted in a 2018 research brief, Re-Weaving the Social Fabric Through Integrated Schools: How Intergroup Contact Prepares Youth to Thrive in a Multiracial Society: “Socioeconomically and racially integrated schools help students to discover their commonalities, and to acknowledge meaningful differences in perspective and experience, which can enhance mutual understanding and foster inclusion and participation in a multicultural democracy.”
Specifically, the Strength in Diversity Act would:
Authorize federal funding to provide planning and implementation grants to support voluntary local efforts to increase racial and socioeconomic diversity. Grants could fund a range of proposals, including (but not limited to):
Studying segregation, evaluating current policies, and developing evidence-based plans to address racial and socioeconomic isolation;
Establishing public school choice zones and revising school boundaries;
Creating or expanding innovative school programs that can attract students from outside the local area; and
Recruiting, hiring, and training new teachers to support specialized schools.
NCSD Steering Committee Members’ Reactions:
Susan Eaton, Professor of Practice & Director, The Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University: “In a time marked by divisive politics, it is deeply inspiring to see two stellar elected officials propose legislation that recognizes both the harm of segregation and the potential of true integration to enhance learning for all, to equalize opportunities for social mobility and to reduce racism and prejudice. We thank Senator Murphy and Rep. Fudge for responding to the calls of young people, parents and educators across the country who are asking for new structures, policies and practices to create, sustain and improve diverse and equitable public schools.”
Matt Gonzales, Director of the School Diversity Project, New York Appleseed: “We applaud Senator Murphy and Rep. Fudge for introducing the Strength in Diversity Act, a bill that should provide much-needed federal support for districts to develop, implement, or expand school integration initiatives. For too long, the federal government has dropped the ball on its commitment to achieve the mandate of the 1954 Brown decision. Despite this intransigence, cities and states across the country have taken the lead in building diverse and equitable schools, and the Strength in Diversity Act offers a meaningful opportunity, and necessary resources to support these voluntary efforts. As our student partners at IntegrateNYC have said, it has been 65 years since the Brown decision, and it is long overdue that we #RetireSegregation!”
Elaine Gross, President of ERASE Racism: “This is an important bill, because it recognizes and addresses the reality that racial segregation in public schools is growing. This has profound consequences for those students whose needs are inadequately addressed and for the nation as a whole, which misses out on the educational benefits of diversity. This bill will enhance crucial efforts to increase diversity in education, which is a local need and should be a national priority.”
Philip Tegeler, President/Executive Director of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council: “It’s a sophisticated bill that understands that school segregation in the 21st century is about both racial and economic isolation, and that more often than not, segregation happens across school district lines. This bill also recognizes the reciprocal relationships among schools, housing, and transportation, and encourages districts to plan holistically.”
How Congress, States, and School Districts Can Take Action on School Diversity
April 9, 2019
10:30am – 12:00pm
The U.S. Capitol Visitor’s Center, SVC Room 201-00
Washington, DC, 20515
Sixty-five years after Brown v. Board of Education, the research remains clear that integrated schools produce better outcomes for all students, and strategies to promote racial and socioeconomic diversity are being used by school districts across the country.
Please join the National Coalition on School Diversity and The Century Foundation for a congressional briefing on how all levels of government can support the growing national movement for school integration.
Confirmed speakers:
Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers
Sufyan Hameed, Director of Expansion, IntegrateNYC
Angélica Infante-Green, Deputy Commissioner, New York State Education Department
Richard Kahlenberg, Director of K-12 Equity and Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation
Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, Virginia Commonwealth University
Moderated by Kimberly Quick, Senior Policy Associate, The Century Foundation
This congressional briefing is being held in collaboration with Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA-3), Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Representative Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH-11).
See PDF version of invite here.
Share on Twitter here.