Urban school districts across the country have shifted back to managing segregated schools following the recent lifting of court-ordered desgregation plans, a new book finds.
The book, "From the Courtroom to the Classroom: The Shifting Landscape of School Desegregation," was edited by Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development faculty Claire Smrekar and Ellen Goldring and published by Harvard University Press.
"As the return to neighborhood schools accelerates, schools resegregate, and magnet programs assume new roles, this book provides timely information on critical social and academic outcomes for children," Smrekar said.
School desegregation, once a central piece of social and educational policy, has been ended by an increasing number of federal courts in recent years in urban school districts. When desegration polices are removed, schools are designated as "unitary," which means they are expected to implement a variety of policies focusing on school improvement, school choice and neighborhood schools, among other alternatives. Racial balancing of schools is no longer a priority.
"The significance of this book is rooted in the need for a better understanding of new policies on race and schools, the social and political context of choice, and the consequences of these reform strategies for school systems in urban America and for the lives of educators, students and their families," Goldring said.
The book comes on the heels of the June 28, 2007, U.S. Supreme Court decision (Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and Crystal D. Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education) that limits the use of race in student assignment and school choice plans.
The book focuses on four key objectives:
- Identify a set of important trends in the socio-demographic composition of schools following the end of court-ordered desegregation. How have districts responded to the end of court-ordered desegregation plans in terms of student and staff assignment? What priorities drive the new district policies on racial and socio-economic desegregation and student assignment? How will the PICS opinion shape district policies in the future?
- Explore the implications of new policies on race and school choice across multiple levels and contexts, including classroom and school, and at school district and national levels. What do patterns of achievement among white, African American and Latino students suggest regarding the impact of these new policies?
- Scrutinize the conditions in school districts that served as landmark legal cases in the march toward desegregation in the United States. What is the impact of new student assignment plans on racial and socio-economic segregation/integration patterns in these historically significant districts?
- Examine the aftermath of desegregation, including both social and academic outcomes, against the growing evidence of resegregation across urban school districts in the United States. Does race matter? What is the role of expanded school choice programs (e.g., magnet schools) under these conditions?
"This book makes compelling the need to connect the imperatives of new policies on race and schooling to the practices of educational leaders facing the demands of diversity, equity, choice and excellence for all students. Student assignment policies represent some of the most complex and controversial decisions made by local school boards across the country," Smrekar, associate professor of public policy and education, and Goldring, professor of educational policy and leadership, said. "It is our hope that this data may provide essential guideposts for districts considering the consequences of unitary status under the more restrictive new legal constraints regarding the use of race. This book is designed to highlight the short- and long-term implications of these decisions for schoolchildren, their families and communities."
Study finds college students better prepared
Freshmen entering California State University, Sacramento, are better prepared to tackle college-level work than they were in 2004, suggesting that a five-year-old statewide program to assess college readiness among high school juniors is paying off.
Those are the conclusions of a new study of California's Early Assessment Program by Michal Kurlaender, an assistant professor of education at UC Davis, and researchers at California State University, Sacramento (Sacramento State) and the University of Minnesota. The study will be presented on Friday, April 17, at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San Diego.
Kurlaender and her co-investigators found a 6-percentage point drop since 2004 in the number of entering Sacramento State freshmen who need remedial English, and a 4-percentage point drop in those who need extra classes in math.
Across the 23-campus CSU system, a decline of this magnitude would equal about 2,000 fewer students in remedial math and 3,000 fewer in remedial English courses, a substantial reduction.
At Sacramento State, the decline did not appear to be due to an increase in the number of unprepared students who opted not to apply to college, the researchers report.
"This is perhaps the best part of the story: Students and high schools appear to be using the information from the Early Assessment Program to act in the senior year of high school," Kurlaender said.
Historically, more than 60 percent of the nearly 40,000 first-time freshmen admitted to the CSU system each year have needed remedial classes in English, math, or both -- even though all admitted students have taken CSU-required courses and earned at least a "B" grade point average in high school.
To address the problem, the State Board of Education, California Department of Education and California State University instituted an Early Assessment Program in 2004 to offer high school juniors additional information about their college readiness in English and mathematics, with a goal of identifying gaps in time for students to work on them in their senior year.
"The Early Assessment Program is a really important and novel educational intervention because it provides students with information and empowers them to better prepare themselves for success in college," Kurlaender said.
Absenteeism of Asthmatic Children Is No Different than That of Their Non-Asthmatic Peers
With proper management and registered nurses on campus, the school absenteeism rate for children with asthma can be reduced to that of non-asthmatic children, according to a new study published in the journal CHEST, the official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians. The study, conducted through the Baylor Martha Foster Lung Care Center at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas and the Dallas Independent School District (DISD), found that the rate of absenteeism between children with and without asthma symptoms has improved such that they are nearly indistinguishable.
Lead author and medical director of the Baylor Lung Care Center Mark Millard, M.D., says the implications of the study are far-reaching.
“We all know the devastating effect of untreated asthma on both academic and athletic performance, but our data suggests that the tide has turned, and with proper supervision and management, the impact of asthma can be minimized,” said Millard. “Parents should expect that their child with asthma should be able to compete with the same degree of success as non-asthmatic peers, with current asthma medications.”
Asthma and Attendance
The study is a result of an extensive survey of students in 17 of the DISD’s more than 200 schools. Students were studied with questionnaires and asthma challenge tests to definitively identify this common medical condition, and attendance rates of these students were compared with those of non-asthmatic students.
No statistical difference was discovered between attendance rates of the groups of asthmatic students identified with that of their classmates.
School Registered Nurses Play Critical Role
Baylor Dallas has been partnering with the DISD since 1991 to improve school-based monitoring of children with asthma. One of the hospital’s first interventions was to provide peak flow meters for all DISD schools for monitoring and assessing the severity of asthma symptoms. Using Baylor’s work with the DISD as a model, the American Association of Respiratory Care created the national Peak Performance USA program, which provided peak flow meters for every school in the country, upon request.
Almost all of the schools in the DISD have registered nurses on campus, and Baylor has helped these nurses learn about new medications and therapies for controlling asthma. Millard says the supervision of the school nurses plays a critical role in decreasing absenteeism of children with asthma.
“Even children with more obvious symptoms that were identified by school RNs before the screening missed no more school than the others, suggesting that the nurses are properly identifying asthmatic children and working with parents and primary care providers in achieving good asthma control,” he said.
Anna Hilton, R.N., who had been the nurse director of the asthma management program for the DISD prior to joining the Baylor team for this project agrees.
“Having RNs on campus to identify and help primary care providers to properly manage children with asthma makes all the difference between a child missing critical educational time and a child able to learn and participate,” she said.
Keeping Kids in Class
Results of the study point to the value of school nurses in helping children control their asthma and stay in class.
“Any child in any school district can achieve good asthma control, if there is access to the right medications and oversight,” said Millard. “A well-trained and empowered school registered nurse may be the best solution to deal with the problem of uncontrolled asthma in children.”
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