The Limits of Desegregation Accountability: Questions of Measurement

• In Event: Politics of Diversity and the Future of Desegregation

Abstract

This policy study addresses the measurement challenges of developing politically and administratively effective accountability systems for eliminating unacceptable public school segregation. We focus on the fact that a) the courts and government agencies have nearly abandoned their commitment to desegregation of the nation’s schools while, b) the number of segregated schools has been rising by all measures. To reverse these trends we need measures that are both more precise in their assessment of the nature and extent of segregation and more useful in guiding efforts to promote desegregated educational experiences for all students. Our paper shows why existing measures are not adequate to these tasks, and what needs to be done to improve them.

Authors

• Ross E. Mitchell, University of Redlands

• Douglas E. Mitchell, University of California - Riverside