School Desegregation After Parents Involved: The Complications of Pursuing Diversity in a High-Stakes Accountability Era

• In Event: Race, Equity, and the Courts

Abstract

Decades of reform efforts have attempted to provide equitable educational opportunities for all students, but substantial academic disparities among racial groups persists. Though many factors contribute to the conditions that impede achievement, continued school segregation is pivotal in the unequal educational opportunities provided to students of color. Yet, policies seeking to create racially diverse schools have become more difficult to implement as the mechanisms utilized to establish racial integration are constrained by courts. This study examines the relationship between student achievement and diversity within two urban-suburban school districts in the South experiencing rapid demographic changes. We explore the paradox that has developed around achievement and diversity and how this may further exacerbate the development of enclave schools across the districts.

Authors

• Sarah Diem, University of Missouri

• Erica Frankenberg, The Pennsylvania State University

• Colleen Cleary, University of Missouri