A Slow Failure: How Time Eroded the Promise of Integrated Schools in Philadelphia

• In Event: The Elusive Battle for Educational Equity in Pennsylvania: 40 Years of Changes and Challenges

Abstract

Purpose: In the early 1970s, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) brought a case against the School District of Philadelphia, seeking to remedy the de facto segregation pervasive throughout the district. The case dragged on for thirty-seven years, with minor policy changes. Finally, in 2009, the PHRC settled with the district. The final agreement, entitled Imagine 2014, laid out specific provisions for greater accountability and higher school quality, but did not mention segregation or integration. In short, the resolution took no notice of the original complaint behind the case. This study, then, seeks to explain the dramatic transformation of the nature of this case.

Perspective: Motivated by a strong concern for equity, the authors value integration as an important goal in and of itself (Gurin, Nagda, & Lopez, 2004; Orfield, 2009). As such, the investigation delves into the purpose of integration and the meaning of educational equity, thereby exploring the beliefs and values behind the struggle in Philadelphia.

Methods and Data Sources: The investigators employ historical process tracing (Mahoney, 1999) via qualitative document analysis (Creswell, 2012). Sources included reports and press releases form the school district, as well as all iterations of School District of Philadelphia v. Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission from 1972 through 2009. Employing grounded theory, the investigators used open coding to surface themes and key factors that influenced the progression of the case. The authors then develop these findings into a narrative case study.

Findings: The findings reveal that the protracted proceedings allowed the original goals of the case to slowly erode, while the introduction of a new judge in the early 2000s overturned key prior decisions and redefined the suit as a case for equal educational opportunity rather than desegregation. As such, the case demonstrates changing cultural attitudes towards desegregation over time, embodied by the judges involved. Moreover, the case exemplifies the limitations of the judicial system as a facilitator of desegregation, and the need for strong leadership within the city and school district to effect meaningful change.

Significance: Ultimately, the case represents a typical urban district in the Northeast, struggling with the implications of de facto school segregation. In particular, the integrated legal-historical perspective demonstrates the impact of Milliken v. Bradley I and II (Frankenberg & DeBray, 2011), and the shortcomings of previous desegregation efforts (Chemerinsky, 2003). The power of this research, then, is its strong demand for innovative integration policy in the future.

Authors

• Alison Tyler, The Pennsylvania State University

• Steven Leonice Nelson, The Pennsylvania State University - University Park