Researching School Resegregation in the Post–Civil Rights Era: Implications for Theory, Policy, and Praxis

• In Event: 61.039 - Researching School Segregation: Critical Race Theory, Qualitative Methodologies, and the Question of Making a Difference

Abstract

Background and Purpose
School resegregation remains a complex and troubling civil rights issue in the U.S. (Orfield, 2009). Not only does it conjure up memories of a racial past many Americans would rather forget; it signifies a return to racially isolated schools similar to those found to be inherently unequal in 1954 by virtue of their separateness (Brown v. Board of Education). As such, research-based policy solutions are critical to restoring America’s vision for genuinely integrated schools that provide equal educational opportunities and resources to students regardless of racial background. To provide a better understanding of the current state of research on racial segregation in schools, this paper presents a review and analysis of prevailing research and policy perspectives on school desegregation, integration, and resegregation in the post-Civil Rights Era.

Theoretical Perspective/Framework
Critical race theory will frame this analysis along with W.E.B. Du Bois’ (1935) conception of a “proper education” (p. 328). As such, this analysis will focus largely on the treatment of race and racism within the school desegregation literature according to the tenets of CRT (i.e., counterstorytelling, whiteness as property, the critique of liberalism, interest convergence, and permanence of racism) and with particular attention to Derrick Bell’s theory of interest convergence (Bell, 2004, 2009) - the idea that “the majority group tolerates advances for racial justice only when it suits its interest to do so” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2000, p. 149).

It will supplement these conceptual resources with Du Bois’ more detailed inventory of the necessary components of a “proper education” for Black children, which went beyond mere racial composition and included: (a) sympathetic touch between teacher and pupil; (b) knowledge on the part of the teacher, not simply of the individual taught, but of his surroundings and background, and the history of his class and group; (c) such contact between pupils, and between teacher and pupil, on the basis of perfect social equality, as will increase this sympathy and knowledge; (d) facilities for education in equipment and housing, and (e) the promotion of such extra-curricular activities as will tend to induct the child into life (p. 328).

Approach to Inquiry
This paper will present a selected review of the school desegregation and resegregation research literature in education from the early 1990s to the present. Special attention will be given to study results and recommendations, along with their implications for school desegregation policy and praxis in contexts that are increasingly multiracial and socioeconomically diverse at the national level, yet increasingly segregated and racially isolated at the school and neighborhood levels (Smrekar & Goldring, 2009).

Significance and Contribution
The paper’s significance lies in its contribution to both the school desegregation and resegregation literature through its analysis of existing research and its implications for education research, policy, and praxis in the post-Civil Rights Era. It will also contribute to the education research and policy discourses concerning the intersection of race and educational opportunity in America’s increasingly diverse yet segregated schooling contexts.

Author

• Sonya Douglass Horsford, George Mason University