Racial Diversity in Montessori Charter Schools

• In Event: How Public Are Desirable Urban Public Schools? Theme Schools and Equity, School Choice, and Gentrification

Abstract

Originally designed as laboratories for public school reform (Levy 2010), charter schools are increasingly coming under fire for contributing to the resegregation of American public schools. Prior to Brown v. Board of Education (1954), public schools were explicitly racially segregated, with two tiers of public schools for White students and African American students (Anderson 1988). Court-ordered desegregation movements in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s helped to promote integration; since the 1990s, however, this trend has reversed, and schools in some areas are now more racially segregated than ever before (Lewis et al, 2012). Some scholars have argued that the school choice movement, especially the growth of charter schools, is contributing to the resegregation of American public schools (Garcia, 2008). While some charters serve high concentrations of students of color, charter school critics have pointed to majority-White “prestige” charter schools as havens for White flight (Frankenburg, Siegel-Hawley, & Wang 2010; Garcia 2008).

Also over the last 20 years, Montessori programs have been expanding in the public sector, largely through charter schools (National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector [NCMPS] 2014a, 2014b; Whitescarver & Cossentino 2008). Historically, however, Montessori schools in the U.S. have been private schools (Whitescarver & Cossentino 2008). The campaign to expand Montessori in the public sector has invoked the rhetoric of social justice, arguing that public Montessori programs make a previously elite educational approach accessible to a broader population of students and families (Murray 2015). However, there is little research on which students these public Montessori programs are actually serving, particularly Montessori charters. Debs (2015) found that whole-school Montessori programs are typically less racially diverse than their local districts, but this research does not distinguish between charters and district schools. This study aims to fill this gap by addressing the following research questions: 1) What is the racial composition of Montessori charter schools? 2) How does the racial composition of Montessori charter schools compare to the racial composition of the districts surrounding these schools? Building on the work of Debs (2015) and Whitescarver and Cossentino (2008), the research hypothesis is that Montessori charter schools are predominately and disproportionately White.

To answer these questions, student demographic data for Montessori charters and for their surrounding districts are retrieved from the National Center for Education Statistics. Using a database created by Mira Debs, descriptive statistics are used to establish the racial composition of Montessori charter schools as a group to determine how representative Montessori charters are of the populations they serve. Through the lens of critical race theory (Bell, 1979; Ladson-Billings & Tate 1995), this study examines whether Montessori charters actually are making the method accessible to a broader population of students, or are instead contributing to increased segregation and White flight. Findings suggest a need for Montessori charters to improve recruitment efforts for students of color and reevaluation of the role of charter schools in the expansion of public Montessori. This study contributes to the ongoing debate about charter schools, school choice, and equity.

Author

• Katherine Elizabeth Brown, University of North Carolina - Charlotte