Metropolitan Desegregation PDF
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Metropolitan Desegregation Metropolitan Desegregation Edited by Robert L. Green University of the District of Columbia Washington, D.C. With the assistance of Frances S. Thomas Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Metropolitan desegregation. Includes bibliographies and index. I. School integration - Delaware - New Castle County - Addresses, essays, lectures. 1. Green, Robert Lee. II. Thomas, Frances S. LC214.22.D3M48 1985 370.19/342 85-12032 ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-4945-7 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-4943-3 DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4684-4943-3 Research for Chapters 2,5,7 and 8 w:ts supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Division of Social Sciences. Special thanks are due Dr. Bruce Williams, Assistant Director for the Social Sciences Division, for his encouragement and support. Some of the material in Chapter 9 was abstracted from "Third-Generation School Desegrega tion Issues: An Agenda for the Future," by R. Griffore, in Procedures and Pilot Research to Develop an Agenda for Desegregation Studies (1981), which was funded entirely by the U.S. Department of Education. The Department of Education disclaims any official endorsement of the materials, and no product endorsement should be inferred. Parts of Chapter 8 are adapted from material that appeared in The Urban Review, Volume 13, Number 2, Summer 1981, and Volume 16, Number 2, 1984. © 1985 Plenum Press, New York Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1985 A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation 233 Spring Street, New York, N.Y. 10013 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher This book is dedicated to the memory of our colleague, Rick D. Rapaport, whose joyous, creative, productive life (1954-1985) was dedicated to the pursuit of justice, peace, and human dignity, and to a better future for the victims of oppression and discrimination all over the world - fellow human beings who need from each of us the kind of commitment, caring, and love exemplified in Rick's short life. Rick's work lives on in the lives of the many children of many colors who are showing us the way to make America work, and their parents, teachers, and school administrators who dare to believe in the American ideal for which desegregation stands. To them this book is also dedicated. Contri butors JOE T. DARDEN Dean, Urban Affairs Programs, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan ROBERT L. GREEN President, University of the District of Columbia, Wash ington, District of Columbia ROBERT J. GRIFFORE Department of Family and Child Ecology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan MARGARET A. PARSONS Greater Flint Health Maintenance Organization, Flint, Michigan DIANA PEARCE Center for National Policy Review, Catholic University School of Law, Washington, District of Columbia JULIE SCHMIDT Department of Educational Studies, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware JOHN H. SCHWEITZER Urban Affairs Programs, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan CASSANDRA A. SIMMONS Urban Affairs Programs, Affirmative Action Grad uate Financial Assistance Program, Michigan State University, East Lan sing, Michigan FRANCES S. THOMAS Urban Affairs Programs, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan MEYER WEINBERG Horace Mann Bond Center for Equal Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts vii Preface Most of the findings in this book are based on the work of a team of researchers from Urban Affairs Programs at Michigan State University. From 1976 to 1981, the team observed the progress of school desegregation in metropolitan Wil mington, Delaware, which encompasses New Castle County. The project was made possible by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Division of Social Sciences. Metropolitan desegregation is a strategy deserving of national attention because this country's black population has become increasingly concentrated within central cities. Desegregation solutions must be found that encompass America's white suburbs as well as its urban areas. In a 1977 statement, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights called metro politan school desegregation "the last frontier to be crossed in the long judicial effort to make equal educational opportunity . . . a living reality." Moreover, the National Task Force on Desegregation Strategies concluded in 1979, The simple demographic fact is that many large city school districts cannot desegregate by themselves. For children in such districts, the best hope for attending a desegregated school lies in the implementation of metropolitan desegregation strat egies--i.e., desegregation plans which do not stop at the city line, but rather encom pass at least some of the surrounding suburban areas. (p. 1) The Michigan State University research team began its investigation in New Castle County, Delaware, after a three-judge federal district court ruled that area schools were illegally segregated between districts.! The court determined that governmental action affecting the entire region had contributed to the racial separation of the primarily black urban core from its ring of nearly all-white suburbs. The court consolidated Wilmington and its surrounding suburban school districts, and then ordered countywide busing to desegregate the schools through out the metropolitan area. In its 5-year study, the research team assessed the attitudes and academic achievement levels of selected students as well as the attitudes of selected teachers and parents in New Castle County. In four of the nine chapters of this book, members of the MSU team present the data from this case study and discuss the conclusions that were drawn. Other writers from other institutions analyze pre- IEvans v. Buchanan, 416 F. Supp. 328 (1976). ix x PREFACE vious research on school desegregation in order to provide a context for the Wilmington/New Castle County study. In the first chapter, the legal and educational history of school segregation and desegregation is set forth. The position advocated is that of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, which stated in 1979 that "no more important challenge faces the Nation than the elimination of all discrimination from our public schools" (p. viii). In the second chapter, the history of school desegregation in New Castle County is reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the political context within which desegregation occurred and the political waves that flowed in its wake. The analysis is based on media coverage of the desegregation process and on inter views with many of the participants. In Chapter 3, educational components in desegregation remedies are de scribed. Increasingly, the judicial system has come to recognize the need to alter the policies of desegregating districts in order to help undereducated minority children catch up, and to counteract the deleterious effects of past segregated schooling. The author analyzes the legal justification, the educational need, and the effectiveness of the various components. In Chapter 4, research findings are presented on the relationship between residential and educational segregation and the effects of school desegregation on this relationship. The author of this chapter has undertaken ground-breaking research on the effects of neighborhood racial composition on racial attitudes and on attitudes about school desegregation. Attitudes about race and education, as expressed by students and parents from New Castle County neighborhoods of varying racial compositions, are analyzed in Chapter 5. The data show that neighborhood racial composition accounts for differences in attitudes not accounted for by race per se. Chapter 6 presents a summary of selected research on relationships between school desegregation and academic achievement. The author notes that results vary depending on the methodology of the research and the sincerity of the desegregation effort. The conclusion is presented that successful desegregation can improve academic achievement for black and other minority students without inflicting educational damage on white students. The achievement data from the New Castle County study are analyzed in Chapter 7. The findings indicate that for both black and white pupils there was a definite increase in achievement after desegregation. Achievement gains were generally greater for black pupils; for pupils at the elementary level, both black and white; and for all pupils in the area of mathematics. In Chapter 8, the author examines the attitudes of New Castle County students and parents about race, schools, and education, before and after school desegregation. She observes that the most positive attitudes about race were evidenced at the earliest grades, suggesting that younger children are more likely than their older siblings to learn positive racial attitudes through school deseg- PREFACE xi regation. Differences in attitudes and attitudinal changes related to variables such as race, sex, and socioeconomic status are also noted. In the final chapter, recent trends in desegregation research are traced, focusing on the family's role in children's educational achievement in deseg regated schools. The author also discusses new directions for research on edu cation and desegregation, and suggests an ecological perspective as a framework for conceptualizing school desegregation and organizing future research. It is our hope that the information provided in this book will enlarge public understanding of desegregation in general, and metropolitan desegregation in particular. Students of America's progress toward the goal of equal educational opportunities for all children may find the data from the study of metropolitan desegregation in Wilmington/New Castle County, Delaware, to be of particular interest. The authors share the conviction that integrated education is necessary to prepare children-of all races-for full participation in our multiracial world. This study of metropolitan desegregation could not have been completed without the assistance of numerous colleagues. Thanks are due Rick D. Rapaport for excellent researching services; Dr. Joe T. Darden for coordinating tasks; and Barbara Gaffield, Roberta Grange, Shirley Hoksbergen, and Marie McNutt for typing the manuscript. Special appreciation is due Dr. Frances Thomas for her services in critiquing and editing the various chapters. On behalf of the authors, I want to express our gratitude for the assistance of these persons. ROBERT L. GREEN Contents CHAPTER 1 DESEGREGATION 1 Robert L. Green The Need to Desegregate American Education ..................... 1 Segregation ................................................. 3 Desegregation ............................................... 10 Metropolitan Desegregation .................................... 15 Opposition to School Desegregation ............................. 25 The Future of School Desegregation ............................. 31 References .................................................. 34 CHAPTER 2 SCHOOL DESEGREGATION IN NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ..••..•..•.•••..•..•.• 37 Julie Schmidt Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Evans v. Buchanan-Liability and Remedy ....................... 42 Public Bodies and Desegregation Plans ........................... 42 Pupil Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 First Three Years of Desegregation .............................. 49 Ancillary Relief and Financial Turmoil ........................... 51 State Legislature ............................................. 54 Student Code of Conduct ...................................... 55 Community Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Summary................................................... 59 References .................................................. 59 xiii
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