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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Kevin Welner's guest piece in "The Answer Sheet" blog on
the Washington Post reports on two studies showing charters increase
segregation. As Welner points out, they don't increase test scores either. But,
they are promoted heavily in race to the trough and 'school improvement grant'
funding requirements. Monty </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><A
href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/research/new-study-looks-at-segregation.html#more">http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/research/new-study-looks-at-segregation.html#more</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV id=entryhead>
<H1>New study looks at segregation in charter schools</H1></DIV><!-- begin blogger thumbs --><!----><!-- end blogger thumbs -->
<P>My guest is <A href="http://www.epicpolicy.org/author/welner-kevin-g"><FONT
color=#0c4790>Kevin G. Welner</FONT></A>, professor of education policy and
program evaluation in the School of Education at the <A
href="http://colorado.edu/"><FONT color=#0c4790>University of Colorado at
Boulder</FONT></A>, and director of the <A href="http://epicpolicy.org/"><FONT
color=#0c4790>Education and the Public Interest Center.</FONT></A> He can be
reached at <A href="mailto:welner@colorado.edu."><FONT
color=#0c4790>welner@colorado.edu.</FONT></A> <BR><BR>By Kevin G. Welner<BR><A
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020303959.html"><FONT
color=#0c4790>The Washington Post published an article </FONT></A>last Wednesday
about <A href="http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/"><FONT color=#0c4790>a
study</FONT></A> from <A href="http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/"><FONT
color=#0c4790>UCLA’s Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles
</FONT></A>which analyzed charter schools across the country and found them to
be substantially more racially isolated than traditional public schools. The
study has received quite a bit of attention, as well as pushback from charter
school advocates.<BR><BR>Today, CU-Boulder’s policy center, along with its
partner policy center at <A href="http://www.asu.edu/"><FONT
color=#0c4790>Arizona State University</FONT></A> (collectively, <A
href="http://epicpolicy.org/"><FONT color=#0c4790>EPIC/EPRU</FONT></A>) is
releasing a study http://epicpolicy.org/publication/schools-without-diversity
that, coincidentally, asks some of the same questions as the UCLA study
did.</P><A id=more></A>
<P>Our study provides a comprehensive examination of enrollment patterns in
schools operated by private corporations and finds these schools to be
segregated by race, family income, disabilities and English language learner
status. As compared with their local public school districts, these schools
operated by Education Management Organizations, or EMOs, are substantially more
segregated, and the strong segregative pattern found in 2001 is virtually
unchanged through 2007.<BR><BR>This new study, "Schools without Diversity:
Education Management Organizations, Charter Schools, and the Demographic
Stratification of the American School System," is written by Gary Miron, Jessica
Urschel, and Elana Tornquist of <A href="http://www.wmich.edu/"><FONT
color=#0c4790>Western Michigan University</FONT></A>, and William Mathis of the
University of Colorado at Boulder. Please find this new report on the web here.
(<A href="http://epicpolicy.org/publication/schools-without-diversity"><FONT
color=#0c4790>http://epicpolicy.org/publication/schools-without-diversity</FONT></A>)<BR><BR>The
fact that our conclusions are remarkably similar to the UCLA study is
particularly noteworthy. The two studies, conducted independently using
different data, different researchers and different methods, both found
extensive segregation in charter schools.</P>
<P>This type of independent verification is extraordinarily important. It
establishes that the findings are robust – are not just the result of one
particular way of looking at the data. Together, these two new studies paint a
powerful picture of charters adding to the school segregation caused by the
nation’s highly segregated neighborhoods.<BR><BR>The EMO study is particularly
important because the Obama administration has placed a great deal of faith in
the <A
href="http://www.usc.edu/dept/education/cegov/focus/charter_schools/publications/other/IntrotoCMOs.pdf"><FONT
color=#0c4790>scaling up of nonprofit EMOs (sometimes called Charter Management
Organizations, or CMOs)</FONT></A> as part of the administration’s turnaround
strategy.</P>
<P>The findings of this new study suggest that these policies have the very real
potential to be harmful to the nation’s social and educational
interests.<BR><BR>Having just read the various responses to the UCLA study,
allow me to pre-emptively address those concerns, which may also be raised in
response to the EPIC/EPRU study:<BR><BR>1.Pointing to the segregation is in no
way condemning the schools, teachers, or students at those segregated schools.
Individually, these can be great schools. What these studies highlight is a
policy shift away from the <A href="http://brownvboard.org/summary/"><FONT
color=#0c4790>Brown v. Board of Education</FONT></A> understanding and ambition.
We’ve moved from “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” back
to a version of <A
href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0163_0537_ZS.html"><FONT
color=#0c4790>Plessy’s</FONT></A> “separate but equal,” generally stated as
something like, “segregation doesn’t matter; what matters is that we hold every
school accountable for excellence.” </P>
<P>2.While high-quality segregated schools – whether charters or not – deserve
praise for their excellent academic outcomes, I am troubled by the abandonment
of the diversity goal. Why, in reading the responses to the UCLA study, do I see
so many people buying into a false dichotomy between excellence and diversity?
We should approach charter schools with the foundational understanding that
diversity and high achievement are mutually reinforcing and then structure our
charter policies accordingly. <BR><BR>3.The reality is that charter schools as a
whole do not appear to generate improved test scores. So, looking at these two
new studies, it seems that we are getting the harms of segregation without any
significant achievement benefits. Yet charters and choice are here to stay, so
the questions we should be asking concern how to best structure choice policies
to further both goals – diversity and excellence.</P>
<P>The UCLA Civil Rights Project offers several recommendations for restoring
equity provisions and integration in charter schools. They include establishing
new guidance and reporting requirements by the federal government; incorporating
some features of magnet schools into charter schools; heightened enforcement of
existing state-level legislation with specific provisions regarding diversity in
charter schools; and monitoring patterns of charter school enrollment and
attrition, focusing particularly on reporting the demographic information of
charter school students on low-income and English Language Learning
characteristics. <BR><BR>4.Both the EPIC/EPRU study and the UCLA study show
racial stratification in both directions. That is, we’re seeing both “white
flight” and “minority flight." Several comments I’ve seen therefore conclude
that we’re attacking Latino and African American students for choosing
non-diverse schools. Speaking for myself, I would never condemn a parent for
making such a choice. If a parent perceives his or her best schooling option to
be a segregated school, I would certainly hope that the segregation isn’t the
reason for that conclusion. But ultimately I’m not in a position to question any
parent’s choice. I should note that surveys consistently show that parents of
all races state a preference for integrated schools, all else being equal. So
what I do question are state policies that fail to create incentives for
schools, including charter schools, to have that diversity. </P>
<P>Ultimately, I hope those who criticized the UCLA report and who might be
tempted to criticize the new EPIC/EPRU report take a step back and consider the
long-term benefits to the charter movement if it embraces reforms designed to
create greater school-level diversity. Yes, these reports do raise serious
concerns about the current situation, but they aren’t calling for charters to be
abandoned. They are calling for meaningful reflection and change so that these
schools can help move the country toward its ideals.</P>
<P>-0-</P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Monty Neill, Ed.D.<BR>Interim Executive
Director<BR>FairTest<BR>15 Court Sq., Ste. 820<BR>Boston, MA
02108<BR>857-350-8207 x 101<BR>fax 857-350-8209<BR><A
href="mailto:monty@fairtest.org">monty@fairtest.org</A><BR><A
href="http://www.fairtest.org">www.fairtest.org</A><BR>Donate: <A
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