Supreme Court Is Not Where The Action Is

Today, the Supreme Court restricted the degree to which public school districts can consider race in school assignment plans. The majority reasoned that "the way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race," as Chief Justice Roberts wrote.

Although he joined the conservative majority, Justice Kennedy left the door open for race to be an element of consideration for school assignment plans. "A district may consider it a compelling interest to achieve a diverse student population," Kennedy said. "Race may be one component of that diversity."

My main reaction: Yawn.

OK, I know this decision matters. I understand that city school boards, including my own San Francisco Board of Education, have a legitimate interest in maintaining racial integration in schools. Civil rights organizations are calling this a major setback to Brown vs. the Board of Education. And African Americans are much more likely than whites to support the idea that school boards should take the initiative to ensure racial integration.

But the real threat to civil rights and equal opportunity in this country is low achievement on the part of African Americans and Latino students, and the wide achievement gap between them and white students. Here in California, African American and Latino seventh-graders read at about the same level as white third-graders. (The Education Trust West has some great data showing the achievement gap in California.) And high school graduation rates for African American and Latino students are around 50% - 60% in most large cities.

This achievement gap is the real story. The civil rights leaders who pressed the Brown case 50 years ago might be disappointed in today's Supreme Court decision. But most of all, I suspect, they'd be disappointed with the wide achievement gap between the races that remains to this day.

The decision was close and might come out differently next time. But the Court is not where the action is. The good news is that, these days, we have a growing movement of schools, districts, elected leaders, foundations and parents who are leading the charge to close the achievement gap and educate all kids to high levels. I'm far more interested in what we're learning from them and how we can accelerate their successes than what the Supreme Court has decided this time around. They're the ones who are going to turn things around for America's underserved children.

Comments

[Matt P]

What I find very interesting about your article is that central to the thesis is that effective, motivated, experienced teachers are what make the difference. Its is not the students fault that the resources given them are less that adequate. However, it is the teacher’s responsibility to make the most out what they have. Hence, this is what has been seen from teachers who work in troubled schools and attempt to make the difference.

[Ayo Perigon]

I have read articals on bullying time after time and so many time we as a society like to focus our attention on young children and adolescences. Most of the bullying my children has encounter was been bully by teachers and some staff members. I live in a town where my children attend a school system full of teachers,staff, boaard of education members,and the superintendent bully parents and thier difficultes students. I see no tolerance for diversity. I would love to see research done on how many students are been bully by teachers, staff etc.. I bet you will find some interesting finding. Also those who standby and watch this done is to blame for encouraging the behavior

[Melanie Cameron]

Dear Education Bloggers,

The Supreme Court is hearing the NY vs. Tom F. case regarding special education and choice
Missouri released a poll that reports teachers and citizens support school choice expansion.

What do you think about the case before the Supreme Court? How about school choice getting high marks from Missouri’s teachers?
Voice your thoughts at www.edspresso.com

[Laura]

I live in a medium size city with an urban school district of 20,000 students. The racial demographics for the city break down roughly to 67% white, 14% black, 13% hispanic. The public schools demographics are 42% black, 25% hispanic, 24% white. Obviously, there is a serious disparity between the racial make-up of the community and the racial make-up of the public schools. The quick and easy answer is to blame white flight, racism, elitism, etc., and that is exactly what is happening in our community as I type this. I am of the opinion that the problem has more to do with the effects of poverty, which minority students are more likely to be struggling with. As the demographics within the district changed, so did the Title 1 poverty level and we are now over 75% Title 1, which means more than 15,000 of our students are at or below the poverty line. Our schools have become social service agencies. They now provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner, summer programs to keep kids off the streets, counseling services, and much, much more. As all these services have developed and grown, the education of children has become an after thought.
I do not know how to fix a societal problem that is this inherently large. These children deserve a first rate education and need it more than others to break the poverty cycle that tends to run for generations. I have tried to work within the system for 12 years, advocating for kids, my own and the district as a whole. I am very well aware of the costs to a community of having a high level of uneducated, unskilled, and frustrated citizens who feel they have no opportunities to change their circumstance. Until the past year, I felt I was making a difference and there was hope and improvement within our school system. A year and a half ago we had a change-over in the super-intendant position and it has all gone down hill from there. He has chosen to be angry, blaming, confrontational, and uncommunicative and the school board has disintegrated right along with him. And people are fleeing the district faster than the geese are heading south for winter. Most of the families leaving are white and middle class, because they have means and opportunities that poor families do not. We had this happen with the super-intendant two positions back, she was incompetent and decisive and people packed their bags and left. The average life expectancy of an urban super-intendant is 2-5 years. In the 12 years I have been advocating in the district, we have had 5 supers. This kind of constant change and chaos added to a situation that is already volatile is unacceptable. Ideally, the school board would be strong enough to keep everything moving in a positive direction no matter who the super was, but that has not happened.

Now I am in the position of having to make a choice I hoped I would never have to make. Do I keep my kid in a school that is broken, where the hope of any kind of progress, at least with this administration, is dim? A place where they stuff 40 kids in a class room, some classes don't have textbooks, and behavioral acting out is so extreme that security guards have been assaulted, along with staff and administrators? The conclusion I have come to is that I am out of time. My kids need an education now, and there is not a whole lot of learning going on in our neighborhood school right now. I hope that will change in the future and I plan to stay active in working for kids in the district, even though my kids are elsewhere. As to whether racism is playing a part in all of this, I can only say that my children's friends who are minorities were the first to bail out of the current system. I am sure racism is the reason some of the white families have chosen to go, but the truth is, good riddance. I don't want my kids around people who are so ignorant.
My reason for bailing is frustration and disgust with the current administration. I feel guilty, as though I have deserted a sinking ship with a bunch of kids on board, but I do not know what else to do. I have to take care of my kids or I am abdicating my responsibility.

[Nicole Goodwin]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing this in regards to the attitude expressed towards the opinions Surpreme Court's decision concerning "race and schools." It is my belief as an African-American woman, that even though the justices of the S.C. had good intentions at heart they like many other American citizens have no idea how to address the problem at hand. Yes, the educational gap poses a problem-a serious problem; however, I do not believe that it is far to say that if all the parents got together along with the teachers then "poof" problem solved. Also it is unrealistic for people to believe that "welfare" has been a henderance upon the education of low-income (and minority) families. I come from a "welfare" generation myself, and I assure you I am VERY well educated. I feel the root of the problem revolves around the lack of funding for inner-city schools. Without the investments of that are needed there are no quality teachers, tools, books. Not to mention the policy of overcrowding classrooms. It is easy to just say, oh it's lazy parents and students. We live in a society that no longer wishes to invest in the future of those who's children fall below the economic line-black, white, latino, or whoever. Don't believe me, let's just remember how life before Katrina was for many from Louisana.

[Jane Flaspohler]

Sorry, placed my blog in the wrong area.

[a concerned parent]

I do not understand this bussing to another school that is out of your district. If the inner city schools are not up to par then it should be up to the parents first and formost, teachers, and the state to make sure they have a safe school and qualified teachers for the children. If its about the tax dollars funding this then the parents on welfare should get off their butts and go to work so that they can contribute tax money to help fund the needs of their children and not exspect someone else to do it for them. That is for every person that is on welfare white, black, red, whatever color, its not about race of the person. Just get a job.

If the children do not try it is not about the race of the child but about the lazyness of alot of the youth today. They exspect to be handed everything that they want and need instead of working for it.

If you want to talk racism then you need to look about black history month, no white history month, all black colleges, no all white colleges, and the list goes on.

There is alot of low income white families in other states that are either single parents or both parents haveing to work to just barely get by, and their children are exspected to try their best in school and do their work.

Some of the Inner city parents need to stop making excuses and see that it is their responsibility to help their children to reach their God giving abilities, not anybody elses.

I have a child that has a learning disabilty and is also ADD but I exspect him to respect everyone and to try his best in school. Yeah sometimes I have to go to the school and speak with teachers and adminastrators, to make sure that he is treated as he should be and to check and see if he is doing his work. I have to leave my work place and get docked for doing this. If I was ever told that he had been disrestful to someone I will bust his bottom.

Thats the biggest problem parents do not discipline their children and do not like for anyone else too, well then those parents need to homeschool their children and them deal with the disrespect and bad attitudes.

If there is a gang member going to school then automatically that child should be sent to a place for wayward children so that he or she could get the help needed to turn their lives around. If after so long a period and the child does not change then they need to be placed out of school permanetly instead of them back in the public schools causing problems. The other children should not have to deal with any gang related issues at school or any place. If the law would bust their butts and put them in prison then we would not loose alot of children to this. Its sad whens its adults and sometimes even parents leading them
into the gangs. I whish all of the adult gang members were put into a one prison and thats all thats in there is adult gang members and get that crap off of our streets.

[Jane Flaspohler]

My child went to a private school in Atlanta last year. I wrote a profile ,three months ago explaining that after we started having trouble with that school. I started doing background checks on board members that were listed with their credentials on the school's website. I found that the credentials on one of their faculty/board members was not true and bordering on fraudulent. The faculty/board member was listed as a teacher/writer/lawyer and had been disbarred in the state of Georgia. My profile was never published and I just went to the school's web site and they have changed the website completely. This leads me to believe that someone tipped off the school so they could clean up their web site before my profile was published. I am very upset about this it does not seem fair.

[Jane Flaspohler]

My child went to a private school in Atlanta last year. I wrote a profile ,three months ago explaining that after we started having trouble with that school. I started doing background checks on board members that were listed with their credentials on the school's website. I found that the credentials on one of their faculty/board members was not true and bordering on fraudulent. The faculty/board member was listed as a teacher/writer/lawyer and had been disbarred in the state of Georgia. My profile was never published and I just went to the school's web site and they have changed the website completely. This leads me to believe that someone tipped off the school so they could clean up their web site before my profile was published. I am very upset about this it does not seem fair.

[alsoamom]

AMEN to Mom who posted on Sep.4.
I agree!!! The biggest problem we have in my sons school are the kids who have no respect. They interupt the learning process for the kids who desire an education. These kids get blue slips for their bad conduct but the principal doesn't issue them very readily because ultimately they get counted against her as infractions at the school. They are not worth the paper they are written on. The result is no consequences for the child and they are allowed to go back to class and continue to be distuptive. If the child was expelled and caused some inconvenience for the the parents maybe the behavior would change. Parents are not supporting the teachers and the teachers are frustrated. When I was in school we had one nun and 40 kids no problems. Teachers and principals should demand these children be removed from their schools for the sake of the children that want to be there and not have it counted against them as an "incident". Common sense should make a come back. It has nothing to do with race it has to do with bad behavior. I say sit on them-at home and at school. DO NOT TOLERATE BAD BEHAVIOR.

[Melanie Cameron]

Check out the latest Edspresso commentary and blogs!

We've exposed the grassroots power of charter parents and teachers in California who overturned Speaker Nunez' and other anti-charter administrators' attempts to lasso CA charters with moonlight politics.

Offer your thoughts on the wildfire spread of teacher merit pay across 22 states and the unions staunchly resisting to save nothing more than their power and influence.

Have a great week,

Melanie Cameron
Managing Editor, Edspresso

[Kent]

As an educator, I don’t believe in celebrating any ethnic group above another. This includes black history month as well as any other ethnic holidays. The opposite end of racism is fragmentation. Children should be taught that all people are important and that everyone has the right to accomplish his or her dreams. George Washington Carver was a brilliant scientist, not because he was black, but because he thought outside the box. I have always believed that God was “color blind” and we need to be the same way. Fragmentation separates the races just like racism. To elevate one culture or ethnic group above another one is wrong. We need to look at people’s contributions as individual merits and get rid of the attitudes!

[M.C.]

My Word! Listen to this up roar! I tell you, Education should be a privelage permitted for all. Not some washed up Education but rather an Education with substance.
Afro-American children in poor neighborhoods get poor Education and that is just the way it is. Parents who are striving to get out have to send there children to school outside of their districts, which is not any easy task. Not all Afro-American families ar alike. Honestly, we want for our kids like the next man. Our Government has set these wheels in motion as far as demographics is concerned.
As a widow, starting her over in college obtaining my Master's in Education, raising a 8 year old alone, and this could happen to any race and it does everyday, I strive to give my daughter the best. Isn't this all of our objectives here? Peace Out there! Iit's time to elevate your thinking from color and see some reality in abstract!

[concernedmom]

To George who posted August 20, 2007. Basically you are a product of a racist society. Your comment was filled with bigot statements. 'You will not allow your children to participate in Black History Month!!!???' I am glad of your decision and hopefully you have your children in a all white school so that my beautiful, intelligent, black children will never have to go to school, share a bus ride or sit in class next to children of parents tha have instilled racism into them at such a young age!!! It is very sad that it is 2007 and we are still judging by race!! A great education should be a common goal for all parents and our children shouldn't have to be bused across town to accomplish this goal. I live in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA in a very diverse neighborhood. My child's private school is about 80% white, 15% indian and 5% black. It is an excellent school and the parents all have a common goal; getting the best education for their child. I am proud to say the children are a reflection of the world today,!! ERACISM !!!!!!!!!!

[MOM]

When we researched our new town several years ago we looked at the "best" schools in the city. They were all-white. The parents we met were snobby and the kids were rude. The principal and other staff looked down on me and my husband. One even went so far as suggest that they have an "excellent" ESL program (how, when they had no other non-white students, I don't know). She seemed genuinely surprised when I informed her my children are perfectly capable of speaking English. We made a conscious decision to live in a school district that was "good" as opposed to "excellent" but would give our children the exposure to different socio-economic groups. We take responsibility for giving them the "excellent" education they will need to survive in life. All parents should do the same. However, I think we wll need to understand that not all parents are CAPABLE of doing the same - because they do not have the education level themselves. Some are not willing, and for them, the conversation is different. Our school systems everywhere have a very difficult time being all things to all people.

Putting kids on busses to send them on hour long rides is not a good idea. The previous message that brought up all the bad things was right on - this is bad for kids, bad for the environment, and drains away more money that could be better spent. Use the extra money from the cost of the bus, the cost of the driver, the insurance, the gas, etc to put another dedicated teacher in the class rooms in the neighborhood schools that need them the most. It isn't that those children from underprivelaged areas need to be put in better schools - the schools in their neighborhood need to be made better. Bussing them around makes no sense on many levels.

[Pellagio]

I think that the real challenge to improving education is that it has to be an effort from all the parties involved. There is no doubt that socio-economic issues play the biggest role on the part that parents play in the education of their children. But whose responsibility is it to deal with these issues. As the old saying goes, You can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink. In past years we have tried to soften blows for fear that we will hurt people by allowing them to fail. I think that we need to move back to personal responsibility and demanding measurable results from teachers students and parents. Public education is largely taken for granted because it is free and is seen as an entitlement and as a result you have students and parents who are just along for the ride... Why is this acceptable. Public education should be based on a system of requiremnsts that demand performance and results with consequences. Public education I think can be viewed as a form of employment. The government is providing an expensive investmnet per student in order to produce a productive tax payer. What would you say about a company that invests in something that does not show signs of ever providing a return? Public education should be burdened with individuals who do not wish to be educated. Why not create a system that allows for vocational education or home schooling for those who are disinterested in normal curriculum and allow those that cannot find a productive place in education to enter the work force or some other option. If parents and students knew that they could lose access to such a vital service if they did not step up to the challenge by performing to a minimum level, things would be quite different. I think this could be a good way to start to get rid of the underperformers(whatever their race) that fill our schools and do nothing but drag down other students and waste tax payer money. This may feel off topic but to be honest I think every post basically expressed that the current system is broken. I tried to present a possible solution.

[Lisa]

They say education is the key to unlocking poverty. However, in reality, it's who you know, not what you know. Case and point, look at the President. Everyone should no by now that your lot in life is determined by who your parents or grandparents are (or where). The dumbing down of America can be attributed to allowing fools with money to run the country. Not so long ago, I used to beleive, in order to be President, you had to be a scholar, or at least above average. Well, that whole notion has been dismissed. Maybe, in the near future, as parents and teachers, we can put people in office who know the true value of education.

[Anita Trimble]

I would like for parents to register their child in our program call child shield usa. You can visit our wesite at http:www.childshieldusa.com/ezell or call me 903 275-9225.If your child comes up missing or abducted this is the GUarantee and proven program. We will come to your school an do a presentation we will also work with the PTA/PTO. Thanks Anita

[ncmom]

As an African American mother, I actually applaud this decision. Why? My children attend a school 1 mile from our home, in an upper middle class suburb of a major city. They consistently perform in the 97 - 99 percentile on their grades and achievement tests...all this despite data which says that they SHOULDN'T and that there SHOULD be a gap between their performance and those of the white and Asian kids. WHY are they able to do this? Because my husband and I volunteer in the school, we participate in the PTA, we discipline our kids, read to them, teach them and make them respect their teachers and classmates. Their schoolmates are ALL taken from within a 5 mile radius of the school, and it is 25% Indian american, 15% Pacific Islander, 15% African or African American, 40% White and 5% Biracial. NO busing, racial diversity is achieved and the school and students thrive. BTW...we DON'T live in California or Texas..this is in the South (home of segregation). The KEY to achievement for ALL is parental involvement. However, for most lower income folks it is hard to be involved when your kids' school is 20 miles away (because of busing) and you are working 2 or 3 part time jobs. Busing I believe makes things worse for this very reason (too far for parents to participate). HOWEVER with that said, all the whites posting here who resent their middle class kids being bused to inner city schools...the key is that some solution has to be implemented (whether it be magnet programs, etc) to make THOSE schools better for the lower income folks. THAT is equal education. It isn't racial -- it is a class issue!

[George]

between florida schools and michigan school which is the better of the two states? please no opinions only facts.

[Judy Waller-Lammers]

OK so the supream courts want to right a wrong that started in the 70's
I can tell you from personal experiance how the bussing affected me. I was in the 3rd grade and I was looking forward to riding my bike to school. Then I was told that I would be riding a bus to a school that was far away from my home. The idea was that the poor black children ( remeber this was the 70s) needed a better school. So on my first day of school I walked into a brand new school. The school had just been built. Brand new desk chairs,and school books. I looked around and thought how can they say the the black kids are suffering? My old school had been built in 1909 and had served my area every since. But here I was standing in a new building and meeting a teacher that did not like her job. She told the princable that I smelled. The princable asked me if I had started my period. I was 9 yrs old. I found out later that the princable an teacher had been fired after years of abuse to students.
Now I do not come from money and my family could never afford to send any of us to privite schools.
My own children have suffered from the schools not pushing them to do their very best. I tought my children to read and encouraged them to look past the text books to our history. I refused to let them particpate in black history month and pushed them to learn about the things that matter. My daughter went to a school where she was the only "white" american. Because the other students were other students of "color" and did not speak english she was often board. Thank goodness she was smart enough to have a book that she could read while waiting for the other students to catch up.
My family thinks that our children should go to the schools that are in their neighborhoods and that the teachers must have the ablity to control their class rooms. Teachers must be compent and know the subjects they are teaching. If this means that the schools must pay more money to the teachers then so be it. The best teachers I had were the ones from my old run down school. The worst teachers were in the brand new school. Our children are out of control and this has nothing to do with education but it spills over into the class room and parents are not taking responceabilty for their children.
My family has always been "lower middle class" and yes there have been times when we have been homeless but my children always knew that we expected them to do well in school.
No matter how this plays out it is the parents that will help our children. We expect to much from the teachers. All this bussing and moving students out of their comfort zone has just made it so that the kids don't have a chance. Parents need to take off their rose colored glasses and admit that they have as much responceablity to the schools as their children and teachers.

[JB]

In California 43% of the student population is non-white, Texas it is 48%, nation white it is 34% (NCES 2005). Nation wide 18% of the student population lives in poverty and that can rise steeply by region or state. The supreme court decision to not use race in public school admissions is good for some and bad for some. Predominatley it is worst for students currently marginalized by the system of education that we have today. Non-whites comprise nearly half of today's students in border states and the population is rising nation wide. Many posts on this thread seem to indicate that white children are at risk from bussing,etc. Most white children that I have taught live in fairly affluent communities or at least middle class communitites. They share the same middle class norms that run schools and school boards (nearly 85% white) and superintendents (nearly 95% white). In these cases housing prices keep them well innoculated from multiculturalism or multiclassism at least. It appears to me that the dissent from middle and upper class whites is not about having black or hispanic kids sit next to them in class. It is about having to suffer the same poor education that lower class students must contend with. So fine if we no longer use race as a measure, maybe even good. The demographic shift will come soon enough so that whites are in the minority of race. However, maybe we need to stop de facto segregation via economic marginalization of non-white Americans. When middle class kids have to experience what typical inner city kids experience parents are outraged, as they should. Most of those situations are poor for all students, even the best working inner city school can't compete. The workforce is changing to eliminate or outsource labor jobs requiring little education. So as a nation if we continue to under educate our poor or marginalized communities, we will eventually create a situation where the majority (coming soon for border states) non-white population does not have the skills to work in the global economy (Banks, 1992). Where will our great nation be then? Unemployed?

[Richard]

Dear Bill and Readers,
I applaud the decision by Justice Roberts. I hope this can be the beginning of reversing the wrongs imposed upon our people since reconstruction. I was a student who experienced the horrible effects of cross town busing. I was from an affluent white neighborhood who ended up going to school with students that were from low income or subsidized income homes. It was such a culture shock to me that it destroyed my education. My scholastic achievement never blossomed and I lost my chance for college. I am totally opposed to busing into school districts from outside district school boundaries. This type of reverse discrimination needs to stop so that we may preserve education for our children. More special education emphasis needs to be placed on districts with low test scores to be effective in raising the test score gap. Instead of focusing on "Teachers skills" and the educational needs of low achievers, the solution has been to bus high achievers into low achieving school districts and bus low achievers into high achieving districts to close the test score gap. This is not in the best of interest of the students but is based on some false sense of inequality. We are created equal in the eyes of God so what gives man the right to manipulate God's law in favor of one class over another? We all know that public education has become a disaster for our children especially since religion has been removed and politically correct history books have slowly been phased in over time. Our best defense is to write our Justices and Congressmen by the millions to continue to make progress for our children.

[Courtney]

I agree 110 percent with the Supreme Court decision. All you people who disagree obviously don't live near a school and therefore don't see the subpar product of busing students from far away neighborhoods.We pay high property taxes to educate somebody else's kids (who pay nothing) and in addition we pay to educate or kids by having to send them to private schools because the schools have met their "white quota". How is this fair? not only to our kids, our neighborhoods, our pocketbooks but also those kids lose valuable hours on hour-long bus rides to and from their home instead of studying or attending a school near their hometown.Not to mention the effects of 10-15 large school buses per school driving two hours round trip everyday polluting our air & our freeways.These kids should be walking to schools in their own neighborhood.All you non-supporters should do some research before you start defending any one group!Don't follow blindly simply to try and be someone's hero.

[Courtney]

I agree 110 percent with the Supreme Court decision. All you people who disagree obviously don't live near a school and therefore don't see the subpar product of busing students from far away neighborhoods.We pay high property taxes to educate somebody else's kids (who pay nothing) and in addition we pay to educate or kids by having to send them to private schools because the schools have met their white quota. How is this fair, not only to our kids, our neighborhoods, our pocketbooks but those kids was valuable hours on hour bus rides to and from their home town instead of studying or attending a school near their hometown.Not to mention the effects of 10-15 large school buses per school drving two hours round trip everyday polluting our air & our freeways.These kids should be walking to schools in their own neighborhood.All you non-supporters should do some research before you start defending any one group!Don't follow blindly simply to try and be someone's hero.