By most analyses, schools across the country are as segregated today as they were during the Civil Rights era. Both racial and economic segregation are growing. And for many young people of color, when the two come together, it usually means less access to great teachers and challenging classes, and a greater likelihood of being held back or suspended. The percentage of public schools where between 75 to 100 percent of students are both poor and Black or Latino has nearly doubled since 2000, according to a 2016 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
For district and school leaders, taking on segregation might seem like a daunting, if not impossible, task. After all, school integration efforts in the United States have had a winding and tortuous history. Policies have been tried and failed or abandoned; court mandates have been issued, and undone.
“Students who attend majority high-poverty schools are less likely to go to college and more likely to drop out of high school. I’m living proof of this.”
However, integration must be part of a leader’s plan to address inequities in her schools. Students who attend majority high-poverty schools are less likely to go to college and more likely to drop out of high school. I’m living proof of this. Growing up, I went to schools where almost all my classmates were children of color like me. I dropped out of college, completely unprepared for the academic rigor, and took years to muster the courage to make my way back to the university.
Contrast that with racially and socioeconomically integrated schools, where research has found smaller achievement gaps between students of color and their white classmates compared to similar more segregated schools.
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Andrea D. Lewis is Assistant Professor and Chair of the Education Department at Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga. In her latest book, Preservice Teachers, Social Class, and Race in Urban Schools published by Palgrave McMillan, she explores her experiences growing up as a post-civil rights Black student in a middle-class, White community who went on to teach in a high-poverty school. She also examines how middle class teachers of color can balance economic and social class when working in low-income schools. NEA Today talked to Lewis about her book and her research findings.
What was different about your educational experience as a child and your experience as a new educator in a high-poverty community?
Lewis: The major difference was the lack of funding. As a child I attended schools brimming with supplies, the latest technology and bright and cheery, updated facilities. When I started teaching, I paid for everything to set up my classroom, from bulletin board paper to pencils. There were limited resources for basic school supplies and classroom necessities. I had two or three outdated computers in my classroom that typically didn’t work, the halls and classrooms were dark and in need of paint, and the bathrooms needed renovating. While there was an obvious need to update the building, the budget was nonexistent to make it happen. It was disheartening.
What expectations did your students and their parents have of you based on your race and class?
Lewis: My students and parents had high expectations of me as a young Black teacher, but in terms of social class, I think I was more nervous and fearful of my ability to connect with my students and parents. They saw me in the community making home visits and trying to make a difference in the classroom, which assisted in breaking down boundaries. I did have to learn to communicate with parents who insisted on being difficult. Although I was intimidated at first, I learned and grew to see through their frustration and pain. They were not mad at me, but at larger systems that had failed them.
Demographics are not destiny in student achievement, according to an expert who spoke at NSBA’s pre-conference session on Friday called “Disrupting Poverty: Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools.”
William Parrett, director of the Center for School Improvement and Policy Studies at Boise State University, studies schools that have shown strong – sometimes phenomenal – results despite having high percentages of students receiving free or reduced-price meals. He enumerated a set of strategies that he said will work in any school. The most fundamental is for adults to have the expectation that all students can succeed regardless of their home environment and family wealth.
Wait a minute, you may be saying. Poverty is correlated with poor nutrition, family dysfunction and high levels of stress. Schools can only have a limited effect on students who live in poverty, right? That’s what sociologist James Coleman said in a famous government report – in 1966. It contributed to what George W. Bush derided as “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
Today, the emerging point of view was articulated by schools advocate Kati Haycock in 2010: “Some say we can’t fix education until we fix poverty. It’s actually the exact opposite; we can’t fix poverty until we fix education.”
How? Parrett said school leaders should:
Ask questions. Are we leveling the playing field for students who live in poverty? One key is extra help, including extended school day or year, small-group or individual tutoring, as well as self-paced interventions using technology.
Rely on data. Use measures of student achievement that everyone in the school, including students, understands and refers to frequently. Grades and homework assignments ought to incorporate the concept of equity. We need to meet students where they are, and then we can see the most progress.
Build relationships – especially with parents. School staff need a “whatever it takes” attitude, Parrett said. For instance, they are undeterred if parents are unresponsive to outreach attempts. They keep trying with techniques such as home visits. They attract parents to school events by offering food and childcare, and they offer programs parents want such as classes on parenting, English as a Second Language and GED.
And research shows that it’s absolutely essential to get children reading at grade level by third grade.
“We need to focus on the needs of children, not the wants of adults,” Parrett said.
By most analyses, schools across the country are as segregated today as they were during the Civil Rights era. Both racial and economic segregation are growing. And for many young people of color, when the two come together, it usually means less access to great teachers and challenging classes, and a greater likelihood of being held back or suspended. The percentage of public schools where between 75 to 100 percent of students are both poor and Black or Latino has nearly doubled since 2000, according to a 2016 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Andrea D. Lewis is Assistant Professor and Chair of the Education Department at 