An Academic Overview of Desegregation

1
An Academic Overview of Desegregation
Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race
Ethnicity April 2004
2
Desegregation The Promise of Brown and Challenge
of Grutter

• 50 years ago Brown offered a promise of
  desegregation last year Grutter challenged us to
  achieve it in another 25.
• This presentation will address
• How far weve come since Brown, comparing
  benchmarks of social and economic health
• An overview of research supporting integration,
  diversity, and the long-term learning and social
  outcomes of desegregation.
• Browns failures and considerations in moving
  forward.

3
How Far We Have Come and the Gaps We Have Yet to
Close
A Comparison of Social and Economic Health
Measures from 1954 to 2004.
4
Benchmarks of Social/Economic Health

• Education
• Housing
• Poverty
• Employment
• Income
• Crime
• Health
• Other contemporary concerns

Note Not all data for this presentation match
perfectly with the Brown decision in 1954, due
to data availability and comparability problems
some data from later than 1954 were used
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Education Educational Attainment
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Educational Attainment

• Educational attainment for African Americans has
  increased considerably since 1950.
• The proportion of the population with a high
  school degree increased by 300 during this time,
  the proportion of the population with a 4-year
  college degree increased by almost 500.
• Disparity between African American and white
  educational attainment has declined but is still
  prevalent.

Source U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of
the Census, U.S. Census of Population, 1960, Vol.
1, part 1 Current Population Reports, Series
P-20 and unpublished data and 1960 Census
Monograph, Education of the American
Population, by John K. Folger and Charles B.
Nam. From U.S. Dept. of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics, Digest of
Education Statistics 2002
7
Education High School Dropout Rate
8
Education College Entrance Rate
9
Education H.S. Dropout and College Enrollment
Rates

• High School dropout rates for African Americans
  have decreased substantially in the last thirty
  years, dropping from 33.5 in 1974 to 17 in
  2002.
• H.S. dropout rates still remain 50 higher than
  the white dropout rate in 2002 of 11.
• College enrollment rates have increased from 36
  in 1960 to 57.7 in 2002 for African Americans
  (an increase of 66).
• College enrollment rates for Whites increased by
  45 during this forty-four year time period.

Note Data from 1960 for all non-white races, no
individual African American data collected
Source U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Post
Secondary Education Opportunity at
http//www.postsecondary.org
10
Housing Home Ownership
11
Home Ownership

• The proportion of African Americans renting has
  decreased by 17 since 1950, but the proportion
  of Whites renting has decreased by 33 during
  this same time period.
• In 2000, the proportion of African American
  households that had obtained home ownership was
  65 lower than the proportion of white households
  that had obtained homeownership.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 Census and
Statistical Abstract 1955
Note Data from 1950 for all non-white races, no
individual African American data collected
12
Poverty Poverty Rates
13
Poverty Child Poverty by Race
Child Poverty 1955 to 1995 Source Changing
America Indicators of Social and Economic
Well-Being by Race and Hispanic Origin (1997), By
the Council of Economic Advisors for President
Clinton
14
Poverty Trends

• African American poverty rates have declined by
  approximately 60 since 1959, white poverty rates
  declined by approximately 50 during this time.
• Disparity persists African American individual
  and family poverty rates are currently twice the
  rate of Whites.
• The number of African American children in
  poverty have declined substantially since 1960.
• Disparity persists African American child
  poverty rates were approximately double the rate
  of white child poverty in the 1990s.

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Employment Unemployment by Race
Unemployment by Race 1950 to 1997 Source
Changing America Indicators of Social and
Economic Well-Being by Race and Hispanic Origin
(1997), By the Council of Economic Advisors for
President Clinton
16
Employment Disparity

• Unemployment rates have varied considerably over
  time as the U.S. Economy has cycled.
• Generally African American unemployment has been
  approximately twice as high as white unemployment
  throughout this time.
• In 2003, unemployment disparity remains for
  African Americans and Hispanics.
• The African American unemployment rate was 11.6
  for men in 2003, and 10.2 for women.
• These figures are double the unemployment rates
  for white men (5.6) and women (4.8) in 2003.

Sources Changing America Indicators of Social
and Economic Well-Being by Race and Hispanic
Origin (1997), By the Council of Economic
Advisors for President Clinton and current data
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Income Personal Income Growth (2001 s)
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Income Family Income Growth (2001 s)
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Income Growth

• Incomes have more than doubled for African
  American men, women and families since the
  1950s.
• Disparity in income has actually grown since
  1954, the median African American family income
  in 1954 was 55 of the white median, in 2002 this
  figure had grown to 62.
• Although income disparity has closed, a
  tremendous disparity in net assets between
  African Americans and Whites is evident in recent
  Census Data.
• In 2000, the median assets (7,500) for African
  American households was 9.5 of the median assets
  for non-Hispanic whites (79,000).

Source U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract
and Net Worth Report
20
Health Age Adjusted Mortality Rate
21
Health Life Expectancy by Race
Life Expectancy by Race 1930 to 1995 Source
Changing America Indicators of Social and
Economic Well-Being by Race and Hispanic Origin
(1997), By the Council of Economic Advisors for
President Clinton
22
Health

• Mortality rates have declined for both African
  Americans and Whites since 1954.
• Disparity persists In 2002, mortality rates for
  African American men were 27 higher than
  mortality rates for white men, mortality rates
  are 14 higher for African American women than
  White women.
• Average life expectancy for African American men
  and women have increased since 1950, but still
  remain lower than the white mortality rates.

Note Data from 1954 for mortality all non-white
races, no individual African American data
collected
Sources Changing America Indicators of Social
and Economic Well-Being by Race and Hispanic
Origin (1997), By the Council of Economic
Advisors for President Clinton and mortality data
from the U.S. Census Bureau statistical abstract
23
Crime Homicide Victimization Rate
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Crime Prison Admissions by Race
Prisons Admissions by Race 1930 to 1995 Source
Changing America Indicators of Social and
Economic Well-Being by Race and Hispanic Origin
(1997), By the Council of Economic Advisors for
President Clinton
25
Crime

• Victimization rates for homicide have declined
  27 for African Americans but are still 7 times
  the rate of white homicide victimization.
• The number of incarcerated African Americans has
  increased 800 since the 1950s, the number of
  incarcerated African Americans surpassed the
  number of Whites incarcerated in the late 1980s.

Sources Changing America Indicators of Social
and Economic Well-Being by Race and Hispanic
Origin (1997), By the Council of Economic
Advisors for President Clinton and current data
from the Bureau of Justice Statistics
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Other Contemporary Trends

• Persistent Residential Segregation
• Residential segregation has decreased slightly in
  all metropolitan areas, but a high degree of
  segregation still exists in most metropolitan
  areas (particularly in the Northeast and Midwest)
• Source Lewis Mumford Center (2004)
• School District Segregation
• Research has shown increasing levels of
  segregation for Americas school districts, which
  is manifested at the regional level
• Source Harvard Civil Rights Project A
  Multiracial Society with Segregated Schools Are
  We Losing the Dream? (2003)
• People of Color Living in Concentrated Poverty
• In 2000, more than 2/3s of people living in
  concentrated urban poverty were African American
  or Hispanic
• In 1999, half of poor rural African Americans and
  Native Americans are found in concentrated
  poverty rural areas, 1/3 of all poor rural
  Hispanics are found in areas of high poverty.

Source USDA, Economic Research Services,
Brookings Institute
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School Segregation Today Segregation and Student
Poverty
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School Segregation Today Segregation and Student
Performance
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School Segregation Today

• Urban sprawl and regional government
  fragmentation have worked to re-segregate urban
  school districts.
• What is the link between todays segregated urban
  schools and student poverty or student
  performance?

Sources Dissimilarity Index Data from Lewis
Mumford Center, School District Data from
National Center for Education Statistics
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Summary

• Data suggest improvements since 1954 vary based
  on the indicator, education and poverty has
  improved but economic and crime indicators have
  not improved as much.
• Despite improvements across multiple indicators,
  significant racial disparities in education,
  poverty, economic health, income, health, crime
  still exist.

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Segregation and Its Effects
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What is Segregation?

• What is segregation?
• In regard to schools, segregation pertains to
  situations in which a disproportionate number of
  white students or students of color attend a
  school or school system. 
• Segregation can also be defined from emotional,
  psychological, mental, physical, legal and social
  perspectives.
• de jure legally imposed segregation
• de facto segregation (especially in schools)
  that happens in fact although not required by
  law.

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What is Segregation?

• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a 1956 speech given
  to the National Committee for Rural Schools noted
  that segregation inevitably makes for inequality
  and ends up depersonalizing the segregated.
• He further defined segregation as a twin evil
  that gives a sense of inferiority to Blacks, and
  a sense of superiority to Whites, which in turn
  creates a distorted psychological self that
  distorts democracy.

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What is Desegregation?

• Desegregation refers to efforts at remedying
  racial imbalances. It traditionally means
  removing formal legal barriers, or simply placing
  students of different races in proximity to each
  other. Efforts are often limited to moving and
  mixing racial populations to end racial
  isolation. As it has played out in most of
  Americas educational settings, desegregation
  requires students of the non-dominant group (most
  often non-white) to assimilate into the school
  and culture created for and controlled by the
  dominant group (most often white). Structures
  are not altered to meet the needs of the new and
  different students.

Ware, L. and M. Ware 1996. Plessys Legacy
Desegregating the Eurocentric Curriculum.
Georgia State University Law Review 12.
35
What is Integration?

• Integration is inclusive, placing value on the
  historical, intellectual, and cultural
  contributions of all groups.
• Integration is creative, and is therefore more
  profound and far-reaching than desegregation.
   Integration is the positive acceptance of
  desegregation and the welcomed participation of
  Negroes in the total range of human activities. 
  Integration is genuine intergroup, interpersonal
  doing.  Desegregation then, rightly is only a
  short-range goal. Integration is the ultimate
  goal of our national community.

Quote by Dr. Martin Luther King from The Ethical
Demands for Integration.
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Factors in Education which Shape Student
Experiences and Impact Student Outcomes
Source Gurin, P. (1999). The Compelling Need
For Diversity In Higher Education.
37
Student Background Characteristics School
Segregation K-12

• Nearly every American child under the age of
  sixteen attends school, spending most of their
  days over nearly three quarters of the year in
  the classroom.

• American public schools are now only 60 white
  nationwide and nearly one fourth of U.S. students
  are in states with a majority of non-white
  students.
• The vast majority of white primary and secondary
  school students have no significant contact with
  black, Hispanic, or American Indian students in
  the classroom.
• The vast majority of African American primary and
  secondary school students have no significant
  contact with white students on a daily basis.

Source The Harvard Civil Rights Project. Brown
at 50 Kings Dream or Plessys Nightmare?
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Student Background Characteristics School
Segregation in Cleveland PMSA
Exposure Index Isolation Indices
Source Lewis Mumford Center
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Structural Diversity Institutional
Characteristics

• Teacher Diversity
• There is a need to recruit and hire teachers that
  reflect the diversity of the student body
  teachers attitudes and behavior is of great
  importance in order to foster positive
  interracial contact.

• Research has shown the tendency of teachers to
  perceive the academic potential of black and
  white students differently.1
• Teachers of color are less likely to expel and
  suspend students of color, and less likely to
  assign them to lower track and special education
  courses.2
• Salinas (2002) suggests the extremely low
  percentage of minority teachers in public schools
  has led to a high dropout rate among minority
  students. 3
• Racially and ethnically diverse educators serve
  as role models, encourage students to perform
  better, better understand cultural differences,
  and break down the students' stereotypes.3

• Ferguson, R. F. (1998). Teachers' perceptions
  and expectations and the black-white test score
  gap.
• Denn, Rebekah. (2002) Black Teachers are Hard to
  Find. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
• Salinas, J.P. (2002) The Effectiveness of
  Minority Teachers on Minority Student Success.

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Structural Diversity Institutional
Characteristics

• Teacher Diversity K-12
• In 2001 African American teachers represented 7
  of the public school teaching force, whereas
  African American students represented 17.1 of
  the public school student population.1

• In 1990, more than 70 of all teachers were
  middle-aged, white, and female.2
• 85 of the students currently enrolled in
  undergraduate teacher education programs are
  white females.3
• The pool of potential teachers of color narrows
  at every step along the educational ladder.
  Traditionally, students of color are less likely
  to graduate from high school, less likely still
  to go on to college, then less likely to
  graduate, and less likelier still to take and to
  pass standardized entrance or exit teaching exams.

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Structural Diversity Faculty in Higher Education
Full-time instructional faculty in
degree-granting institutions, all ranks 2000
Source National Center for Education Statistics
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Diversity Experiences in Education Classroom
Diversity

• Despite and increasingly racially diverse public
  school K-12 enrollment, white students are
  experiencing more isolation from black and Latino
  students

• In higher education, there has been relatively
  little change regarding the racial makeup of
  students over the last five years. White,
  non-Hispanics still constitute nearly seventy
  percent of the student body.
• From 1999 to 2002, Black undergraduate enrollment
  has increased a mere .7, or an increase of
  280,000 students in four years. In contrast,
  white undergraduate enrollment has increased by
  1,843,000 students in the last four years.
• Racial diversity has a direct positive impact on
  the individual white student The more diverse
  the student body, the greater the likelihood that
  the white student will socialize with someone of
  a different racial group or discuss racial
  issues.

Source Harvard Civil Rights Project. Race in
American Public Schools US Census Bureau
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Diversity Experiences in Education Classroom
Diversity

• Having a diverse student body and serious
  engagement of issues of diversity in the
  curriculum and classroom is associated with

• A positive impact on attitudes toward racial
  issues
• Stronger commitment to multiculturalism and
  promoting racial understanding
• Opportunities to interact in deeper ways with
  those who are different
• More frequent student involvement in cultural
  awareness workshops and ethnic studies courses
• A positive impact on cognitive development and
  academic growth
• Increased academic achievement, as measured by
  test scores
• A greater faculty emphasis on racial and gender
  issues in their research and in the classroom
• Greater overall satisfaction and involvement with
  the institution.
• What is of special interest here is that these
  same environmental characteristics have also been
  shown to have positive impacts on student
  retention, overall college satisfaction, college
  GPA, intellectual self-confidence, and social
  self-confidence.

Chang, M.J. (1996), Who benefits from diversity
in higher education?
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Campus Diversity Experiences Classroom Diversity
National College Enrollment by Race (Of Those Age
3 Years Old and Over)
Source US Census Bureau
45
Student Outcomes Learning Outcomes
A racially and ethnically diverse university
student body has far-ranging and significant
benefits for all students, non-minorities and
minorities alike." -Patricia Gurin, The
Compelling Need for Diversity in Higher
Education

• Segregated schools that are predominantly
  non-white often transmit lower expectations for
  students and offer a narrow range of occupational
  and educational options.
• Desegregated schooling has a positive effect on
  the number of years of school completed and on
  the probability of attending college.
• Hallinan and Williams (1990) found that both
  black and white students who had cross-race
  friendships had higher educational aspirations
  than those with same-race friendships.1
• Mickelson (1997) found that the more students
  (both black and white) that were exposed to
  desegregated education, the better were their
  academic achievements (as measured by
  standardized tests), and the higher their
  secondary track placements.2
• Students learn more and think in deeper, more
  complex ways in a diverse educational
  environment.

1. Hallinan, M. T. Williams, R. (1990).
Student characteristics and the peer influence
process A nationwide study.
2. Mickelson, Roslyn. (2003). The Academic
Consequences Of Desegregation And Segregation.
46
Student Outcomes Societal Outcomes

• Grutter went beyond Brown in finding successful
  integration a necessity for the American economic
  system and even national security.

• If African-American and Latino workers were
  represented at colleges and universities in the
  same proportions as their share of 18- to 24-year
  olds, U.S. wealth would increase by 231 billion
  every year, annual tax revenues would increase by
  80 billion, and the proportion of minority
  families with inadequate incomes would decrease.1
• One study found that 56 of blacks who graduated
  from institutions studied went on to earn
  advanced degrees, including law, medicine, and
  business.2
• Students who attend more diverse schools have
  higher comfort levels with members of racial
  groups different than their own, an increased
  sense of civic engagement and a greater desire to
  live and work in multiracial settings relative to
  their more segregated peers.

1. Carnevale, A.P. (1999). Paper presented at
ACE's Symposium and Working Research Meeting on
Diversity and Affirmative Action 2. Bok, D.
Bowen, D. (1998). The Shape of the River
long-term consequences of considering race in
college and university admissions.
47
Student Outcomes Democracy Outcomes

• We are not just trying to make better schools for
  poor non-whites, we are trying to make citizens
  for a better nation by providing all students
  with a truly integrated experience.

• Education is perhaps the most important crucible
  for remedying disparities, enhancing life
  opportunities, and promoting a genuine
  multiracial and multi-ethnic democracy.
• A more inclusive educational system creates a
  more inclusive society-a society in which all
  individuals and groups have real equal
  opportunities to fashion and participate in the
  democratic process.

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Learning from the Past to Build a More Equitable
Future
49
Where Brown has failed

• Our schools today are more equitable than before
  Brown, however they are currently resegregating
  at alarming rates, both racially and
  economically.
• Although the demographics have changed
  dramatically in many schools, few have made
  fundamental changes in organization and programs
  to address the differing needs of incoming
  student populations.
• Keeping institutions such as education intact,
  and attempting to include those who were
  previously excluded requires that those who are
  coming in conform. This suggests we are
  numerically rather than culturally off.
• It is not enough to increase our efforts in
  directions that have shown little success in the
  past, instead we need transformative thinking.

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Looking Forward

• Our focus should be outcome-oriented, not just
  simple process or input focused. We must identify
  our goals, then align our institutional
  arrangements to produce those desired outcomes.
• Working towards true integration, requires giving
  those who have been historically excluded, a
  voice to help reform and shape a new institution.
  
• We must engage the larger debate, broaden our
  goals, challenge the exclusivity of current
  arrangements, and strive towards greater equity
  in our institutional structures.

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Kirwan Institute For The Study of Race and
Ethnicity
www.KirwanInstitute.org