Integration by Income - Richard D. Kahlenberg, American School Board Journal, 4/1/2006

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In light of the recent SCOTUS ruling on two public school racial integration plans, is 'economic integration' an effective, viable and legal alternative? This Education Fellow at The Century Foundation says yes.

Integration by Income
Richard D. Kahlenberg, 'American School Board Journal', 4/1/2006


After the influence of the family, researcher James Coleman concluded 40 years ago, the single most important factor determining student achievement is the socioeconomic status of the school a child attends. In a large-scale government-sponsored study, Coleman found that all children do better in middle-class schools—whatever the schools’ racial makeup.

Numerous studies subsequently confirmed Coleman’s findings that con-centrations of poverty tend to defeat good education programs. And yet, until recently, most school districts consciously ignored the research, worried that “busing” to mix rich and poor kids would be politically toxic.

Now, that’s beginning to change. Spurred in part by increased state and federal pressure to raise overall student achievement and to reduce the achievement gap between groups, a growing number of districts are pursuing policies of socioeconomic school integration. The list includes Wake County, N.C.; San Francisco; La Crosse, Wis.; Cambridge, Mass.; St. Lucie County, Fla.; Rochester, N.Y.; San Jose, Calif.; and several others.

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In all communities that attempt to pursue socioeconomic integration, the politics have been heated. Such a program requires political heavy lifting and genuine leadership. But many parents, educators, and business and religious leaders know intuitively what the research has told us for more than 40 years.

Separate schools for rich and poor are inherently unequal.School board members and superintendents who have the fortitude to tackle this problem are likely to face opposition from some middle-class parents who believe they have “purchased” the right to send their children to economically homogeneous neighborhood public schools. But as they say in Wake County, the one thing going for the program politically is that it works.

Richard D. Kahlenberg is Education Fellow at The Century Foundation. This article originally appeared in the April 2006 issue of the American School Board Journal.

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