FEB 2017 UPDATES        Like us on Facebook View our videos on YouTube

NCSD and its members are busy planning a full lineup of school integration convenings in 2017, including the NCSD's Fourth National Conference on School Integration. We hope to see you soon! 





"Any time you make change,you have competing interests.In the end, we all want the same thing."

-Lori-Christina Webb
Montgomery County Public Schools
New NCSD "Field Report" Profiles Equity Work in Montgomery County, MD 

Today, the National Coalition on School Diversity released our first Field Report. 

Titled "Reclaiming the Potential for Equity and Diversity in Montgomery County's Schools of Choice,"  this new report highlights Montgomery County Public Schools' efforts to improve educational outcomes for students by expanding equity and access in magnet and special academic programs to meet the needs of a changing student population.

Montgomery County Public Schools are not alone in this struggle to develop successful, diverse, equitable programs that serve all students. Many districts across the nation have experienced demographic shifts and must reexamine the ways in which educational opportunities are distributed to students along the lines of race and class, particularly in schools of choice. By taking the initiative to address these issues, Montgomery County Public Schools could serve as a model for other districts that strive to create more diverse and equitable schools.
Civil Rights Community Reacts to DeVos Confirmation
 
Following  DeVos' historically close confirmation as Education Secretary, many civil rights organizations reacted with letters and statements. See below for a selection:

Secretary DeVos Speaks at Magnet Schools of America Conference 

 
On February 15, Secretary DeVos  delivered remarks at the Magnet Schools of America Policy Training Conference in Washington. In her statement, DeVos praised magnet schools for their contribution to fighting segregation. She also highlighted changes to the Magnet Schools Assistance Program under the Every Student Succeeds Act, which raise the ceiling for funds per grant, extends the grant period from three to five years, and allows grant money to be put toward the costs of interdistrict transportation.

MSA's Executive Director, Todd Mann, shared reflections about the visit in a recent op-ed, entitled What DeVos needs now is a great public school education. Share your thoughts about this speech and op-ed on Twitter, using @MagnetSchlsMSA.  
U.S. Department of Education Updates
  • The Department of Education has issued a call for peer reviewers to assist with Magnet Schools Assistance Program applications. More information on how to volunteer as a peer reviewer for the 2017 round of grants can be found here.


"In an era when we have to fight to make equity and integration in schools a public concern, we were grateful to spend the day with another school community grappling with these very important issues. We all felt the camaraderie that springs from a shared  interest in anti-racism and social justice and appreciated comparing experiences of learning through both study and activism ." 

- Principal Jill Bloomberg
Park Slope Collegiate
Sheff Movement Facilitates Student Learning Exchange

In January, students at Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, CT, hosted students from Park Slope Collegiate in Brooklyn, NY . In between tours, class visits, and presentations students were able to discuss concepts central to each school's theme, including the anti-racism work underway at Park Slope Collegiate and Capital Prep's social justice theme.  
 
Following the exchange, students at Capital Preparatory prepared a podcast recounting the experience, including an invterview with Park Slope Collegiate Principal Jill Bloomberg.  
NCSD Member Updates
  • On February 9, 2017, the Civil Rights Project at UCLA released a report examining school segregation in our nation's capital. In Our Segregated Capital: An Increasingly Diverse City with Racially Polarized Schools, the authors find that while Washington D.C. has become increasingly diverse, and their schools have made strides on diversity in the past 20 years, the city's public schools are still intensely segregated along the lines of race and poverty. Furthermore, the authors find D.C.'s charters are more segregated than traditional public schools, indicating D.C.'s choice and voucher efforts have done little to foster integration. Read more about the report and D.C. school segregation here.
  • The National Education Policy Center has launched the third year of their Schools of Opportunity recognition projectBuilding on the success of the past two years, NEPC will again recognize public high schools that are creating remarkable opportunities to learn for all their students. The application deadline is May 1, 2017. See here for applications. Read more about the recognition project in a recent Washington Post article here.
  • On March 7, members of IntegrateNYC4Me will travel to the SXSW Edu conference in Austin, TX, to present the film Teach Us All. In this campaign IntegrateNYC4Me seeks to build the capacity of students to carry forth the legacy of the Little Rock Nine and take leadership in today's fight for equity. Read more here.
  • In a new piece titled "Where busing works," reporter Simon Montlake examines the ambitious and largely successful two-way voluntary integration effort in Hartford, which is supported by the Sheff Movement Coalition. Montlake examines the ongoing efforts to integrate Hartford schools through the lens of parents wrestling with the choice between local schools and bussing their children for a chance to learn in high-quality, intentionally integrated classrooms.
Summer Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University (July 17-20, 2017) 
 
The "Reimagining Education: Teaching and Learning in Racially Diverse Schools" Summer Institute will offer educators, school district officials, graduate students and stakeholders at all levels high-quality professional development and the opportunity to connect with people across the country who are committed to sustaining racially, ethnically and socio-economically integrated schools and classrooms. 
 
TC faculty, joined by experts and educators from across the country, will  offer four  days  of intensive professional development  filled with multi-media presentations, interactive workshops, and deep dialogue sessions . Participants  will emerge with an action plan to engage and support learners. Participants can earn 3 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) or 30 New York State Continuing Teacher and Leadership Education (CTLE) hours.

 
Featuring an Opening Keynote by Dr. Vanessa Siddle Walker of Emory University (An NCSD Research Advisory Panel Member)
 
Professor Siddle Walker is a historian and educator whose new, ground-breaking research on African American teachers in de jure segregated schools shares their vision of what real integrated public schools can and should be for all our students. Dr. Walker's talk will be followed by presenters and workshop leaders who can connect this pedagogical model to new strategies of culturally relevant pedagogy to engage today's students.
 

Please email 
cps@tc.columbia.edu  to register , or for information about special pricing for NYC teachers and group discounts.

More info: www.tc.columbia.edu/ReEd 
Upcoming Events of Interest

03/08/17
5:30PM
7:30PM
Making "America" Possible: A Conversation about Building Community and Embracing Race
Host: Center for Education and Civil Rights
University Park, PA
Online
03/24/17
8:30AM
12:30PM
Education: The Public Good or The Individual Good? /// A Conversation About The Next Four Years
Host: Teachers College, Columbia University
New York, NY
04/07/17
04/09/17
Positive, Resilient Minds: The Science Of Promoting Student Grit, Gratitude And School Success
Host: Learning & the Brain
Arlington, VA
04/27/17
05/01/17
2017 AERA Annual Meeting: Knowledge to Action, Achieving the Promise of Equal Educational Opportunity
Host: AERA
San Antonio, TX


The National Coalition on School Diversity (NCSD) is a network of national civil rights organizations, university-based research centers, and state and local coalitions working to expand support for government policies that promote school diversity and reduce racial isolation. We also support the work of state and local school diversity practitioners. Our work is informed by an advisory panel of scholars and academic researchers whose work relates to issues of equity, diversity, and desegregation/integration .



NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund * Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund   American Civil Liberties Union * Poverty & Race Research Action Council  * Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law  * Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund  * Magnet Schools of America  * One Nation Indivisible  * Teaching Tolerance  * Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School  * Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA  * Campaign for Educational Equity, Teachers College, Columbia University  * University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights  * Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at the Ohio State University  * Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at UC Berkeley  * Education Rights Center, Howard University School of Law  * Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity at the University of Minnesota Law School  * Education Law Center  * New York Appleseed  * Sheff Movement Coalition  * Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation  * ERASE Racism  * Chicago Lawyers' Committee  * Empire Justice Center  * IntegrateNYC4me  * Intercultural Development Research Association  * Reimagining Integration: The Diverse and Equitable Schools Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education * Institute for Social Progress at Wayne County Community College District  * Center on Law in Metropolitan Equity at Rutgers Law School  * Equity Assistance Center (Region II) at Touro College * IntegratedSchools.org  The Office of Transformation and Innovation at the Dallas Independent School District  * Live Baltimore * Maryland Equity Project  * Center for Education and Civil Rights  * National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector  * The Center for Diversity and Equality in Education at Rutgers University * Being Black at School * UnifiEd * The Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy 


Contact Us
  National Coalition on School Diversity
c/o Poverty and Race Research Action Council
Website: school-diversity.org
Email: school-diversity@prrac.org
Mailing Address: 1200 18th St. NW #200 Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-544-5066