NCSD Update: October 2020

OCTOBER 2020 UPDATES

We need your support to help us sustain our advocacy efforts in 2021. Can you contribute?

Join Us 11/9 at 8pm ET for a virtual performance of Nothing About Us -- "A rigorous, passionate, and hilarious exploration of school segregation." Featuring NYC-based Epic Theatre Ensemble. Hosted by: NCSD, Integrated Schools, METCO, and the Public School Forum of North Carolina. Tweet this info to your friends!

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

ACROSS DIFFERENCE

This month, we came across several resources that explore the importance of working to cultivate and sustain friendships across racial, cultural, ideological, and socioeconomic lines. This is even more salient during this time of great upheaval, uncertainty, and growing disconnection.

Flashback: In 2018, Linda Tropp partnered with Suchi Saxena to author NCSD Research Brief No. 13: Re-Weaving the Social Fabric through Integrated Schools: How Intergroup Contact Prepares Youth to Thrive in a Multiracial Society.

How to Meet People Who Are Different from You (Yes Magazine, Oct. 13) - "'It’s like a muscle you have to work,' [Linda Tropp] says. That sense of being a fish out of water—whether in terms of race, political affiliation, age, or something else—can be anxiety-producing. But it doesn’t last forever."

An Essay on the Importance of Interracial Friendships (PBS Newshour, Oct. 19)

Podcast Series - Hard Candy & Fruit Snacks (Sept/Oct. 2020) - Two friends, one Black and one White, who met through METCO, a voluntary school integration program and NCSD member organization, discuss race and their different experiences coming of age in and around Boston.

Podcast Series - Do the Work - "A podcast...about race and our personal relationships. Each episode is an intimate conversation between two people who know each other well — family, old friends, lovers or colleagues. We bring them together so they can finally have a real conversation about race, and we can all learn how to be anti-racist in our daily lives.

Webinar: State and Federal Opportunities to Support More Diverse and Inclusive School Systems

The Oct. 22nd briefing was sponsored by the Learning Policy Institute and NCSD. Featuring Rep. Marcia Fudge (OH-11) and Senator Chris Murphy (CT).

Learn more here.

NEWS FROM

ACROSS OUR

COUNTRY

NEW: Two Reports on School Segregation in CT

A Steady Habit of Segregation: The Origins and Continuing Harm of Separate and Unequal Housing and Public Schools in Metropolitan Hartford, Connecticut by Susan Eaton (Open Communities Alliance, PRRAC, NAACP LDF, The Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy, Oct. 2020)

“Just as The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein did at a national level, this report seeks to explore the government role in creating and cementing the hard lines of segregation in the Hartford region,” said Susan Eaton, the author of A Steady Habit and NCSD Steering Committee member.

Separate & Unequal: The Interactive Effects of Housing and Education Policies on School Segregation in Connecticut (Connecticut Voices for Children, Oct. 2020)

"This report examines how residential segregation in Connecticut—and the subsequent educational segregation—persists due to ongoing racial discrimination, current town zoning ordinances, and school district boundaries….Our goal is to shed light on the ways housing and education intersect to impede and improve opportunity for and investment in Black and Latinx communities." - CT Voices for Children

Also happening in CT...

Hamden School District's Diversity Advisory Council recently released "Moving Forward: A Community Policy Platform for Racial Justice in Hamden Schools," proposing ways to: 1) Enroll classes with racial diversity; 2) Allocate resources for racial equity; 3) Teach for racial justice; and 4) Protect efforts for racial justice during COVID-19. The plan is also accompanied by a toolkit of resources. “COVID-19 gives us even more of a reason to do this work. The communities hardest hit are the ones that we’re advocating for - families of color.”

National -

Barrett Says 'Brown v. Board of Education' Is 'Superprecedent' Beyond Overruling by Mark Walsh (Education Week, Oct. 13) - "The discussion of Brown 'raises serious questions about her commitment to enforcing core civil rights protections," the LDF report says. 'Treating Brown as potentially mistaken, even if untouchable, is far different from recognizing that it was correctly decided.'"

Trump: No More COVID-19 Aid, Including Billions for Schools, Until After I Win by Andrew Ujifusa (Education Week, Oct. 6)

California -

S.F. Might Dump School Assignment Lottery in Favor of a Plan Meant to Integrate Classrooms by Jill Tucker (San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 16) - "San Francisco’s intricate student assignment system is set for yet another makeover, as district officials balance choice and predictability with a desire for more equity. The idea is to make schools more racially and economically integrated while simplifying a complicated process."

Podcast: Reflecting On Segregation At One Of The Most Diverse Schools In America by Chosang Tenzin, Hannah Ni, & TBH producers (91.7 KALW Public Radio, Oct. 15) - "San Francisco’s intricate student assignment system is set for yet another makeover, as district officials balance choice and predictability with a desire for more equity. The idea is to make schools more racially and economically integrated while simplifying a complicated process."

New Jersey -

Op-Ed: COVID-19 Highlights Racial Inequities in School Funding by Jill Tucker (NJ Spotlight News, Oct. 15) - "State education data in New Jersey shows that during the pandemic students of color have fewer options than their white counterparts."

New York -

Opinion: Especially Now, Public Schools for All: NYC Should Do Away with Middle- and High-School Admission Screens by Miriam Nunberg and Toni Smith-Thompson (New York Daily News, Oct. 9)

North Carolina -

Introducing Julius L. Chambers High. CMS Drops Vance High’s Confederate Namesake by Annie Ma (New York Daily News, Oct. 13) - “'Names and symbols should reflect our values,” Superintendent Earnest Winston said in a statement. 'They speak to who we are and what we aspire to do. Mr. Chambers was a major figure in civil rights locally and nationally, bringing cases that shaped our laws to the U.S. Supreme Court.'”

Pennsylvania -

Letter: Address Inequity in US Education by Susan Knoll (Lancaster Online, Oct. 18) - "At a time when school segregation is at its worst levels since prior to the Brown v. Board of Education decision that ruled it unlawful, it is imperative that our community support any and all large-scale efforts to address these inequities."

Texas -

George Floyd's America: Looking for his Ticket Out - At Jack Yates High, No. 88 Pinned His Dreams on Sports by Laura Meckler (Washington Post, Oct. 12) - "By the time Floyd and his friends arrived in 1989, the city’s schools had been officially desegregated, but Yates was as segregated as ever, with a high concentration of students with significant needs and what became an endless stream of teachers and administrators cycling through."

HISD Started Desegregating 60 Years Ago. The Legacy Lives on Through One Houston Family by Jacob Carpenter (Houston Chronicle, Oct. 9) - "Still, the city remains far from fulfilling the ideal put into motion 60 years ago by Burnett and Helene Ross, who since have died...'It’s enriched our lives,' Burnell Loche said. 'And we need to keep an attention to it. We really do.'"

Policy Brief: Policy Solutions to Address School Segregation for Equitable Outcomes by Valerie Sterne, MA with contributions from Stephanie Asper, BA (Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis, July 2020) - "This brief is the last installment in our series about racial and economic segregation in Texas schools...[W]e outline policy solutions to address school segregation in ways that will lead to more equitable outcomes for all students."

Virginia -

Loudoun NAACP Outlines Conciliation Terms For Addressing Systemic Racism In County Schools by Victoria Chamberlin (WAMU 88.5 Live, Oct. 9) - “'To offer an apology when you already have terms of conciliation on the table that you’re ignoring seems to be a little bit disingenuous,' Michelle Thomas, president of the NAACP Loudoun Branch told the Times-Mirror. 'While you’re talking when we’re actually asking you currently to take actions that can save lives and help children today, it doesn’t make sense at all.'"
Check out the eight-page document entitled “Proposed Terms of Conciliation,” which aims to address systemic racism within LCPS.

TCI Applauds Recommendations to Address Racial Injustice in Virginia Law (The Commonwealth Institute, Sept. 24)- “The commission’s recommendations address school segregation, school funding equity, and teacher diversity, while also confronting racism in court sentencing, bail decisions, pretrial hearings, and reducing the ongoing harm from overpolicing and oversentencing on communities of color,' says Ashley Kenneth, Senior Vice President at The Commonwealth Institute. 'The Chair of the commission rightly said, ‘Sweeping change for sweeping problems.’ That is what’s needed...”

Still Separate, Still Unequal - Education Inequity in St. Louis

The "Still Separate, Still Unequal" report is summarized in this six minute video.

St. Louis, MO: New Report Issues Call to Level the Unequal Playing Field in St. Louis

A new report by Forward Through Ferguson provides ideas for improving educational outcomes in Metro St. Louis by: 1) Continuing to grow understanding and tell the story of the structural inequities in the St. Louis regional education landscape, 2) Collaboratively redefining regional indicators of a quality education, and 3) Establishing [an] Education Design & Finance task force. Applying a systems lens, the report examines the interplay between segregation, property taxes, funding, and the educational environment.

Related coverage: Forward Through Ferguson is Building a Task Force to Tackle the 'Redesign of Education Funding.' Here's What its Latest Report Found by Debra Chandler Landis (St. Louis Magazine, Oct. 14)

HIGH-STAKES TESTING & ADMISSIONS

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly disrupted the educational opportunities of students nationwide. Around the country, activists and elected officials have realized that high-stakes testing regimes, which were promoters of great inequity, make even less sense in our current reality, and they are seeking reform. We spotlight Boston, MA and New York City, NY below.

Boston, MA -

Boston School Committee Votes to Drop Admissions Tests for City’s Exam Schools for One Year by Jeremy C. Fox (Boston Globe, Oct. 22) - '"This will undoubtedly be a defining moment in our city,' [president of the Boston branch of the NAACP], Tanisha M. Sullivan said. “Even though we’re talking about a one-year proposal, what we do tonight and what we do over the next 12 to 18 months with respect to this proposal will be defining for us as a city.'"
Related: Opinion: There’s Something Wrong with the Exam School Tests — not with Black and Latinx Children by Ibram Kendi (Boston Globe, Oct. 22) -"Standardized tests have become the most effective racist weapon ever devised to objectively degrade Black and brown minds and legally exclude their bodies."

New York City, NY -

Opinion: Especially Now, Public Schools for All: NYC Should Do Away with Middle- and High-School Admission Screens by Miriam Nunberg and Toni Smith-Thompson (New York Daily News, Oct. 9) - "Applicant and acceptance data recently obtained by the student advocacy group Teens Take Charge confirm that high school screening excludes Black, Hispanic and lower-income students from the city’s most resourced and prestigious public schools and programs."

MEMBER UPDATES

NCSD Welcomes the Bridges Collaborative as a New Member

An initiative by the Century Foundation (TCF) to advance racial and socioeconomic integration and equity in America’s schools.

Learn more about the 56 organizations in their inaugural cohort of district and charter leaders, and fair housing advocates.

Webinar: The Digital Divide and School Segregation: Holistic Advocacy in K-12 Schools (TCF, Bridges, Collaborative, Verizon, Oct. 15)

Webinar: Diversity and Integration Efforts in Education and Housing with John B. King, Jr. (Bridges, Collaborative, Oct. 15)

A New National Effort to Promote School Integration is Underway. More Than Two Dozen School Districts Want In. by Kalyn Belsha and Sarah Darville (Chalkbeat, Oct. 9)

27 Districts Join Century Foundation School Integration Effort by Kara Arundel (Education Dive, Oct. 9)

Why the Bridges Collaborative Is So Important to Me by Stefan Lallinger (The Century Foundation, Oct. 9)

Updates:

Lost Opportunities: How Disparate School Discipline Continues to Drive Differences in the Opportunity to Learn - This national study provides a comprehensive analysis of the instructions days lost due to out-of-school suspensions for middle and high school students, for every state and district. It also demonstrates how the frequent use of suspension contributes to stark inequities in the opportunity to learn, especially for those groups most frequently suspended.

New Resources on Affirmative Action for CA Voters

Op-ed:

In Returning to Long Island’s Segregated Schools (Long Island Herald, Sept. 11), Elaine Gross explains why "the pandemic doesn’t let us off the hook" in terms of addressing segregation.

New podcast:

In Family Engagement and Equity, the Integrated Schools podcast speaks with Dr. Ann Ishimaru, a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, whose work focuses on intersections of leadership, school – community relationships, and education equity.

Update:

Check out their revamped website - https://integratenyc.org/

Updates:

7 Ways Schools Can Maintain Supportive Climates During COVID-19 – Infographic

New Resource: Socioeconomic-Based Strategies for Racial Integration

In the news:

METCO Schools are at the Intersection of the Pandemic and Racism by Linda K. Wertheimer (Boston Globe, Oct. 1)"Schools everywhere are struggling to keep students safe from COVID-19, while also trying to counter bias. Boston’s METCO program is at the heart of both efforts."

Updates:

Anti-Racist Education is Essential for Research Universities

Metro Center was recently awarded a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study the relationship between culturally responsive-sustaining education, racial identity formation, and student academic success.

Update:

Why Trump's Diversity Training Ban is Unconstitutional

Update:

PRRAC joined a federal lawsuit to challenge the Trump Administration’s new “disparate impact” rule, which adds a series of new hurdles for victims of discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. See the OCA v. HUD complaint here, press release here, and press coverage here.

New post:

New Research: Literacy Outcomes in Segregated Schools - A rundown of Roslyn Mickelson et al's article on literacy outcomes and school composition. Here's the headline finding: "We found the negative relationship of segregated schooling to reading achievement is stronger for Blacks and high school students."

CROSS-MOVEMENT RESOURCE LIST

How ‘Good’ Parenting Can Make for ‘Bad’ Democracy

"Like all of us, they’ve internalized a democracy-corroding narrative: Parents alone bear the risk of educational failure. The state will not be arriving to help. And when parents use race and wealth to navigate their risk, it’s the best of parenting — democracy and equality be damned."

Read the article by Osamudia James via the Washington Post here.

NCSD Member Derek W. Black Releases New Book

Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy "offers both an illuminating history of our nation’s establishment of a constitutional right to education, and a trenchant analysis of how such a right is being undermined today. He looks at education history with a wide view, describing both periods when our democracy has been strengthened-when the commitment to public education has been strongest-and weakened, when such a commitment has been lacking. And today, such a commitment is sorely lacking."

Related: Podcast: There's No Democracy without Public Education (Have You Heard, Oct. 15)

Racial Inequities and Whiteness in Suburban Schooling

A new collection of articles in Taylor & Francis's Equity & Excellence in Education Journal "examine[s] how students, parents, and educators understand, navigate, and confront racial inequities and whiteness in suburban schooling." The collection includes an introduction by John Diamond (NCSD RAP member) and Lynn Posey-Maddox, The Changing Terrain of the Suburbs: Examining Race, Class, and Place in Suburban Schools and Communities.

Check it out here.

Racial And Ethnic Inequities In Children’s Neighborhoods: Evidence From The New Child Opportunity Index 2.0 by Dolores Acevedo Garcia (NCSD RAP Member) et al (HealthAffairs, Oct. 2020)

Not Even Past: Social Vulnerability and the Legacy of Redlining (University of Richmond's Digital Scholarship Lab and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition -NCRC, Oct. 2020) - A new report and digital mapping tool that uses data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regard various environmental risk factors around diseases and health dangers and data regarding redlining to measure the enduring impact of structural and systemic discrimination in 140 cities across the country.

Blog: Making the equitable choice the easiest choice: 5 questions for midwife, mother and activist Rachel Latta by Courtney Martin (The Examined Family Blog, Oct. 30)

I Teach Civics. My Job is to Help Students Understand that They Belong Here. by Tamara Mann Tweel (Chalkbeat, Oct. 21) - "There is no amount of content that compensate for feeling disconnected."

“Taking Care of Your Own”: Parochialism, Pride of Place, and the Drive to Diversify Teaching by James Noonan and Travis J. Bristol (American Educational Research Association, Oct. 8) - "One explanation for the slow pace of change, especially in districts with increasing diversity in its study body, is the presence of durable and parochial social networks in schools and districts that privilege the hiring of largely White alumni."

‘A Battle for the Souls of Black Girls’ by Erica L. Green, Mark Walker, and Eliza Shapiro (New York Times, Oct. 1) - "Discipline disparities between Black and white boys have driven reform efforts for years. But Black girls are arguably the most at-risk student group in the United States."

The Wealth Gap: How the Education World Fails to Fully Measure Students’ Economic Disadvantage by Matt Barnum (Chalkbeat, Sept. 29)

Podcast Series - Driving the Green Book (Sept/Oct. 2020) - "Award-winning BBC broadcaster Alvin Hall hits the road alongside activist and social justice trainer Janée Woods Weber... unearth[ing] both inspiring and heartbreaking tales...Driving the Green Book is a living history podcast that preserves a powerful legacy and honors the stories of those who lived through the era, supported and uplifted each other, and fought for equality."
Related: How Two Friends Turned the History of the ‘Green Book’ Into a Podcast by Nneka M. Okona (Conde Nast Traveler, Oct. 7)

#PoliceFreeSchools

On Oct. 20th, the Center for Popular Democracy hosted a youth roundtable with elected officials and students about police-free schools and the Counseling Not Criminalization Act.

View it here.

17th Annual Brown Lecture In Education Research

AERA - Brown Lecture

William F. Tate IV (provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at the University of South Carolina) delivered AERA's 2020 Brown Lecture—“The Segregation Pandemic: Brown as Treatment or Placebo?” on Oct. 22. This annual event "illuminates the important role of research in advancing understanding of equality and equity in education."

View it here. Engage using #AERABrownLecture.

FUNDING & PUBLISHING OPPORTUNITIES

‌

Nellie Mae Educational Foundation recently announced "an allocation of an additional $20M this year to support work addressing anti-Black racism and COVID relief, especially as both relate to our public education system." While they are not accepting unsolicited proposals at this time, they

encourage New-England based organizations to tell them about your efforts to advance racial equity in public education. Let's make sure they hear from the integration movement!

Introduce Your Org

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, under its Policies for Action program, "will fund research that addresses systemic racism in public policy. Approximately $2 million in funding is available for this opportunity, and all proposed research studies must include a plan to translate findings into actionable evidence about how, and how well, policies work to improve racial equity and racial justice." Deadline: Nov. 24

Learn More

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is seeking papers and proposals for:

Educational Researcher: Call for Proposals for an Educational Researcher Special Issue addressing Anti-Black Racism in Education. Deadline: Nov. 6

AERA Open: Call for Proposals for an AERA Open Special Topic addressing Sources, Conceptualizations, and Mechanisms of Racism/Oppression Impacting Education-Related Outcomes and Well-Being Across the Lifespan. Deadline: Nov. 6

AERA Open: Call for Proposals for an AERA Open Special Topic addressing Intersectionality in Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Deadline: Nov. 15

2021 Education Research Conferences Program "awards grants of up to $35,000 for conferences intended to break new ground in substantive areas of inquiry, stimulate new lines of study, or develop innovative research methods or techniques." Deadline: Feb. 26, 2021

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

‌

Beloved Community

Associate Director, Equity in Schools / Equity at Work

The Bell

Operations Manager

The Century Foundation

Chief Operating Officer

Learning Policy Institute

Various Positions

Mosaic Project

Administrative Director

METCO

Various Positions

NAACP LDF

Various Positions

Urban Institute

Communications Specialist Center on Education Data & Policy

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Liberation Schools Upcoming Events:

Writing Your Story: A Creative Literacy Workshop for Middle School Writers (Tues, Nov. 3: 6pm)

Caring for Ourselves in Challenging Times: Wellness Practices for Parents (Weds, Nov. 4: 4pm)

Reflection Pools: Self-Portrait Poetry for All Ages (Fri, Nov. 6: 3pm)

Check out more recurring events here.

11/2

Virtual

Liberation Lesson 2020

IntegrateNYC

"The world around us is changing. As the election nears, it is important to find our courage. Join us for an evening of activation and intergenerational learning grounded in our collective power."