We need your support to help us sustain our advocacy efforts in 2021. Can you contribute?
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Take a stroll down memory lane with us, as we look back on some of NCSD's efforts to grow support for school integration and raise awareness about the Strength in Diversity Act. We've still got work to do, but we're excited to take a step forward! (More on that below...) |
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STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY ACT
PASSES IN HOUSE ON 9/15!!
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Take Action: Make sure to thank supportive House members in your state. |
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Thank supportive House members in your state.
Through redoubled advocacy and communication with lawmakers, we will continue to push for the Strength in Diversity Act until it is signed into law.
Please join us!
Your voice and your passion for this issue will help us get over the finish line and sustain future campaigns.
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Check here to see which House members in your state voted for the Strength in Diversity Act.
- Find their handle(s) on Twitter.
- Using the graphic above, tweet your appreciation for their demonstrated support for school integration.
- If they posted about their vote on Twitter, consider liking and/or retweeting.
- Don't forget to use #StrengthInDiversity in your tweets!
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Strength in Diversity Act: Key Resources
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Integrated Schools podcast interviews Rep. Bobby Scott about the Strength in Diversity Act |
In the newest episode of the Integrated Schools podcast, Representative Bobby Scott discusses the Strength in Diversity Act with Andrew Lefkowits. |
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CONCERNS OVER EFFORTS TO CENSOR ANTI-RACISM TRAININGS |
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This month, the Trump administration sought to limit specific types of diversity trainings supported by the federal government. A memo directed federal agencies to stop holding "critical race theory" and "white privilege" related diversity trainings. An executive order expanded the prohibition on training to the U.S. military, government contractors, and other federal grantees.
As supporters of efforts to further integrate our schools, we think institutions should be expanding their efforts related to diversity, not shrinking or eliminating them.
Learn more:
NCSD Members Weigh In:
- In response, The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Dererchos Civiles issued a Statement Against Politically Motivated Federal Censorship of Research & Training on Racial Issues. CRP writes, "Maintaining the academic freedom of our universities and the power of state and local governments and teachers to create curricula to instruct our students are fundamental American values. The Civil Rights Project is alarmed at efforts by the Trump Administration to interfere with and limit these precious rights, and to ban ideas that they disagree with. We think that this is a dangerous step, of the kind often linked to authoritarian governments, not healthy democracies."
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Update:
IDRA’s new Education Policy Fellows of Color Program seeks to change the landscape of state education advocacy by training advocates of color to influence state laws and lead a powerful network of impacted communities.
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Update:
Hard Candy and Fruit Snacks: "A new podcast from Wayland alumni Gloria Harrison and Carrie Clifford met when Gloria was part of the METCO program in Wayland. They have remained friends for 40 years, and have just started a podcast to reflect on their relationship and their observations on race and segregation. The first episode is a provocative and honest conversation—a perfect piece of content to spark a conversation with teachers or students alike."
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Update:
On Sept. 16, Teens Take Charge (a project of The Bell) hosted a press conference called "Screened Out" to reveal high school admissions data we received from a NYC DOE FOIL request. The data compares the racial breakdown of applicants and offers at each public high school and shows shocking disparities at schools with admissions screens. The slideshow overview and full data are available here.
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NCSD Steering Committee Member Susan Eaton Re-Releases Book
New research and activism highlighted in second edition of "The Other Boston Busing Story," about Massachusetts’ long-running voluntary school desegregation program (METCO)
“One of the things that I learned from writing this book is that real change, whether in individual attitudes or in institutional racism, doesn’t just happen by giving some people new opportunities,” says Eaton, director of the Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy. “There are too many forces fighting it and working against racial justice. There has to be continuous struggle and continuous intention.”
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IntegrateNYC and the NYC Coalition for Education Justice are creating Liberation Schools modeled after the SNCC Freedom School of the 60s.
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Healers, mental health professionals, and social workers: Join Freedom Schools to help parents & youth navigate the socio-emotional toll of COVID-19 & remote learning
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Families: NYC has failed us! Join us in the tradition of Black Freedom Schools to build a community that will educate and support our children and ourselves!
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New Yorkers: Help Parents Support Their Children During Remote Learning
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Roslyn Mickelson (NCSD Research Advisory Panel Member) Publishes New Research:
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Update:
Updated Within Our Reach briefing on segregation in elementary schools due to how much has changed in the past seven years. Read more about what can be done about persistent segregation in NYC district elementary schools.
Developed guidance and recommendations for the New York Department of Education: Worked with the Feerick Center for Social Justice, IntegrateNYC, Sean Corcoran, and the other members of a subcommittee on high-school admissions “rubrics” to develop the materials.
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Update:
Reflections on targeted universalism and next steps for racial justice movement: Check out these excerpts from PRRAC's wide-ranging summer interview with john a. powell, moderated by Anika Singh Lemar in cooperation with the Open Communities Alliance.
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NEWS FROM
ACROSS OUR
COUNTRY
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Remembering Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933 - 2020)
We join many others across the country in celebrating the legacy of Justice Ginsburg, who amongst other things was a consistent voice against efforts to curtail and eliminate desegregation efforts and tools.
Justice Ginsburg's dissent in Missouri v. Jenkins (1995): "Given the deep, inglorious history of segregation in Missouri, to curtail desegregation at this time and in this manner is an action at once too swift and too soon."
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Issue Spotlight:
Threats to Magnet Schools Funding in Connecticut
Several districts in Connecticut that receive federal magnet schools assistance funds were told by the U.S. Department of Education ("U.S. ED") their grants would be cut off in October if the districts continued to adhere to Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference's policy of allowing transgender students to choose the teams they compete on.
In late August, U.S. ED's Office of Civil Rights threatened to pull funding from and/or pursue legal action against Connecticut’s high school sports authority and several local school boards, asserting that their adherence to a state transgender athlete policy violated Title IX. Several news outlets reported U.S. ED's efforts to move forward with their threats.
More recent stories indicate that U.S. ED has "agreed to separate the issue back out from the magnet school grant." One of the local attorneys involved in the matter cautioned: the "Department of Education has not changed its policy on trans athletes...When the department said in late August that it would enforce what it sees as the rights of biologically female athletes, it threatened to revoke grants and pursue legal action." Later reports indicate that districts assured U.S. ED that no MSAP funds would used toward interscholastic sports and would comply with future court decisions related to this issue.
We are concerned with Secretary DeVos's attempt to politicize funds that are meant to address racial isolation and educational inequity. With this move, Secretary DeVos joins other agency heads in seeking to undercut efforts aimed at LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Learn More:
We will be closely monitoring this situation and provide updates as appropriate.
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National
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Minnesota: The American Dream While Black: ‘We Took Our Foot Off the Gas Pedal’ by Eric Connor (The Post and Courier - Greenville, Aug. 27) - "The consequences of that resegregation have been painful, said Rucker Johnson, an economist and public policy professor at the University of California, Berkeley. 'We must think of racism as an infectious disease and silence leaves the disease untreated,' said Johnson, the author of “Children of the Dream: Why School Integration Works.”
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Tennessee: “One school trying to stay afloat, a neighborhood divided over race and economics, and a city that’s resisted school desegregation every step of the way." - Season two of the podcast "The Promise" from WPLN News recently premiered, and it grapples with public education and race in Nashville, TN.
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CROSS-MOVEMENT RESOURCE LIST |
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Research Advisory Panel Member Richard Valencia Releases New Book
International Deficit Thinking: Educational Thought and Practice "explores the incontrovertible reality of the persistent and pervasive academic achievement gap in many countries between marginalized students (primarily of color) and their economically advantaged White counterparts. For example, International Deficit Thinking discusses the cases of low-socioeconomic Black and Mexican American students in the United States, Indigenous Māori students in New Zealand, and immigrant Moroccan and Turkish pupils in Belgium."
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Civil Rights Project/
Proyecto Derechos Civiles (CRP)
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Office of the Deputy Mayor of Education |
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Learning Policy Institute |
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Othering and Belonging Institute
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San Mateo Office of Education |
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Webinar: State and Federal Opportunities to Support More Diverse and Inclusive School Systems
October 22 at 1:00 PM ET
The nation’s work towards greater racial equity and a more just society in many ways begins with more diverse and inclusive learning environments. Yet public schools are increasingly segregated along both racial and socioeconomic lines. Many of the most extremely segregated schools are also the most under-resourced, disproportionately staffed by inexperienced educators, lack of access to quality curriculum, and lack of quality facilities or access to technology. Even where there is student diversity, access to a diverse and inclusive learning environment may still be out of reach.
Research shows diverse learning environments and experiences can improve outcomes for all students and help prepare them for participating in a diverse, global economy. States and the federal government can play a critical role in creating more diverse and inclusive school systems and in supporting and accelerating state and local efforts.
Hosted by the Learning Policy Institute and the National Coalition on School Diversity. Sponsored by Representative Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) and Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT).
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Lurie Institute, Brandeis University
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University of Texas - College of Education
Featuring Professor John B. Diamond (a member of NCSD's Research Advisory Panel)
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Magnet Schools of America
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Race, Inequality, and Language in Education (RILE)
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Diverse Charter Schools Coalition
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The Bridges Collaborative Offering Two Public Sessions Oct. 15th & 16th (Virtual)
The Bridges Collaborative convening is taking place on Oct.15th and 16th and is closed to collaborative members, with the exception of the following two sessions. These sessions will be free and available to the public. Registration will open on tcf.org on Oct. 6th.
Thursday, Oct. 15th
12:00-12:45pm ET
Keynote Speaker: John B. King, Jr.
John B. King, Jr., president and CEO, The Education Trust, will engage in a fireside chat with Bridges Collaborative Director Dr. Stefan Lallinger about diversity and integration in schools and housing, and answer questions from Bridges Collaborative members.
Friday, Oct. 16th
12:00-12:45pm ET
Digital Divide and Segregation Panel
The Century Foundation’s Senior Policy Associate Michelle Burris moderates a panel on the digital divide and segregation, featuring panelists Dr. Dia Bryant, Deputy Director of Education Trust New York, Ms. Mia Hall of Fort Worth Independent School District, and Ms. Whitney Stephenson of Teens Take Charge.
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Contact Us
National Coalition on School Diversity
c/o Poverty and Race Research Action Council
Website: school-diversity.org
Mailing Address: 740 15th St. NW #300 Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-544-5066
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