Potential solutions

by Charlotte Krum staff reporter

Coming to recognize and understand the problems at hand are the first steps towards finding solutions. School seg regation and academic disparities between students of differ ent races are not easy issues to fix, but there are options that could assist schools in combating them.

A potential first step to integrating school districts could simply be hiring more teachers of color. “If your ethnicity is represented in the staff, then you feel more comfortable towards them and you have a better attitude and learning and just like you feel more comfortable in your environment,” said junior Brandon Luna-Sanchez.

Employing more teachers of color benefits all students, but especially students of color, according to re search from the Learning Policy Institute. Essentially, teach ers of color improve the academic performance of students of color, including improved reading and math test scores, improved graduation rates and increased college attendance.

This is attributed partially to the fact that teachers of color are less likely to hold strong implicit biases against students of color. For example, Black teachers are less likely than non-Black teachers to interpret Black students’ behav ior as disruptive to the classroom, and are more likely than non-Black teachers to trust Black students’ academic abilities according to research from the Center for American Progress. Schools could work to hire and retain more teachers of color to introduce all students to previously ignored perspectives by incentivizing people of color to enter the teaching field.

To address academic disparities between students of different races and income levels, Minnesota has introduced new initiatives aimed at bridging funding disparities between schools. This policy, known as compensatory funding, is a program that intends to compensate for environmental issues that impact students’ learning. According to the Minnesota House of Representatives Fiscal Analysis Department, 5.2% of Minnesota general education program revenue is for com pensatory funding. The program is one of many attempting to help close achievement gaps in education.

Because of Irondale’s higher percentage of low-income students, Irondale receives more funding than Mounds View, yet some argue that additional funding may be necessary to fully bridge the gap between these schools. “Ultimately, the best approach to bridging the gap between schools with lower and higher achievement levels may depend on a number of factors, including the specific circumstances of each school, the availability of resources, and the effectiveness of current educational policies and practices.” said Kevin Gahona, Irondale Equity Advisor. Essentially, Irondale could benefit from more programs, staff and additional resources that could be provided with increased funding.

To address disparities and segregation between schools in the Mounds View district, Mounds View is committed to bridging achievement gaps between students of color and white students through its 2020 Achievement and Integration Plan. This program seeks to increase the representation of students of color in challenging classes, increase standardized test proficiency among students of color and employ more teachers of color to better represent the demographics of students.

In the past year, Minneapolis has taken great steps towards desegregating its schools by redrawing school zoning lines. Unlike previous integration initiatives, which often bussed children of color to predominantly white schools, resources among pre-existing schools, providing schools with literacy coaches and funding for extracurricular activities.

However, this did not stop reluctant white parents from taking their children out of the district entirely. Possibly fearful of the low test scores and high crime rates associated with the school, only 15% of new families assigned to North decided to attend, with the others opting for private or suburban schools instead, according to the New York Times.

White parents are not the only ones concerned with the policy — Black parents also worry about the potential gentrification of their previously tight-knit community and some believe that integration should not come before the needs of Black students at the school.

Still, the program has seen optimistic results. North Community’s percentage of white students more than tripled, from 2% to 7%, and is projected to grow to 30% in the long run according to the New York Times. Furthermore, North now offers nine new Advanced Placement courses and a variety of new activities and sports, such as lacrosse and soccer.

The most important thing to understand about school segregation is that there is not one single solution to the issue because there are countless different factors that perpetuate modern-day school segregation. “In fact, the desire or sole pur- pose of increasing diversity in the public school system. Similar to charter schools, magnet schools have special curriculums and programs specifically designed to fulfill the integration efforts outlined in the Brown v. Board decision.

However, similar to previous integration efforts, magnet schools were mostly ineffective. In a UCLA study, researchers found that, due to limited funding and aggressive rezoning, many magnet schools found it difficult to maintain their core focus of creating a diverse student population. While some magnet schools did succeed in promoting integration, some only worsened existing divides. Boston University researchers found that in some districts there was a 19% increase in Black students with magnet schools, while in others, there was a 13% decrease in the Black student population. In truth, further research is necessary to fully understand the effectiveness of magnet schools, but it seems clear that these schools only made limited impact, if any, in promoting integration.