Richard Kahlenberg of The Century Foundation notes that the Obame education reforms failed, with a price tag of $7 billion.
Advocates of school choice treat that failure as a rationale for school choice.
But, says Kahlenberg, the research is clear that racial integration produces significant gains, whereas school choice, especially vouchers, has none.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Would that politicians, Republican mostly, paid attention to legitimate scholarship.
For me, this is one of the most insidious dangers we face; post-truth, alternative truth and whatever the latest name for falsehood and’/or half truths is used.
We have really lost our way when “truth” becomes subservient to political machinations.
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Gordon,
Yeah. So true.
It’s not even post-factual. It’s that politicians and “leaders” who dominate the decisions about education won’t even see articles like this. It’s all inside baseball. We are the only ones who read articles like these. Research and knowledge only matter, it turns out, when attached to the broader megaphone of popular narrative. The reform side has spent all their time on loud narrative and domination, and our side 0. Turns out we are losing aggressively in spite of being right.
Being right is never enough.
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You know what will help lift poor black kids? Knowledge. Let’s try that one. This reading skills/math skills ad nauseum does not make them good readers –and it leaves them ignorant of too much to boot. Broad knowledge is the key to reading ability, and –bonus –the key to dispelling ignorance.
How do we know this is true? Look at France when it had a knowledge-centric national curriculum. The achievement gap shrank over 12 years of schooling. Now that it has a skills-focused curriculum, the achievement gap widens over 12 years of schooling –just like here in America.
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My ad blocker prevents access to the article in the link. But, I have no doubt that the evidence is clear, especially if you eliminate the dubious research funded by the Waltons.
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ALTERNATIVE LINK TO THE REPORT IS HERE https://tcf.org/content/facts/the-benefits-of-socioeconomically-and-racially-integrated-schools-and-classrooms/
There are some other reports worth reading. One tracea housing policies that have created segregated neighborhoods, many of these easily identified by zip codes.
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An excellent short speech from Troy Laravieres about why what actually WORKS in education is being driven out by invasive experimentation: http://www.livingindialogue.com/troy-laravieres-makes-charter-schools-toxic/
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Thanks for the link. All this “innovation” is more about making profits for tech companies while they use public school children as guinea pigs. We do know what works. Teachers could do much better if they were left alone to do their jobs.
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Of course! Public schools are FAR BETTER than private and those charter schools. Public Schools are the BEST investiment in our country … ever.
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Since the title of the article relates to vouchers improving public schools, we know that vouchers undermine public schools, increase segregation, and often produce worse results. This is a fact, not an opinion. Likewise, charter often produce similar results unless there is an effort to cherry pick students and caste off the expensive needy and difficult students. A few charters have chosen to promote integration, and they met with some success.
“The best forms of public-school choice, like that in Cambridge, include fairness guidelines that ensure that choice is used to give rich and poor the chance to go to school alongside one another.”
Integrated public schools provide promise as well, although few people even know about or discuss their success. My diverse school district in suburban NYC managed to produce many poor students including ELLs that graduated from college and entered the middle class. All students are better off in a diverse, integrated school system. All students benefit from clean, orderly, well resourced schools where they learn tolerance, compassion, and respect for all people. Public schools should be looking at ways to collaborate to promote positive opportunities to promote integration, reduce de facto segregation and change how we fund public schools.
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As you point out, the effects of integration go far beyond academics.
I attended an integrated school in Tallahassee in the late 60,s
I had to ride a bus clear across town to get to it each day, but I’d say it
was well worth it. I still have fond memories of my time there.
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In the article, Arne Duncan regretted failing to address segregation. Since charters increased segregation and annual testing accelerated the spread of charters (and TFA with CBE compounded the disparity of segregation), Arne Duncan regrets everything he did. He increased segregation. He. Increased. Segregation. He helped the Bush family. He tipped the scale so far right, even Jeb! lost his grip and slid with the rest of us, off the scale, into Trump Swamp.
Integration is and has always been the noble cause, and segregation the closeted, ignoble one. Everyone knows that. How it was ever possible for Democrats to drink hedge fund kool aid and let charters run amok is beyond me. Wall Street ran amok. Disparity became the word on every lip. 21st century civil rights choice accountability reform challenge to status quo, my derrière.
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Is the Poet in the house? In the living room? Would it be presumptuous to make a request? I would like a Duncan Duplicity piece, a dagger of pen to carry in my pocket this week.
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“Duncan’s Regret”
Duncan ‘s sole regret
Is that he didn’t get
A chance to disrupt more
Than all he did, for sure
To segregate the ” best”
From others with a test
Was always Duncan’s goal
From core of Duncan’s soul
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You captured the essence of Duncan!
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Thank you.
LCT
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This is a tough nut to crack. School systems are going to have to cross municipal boundaries because many cities (unlike Cambridge and NYC), especially small ones, do not have the socioeconomic diversity within them to have integrated schools. Talking with people who live in the suburbs and moved there for this schools, it seems they will agree to this when hell freezes over.
And then you will need to put the most enticing schools in the poorest neighborhoods because richer families are much more willing to travel than poorer families without cars. Our city is building a new school, and there has been much debate on how it should be populated. The families do not care that with the current plan it will be pretty much all poor and non-white. They are glad that it will be in their neighborhood – they had to travel a distance previously – and I can’t say that I blame them.
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