Education Trends: U.S. Charter Schools Move To End Student Segregation

Student segregation still exists in a number of schools in the United States. Some charter schools, however, are slowly beginning to change that trend.

Community Roots is one of those eight charter schools or charter school networks that accept students from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, according to a February report from progressive think tank the Century Foundation. That number may be small, but it could be the start of a charter school sector with more racial and socioeconomic diversity.

NYC's Segregated Schools

New York City has one of the most segregated schools in the U.S., the Huffington Post reported. Plenty of public schools in the country are being re-segregated in the past few decades. Charter schools, which are publicly funded but are operated independently, also practice re-segregation.

Desegregated schools have positive effects in the future, and they are also likely to have better material resources. Interacting with diverse types of people at an early age can help children, especially when they became part of the workforce.

Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, an assistant professor of educational leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University, said they possess more than 60 decades of evidence detailing the inequality existing in segregated schools, the news outlet reported. Plenty of charter schools do not provide transportation to students, and some are built in neighborhoods populated by low-income students who have limited educational choices.

Commitment to Diversity

Community Roots Charter School, which is located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, has created a diverse set of students from local families who applied for the school's lottery system, which randomly picks school applicants for admission. However, when the neighborhood started improving, well-off families flocked to the school's lottery. The neediest students were then left out from the school's offerings.

Students attending charter schools have increased in recent years. According to a 2009 research, almost 70 percent of black students attend largely segregated schools in 15 U.S. states, with majority of them identifying themselves as part of the minority group. Researchers also found that out of 90 percent of colored students attending traditional public school, only 36 percent of them are black students, the Huffington Post noted.

Hope to End Desegregation

Charter schools have created diverse classrooms in recent years. M. Karega Rausch, the vice president for research and evaluation at the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, said there are many charter schools that are "intentionally trying to pursue diversity," the Huffington Post added.

In 2014, a federal guidance was released by the U.S. Department of Education that allows charter schools to use a weighted lottery system for disadvantaged students, but only if their state permits it. It's also important that students and teachers engage in social justice and equity issues.