Racial Disparities in Schools

            The Business Insider published and article on March 26^th that explained the U.S. Department of Education’s new database that allows the public to look at racial disparities in public school systems.  Found within the Civil Rights Data Collection, the data comes from surveys taken in the year 2009 or 20011.  Published data includes racial makeup, staffing and finance (not racial makeup of the teachers), racial percentage of enrolment in early childhood programs, AP programs, gifted and talented programs, calculus, algebra, physics, chemistry, and SAT/ACT.  The data also includes the racial makeup of disciplinary actions, such as in-school and out-of-school suspension as well as expulsion.

            Even though I was not part of the public school district serving my area, it is interesting to me to compare the raw data of Memphis to both North St. Paul/Maplewood (my district) and St. Paul (the capital).  The Memphis School district (remember, the data is from before the merger) is 10 times larger than my NSP/Maplewood school district, and twice the size of the St. Paul School District.  Memphis School district also reported to have a less diverse racial makeup than either of the Minnesota districts.

            Looking beyond the data though, I think it is important to note, that this does not truly represent the integration of either school district.  Not only did all schools not respond, but also some districts did not report all sections of the survey – as evidenced to me by the lack of expulsions in the Minnesota data (which I have first-hand knowledge that individuals have been expelled from these districts).  The article notes a disproportionate percentage of punishments are given to Hispanic and African American students.  To me this mirrors the carceral disparities our country recently faces as well. 

Though the data is informative about numbers and may help indicate areas where schools can improve to increase minority achievement/integration in programs, it does not tell the entire inter-racial relationship story at schools.  Looking at your own district, are your eyes opened to the new data?  Did it accurately represent your experience at school, or were there factors other than numbers that played a role?

http://www.businessinsider.com/education-department-releases-school-equity-data-2014-3

http://ocrdata.ed.gov/DistrictSchoolSearch