Segregation In Schools Essay

Segregation in public schools is a practice that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to be unconstitutional in 1954. However, since this time, schools have become segregated not by law, but with actions and policies. According to Orfield, et al (2010), the public educational system is actually moving further and further away from the integrated school systems that the Brown v. B.O.E case intended to create. There are two main areas in which segregation is discussed as being seen with in our educational systems across America. These two areas exists both within school districts, where certain schools have demographics that don’t necessarily represent the population of an entire district, and within individual schools, where students are often times

I am fortunate enough to work in county that has only one public school option for students to attend all the way from kindergarten through high school. The only other option is for students is to attend the private school which most do not choose to do. Roughly ninety percent of all students that attend school in my county attend schools that are a part of our system. Therefore, segregation between schools in a particular district is not a problem for me personally and many other rural area schools for that fact. However, the second area of segregation, which is found within a school, is something that I do see personally. While our students may not be segregated between schools, there is definitely segregation within the building. Orfield, et al (2010), states that “white students are often tracked into honors or advanced placement courses, whereas black and Latino students are overrepresented in special education programs” (p 25). While we only offer a one track diploma, a college prep program, students still have the option of enrolling in both honors and advanced placement classes while in both middle school and high school. It is at this level of our school system that we find our student body the most segregated whether it is based on race or income

I mentioned earlier that within my own school, we have a problem with segregation between students that take different classes. While not an official program, my school system does have a practice of tracking students together based on achievement levels. Starting in elementary school students tend to grouped based on their academic ability. Often times you will see students of color and students from low-income families in what are often called the “bottom” classes. The students many times are then stuck in the classes that do not have the same high expectations as the one or two classes of our “top” students. Those “top” classes are often times over represented by the white students as well as students from more affluent families. Going back to Orfield, et al (2010), one way to keep this from happening is by “detracking” students (p 25). Oftentimes students are labeled at a young age and sent on track that will carry on all the way through graduation. Minority students, ELL students and students from low income families generally do not test well at young ages and then are put on track of education that has lower expectations than their peers that are from affluent white families. According to Orfield, et al (2010), schools that use detracking strategies for their students often see increased