Amy Stuart Wells

Perpetuation Theory and the Long-Term Effects of School Desegregation:

For the last 30 years, the bulk of research on school desegregation has focused on the short-term effects of this policy on the achievement, self-esteem, and intergroup relations of students in racially mixed versus segregated schools. These research foci reflect a more psychological approach to understanding the goals and purposes of school desegregation, viewing it as a policy designed to save the hearts and minds” of African-American students and teach children of all races to get along. This article brings together, for the first time, a smaller body of literature on the long-term effects of school desegregation on the life chances of African-American students. In this article, we argue from a sociological perspective that the goal of desegregation policy is to break the cycle of segregation and allow nonwhite students access to high-status institutions and the powerful social networks within them. We analyze 21 studies drawing on perpetuation theory, a macro-micro theory of racial segregation.

Stepping over the Color Line: African-American Students in White Suburban Schools

This study of a school choice plan in St Louis, Missouri - which allowed black students to attend suburban schools - reveals the ugliness and beauty of race relations. It describes the resistance of suburban white educators and the courage of the black students who crossed the colour line.

School Choice Policies and Racial Segregation: Where White Parents' Good Intentions, Anxiety, and Privilege Collide.

A growing body of school choice research has shown that when school choice policies are not designed to racially or socioeconomically integrate schools, that is, are “colorblind” policies, they generally manage to do the opposite, leading to greater stratification and separation of students by race and ethnicity across schools and programs. Since white, advantaged parents are more likely to get their children into the highest-status schools regardless of the school choice policy in place, we believed that more research was needed on how those parents interact with school choice policies and whether they would support changes to those policies that would lead to less segregation across schools. Our interviews with advantaged New York City parents suggest that many are bothered by the segregation but that they are concerned that their children gain access to the “best” (mostly white) schools. The contradictions inherent in their choices are reconcilable, we argue, by offering more diverse and undivided school options.

Bounding the Case Within Its Context: A Constructivist Approach to Studying Detracking Reform

This article presents the story of our research teams efforts to conduct a multisite case study of 10 racially mixed schools engaged in effort to reduce ability grouping or tracking. Although the politics of education research and our own theoretical frame work told us that detracking reform is strongly influenced by the politics and norms in the local school community, we were not sure how to study a school-level change while examining the broader context of that change. We learned over the course of our study to build outward from the school site into the local community, and co-construct the boundaries of our cases with the help of our respondents. As a result, we discovered that the boundaries of each case and the differences in the shape and size of each case are as much a finding as they are a methodological consideration.

Chapter 3: How Society Failed School Desegregation Policy: Looking Past the Schools to Understand Them:

It is a noteworthy coincidence that the year of publication of this volume, 2005, sits chronologically between the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education in 2004 and the 40th anniversary of Equality of Educational Opportunity (also known as the “Coleman report”) in 2006. This juxtaposition is symbolic given that, while both the Supreme Court ruling and the congressionally mandated Coleman study ultimately supported school desegregation policies, they differed relatively dramatically in terms of why, and these distinctions related to different views of the role of schools in society. It is fitting, then, that this chapter, which argues that we cannot understand the success or failure of school desegregation until we consider the complex relationship between desegregated public schools and the larger society, is wedged between these two important anniversaries. The strongly worded Brown ruling discussed at length the importance of public education in preparing students for their adult lives as workers and citizens. For instance, Chief Justice Warren wrote: “Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education in our democratic society” (p. 7). In contrast, the Coleman report muted the Brown decision’s interpretation of public education as a paramount institution and argued instead that the variation in school curriculum and facilities and, to a lesser extent, teacher quality accounted for

Public Funds for Private Schools: Political and First Amendment Considerations.

This article analyzes the private school choice debate through a review of the political and judicial history of efforts to provide private schools and their patrons with various forms of public aid. It also examines recent Supreme Court rulings that would apply to a constitutional challenge of a federal tuition voucher or tax credit program and discusses the growing political support for such plans. Through this long-term analysis, the authors are able to make cautious predictions about the likelihood that a federal tuition voucher or tax credit plan will be passed by Congress or declared unconstitutional in the near future.

Against the Tide: Desegregated High Schools and Their 1980 Graduates

Illustration: Based on photo from EyeWire Images I N THE LATE 1970s, a Jewish teenager named Bernard Rose attended a racially diverse high school in New Jersey. He took the top-level classes, played two varsity sports, starred in the school play, and went on to a respected public university. In an interview shortly after his 40th birthday in 2002, Bernard looked back fondly on his high school experience, contrasting it to his years in an all-white grammar school where he was ostracized socially and “tormented” emotionally. In high school, he said, “I was popular with black people, I was popular with white people, I was popular.” He added, “It was so much better than being a loser.” Against the Tide: Desegregated High Schools and Their 1980 Graduates

The Impact of Political Context on the Questions Asked and Answered: The Evolution of Education Research on Racial Inequality.

This chapter examines how the larger political context and policies enacted at different points in American history have affected the questions education researchers asked and answered. The authors argue that while education researchers are often quick to consider how their research should shape policy, they are less likely to contemplate the possible effect of policies on their scholarship. To examine whether the policy–research relationship is indeed bidirectional, the authors conducted a thorough content analysis of six of the most prominent education research journals, some of which date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The goal was to consider how shifts in racial politics and educational policies may have influenced what was studied, particularly research that examined the role of race and ethnicity in education. The authors looked for shifts between education research examining race and education within a broader social context and research focused on the personal and familial deficits of individual students or families. They argue that if these shifts in research are somewhat synchronized with shifts in racial politics and policies in the United States, this is a potential indicator of the impact that the larger political milieu may have had on education research over the last 100 years. Consideration of this research−policy relationship may raise the awareness of education researchers in terms of the origins of the questions they will ask and answer in the American Educational Research Association’s second century.