With the question of how best to support integration and diversity in public schools still unresolved, parents, advocates, scholars and policymakers will convene in Washington D.C. for a day-long conference on Nov. 13, 2009, to identify best practices and possible solutions. "Reaffirming the Role of School Integration in K-12 Public Education Policy: A Conversation among Policymakers, Advocates and Educators," will be held at Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C. The conference will be convened by a national school integration coalition that includes the UNC Center for Civil Rights.
UNC School of Law faculty and staff will be among those gathering to discuss the future of integration in kindergarten through 12th grade public school education. Dean John Charles "Jack" Boger '74 will join Gary Orfield of UCLA and john a. powell of The Ohio State University in the closing discussion to inform the audience of the next steps to advocate for school integration nationally and in their local communities.
The November conference is an outgrowth from conferences held earlier this year by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School in January, and by the UNC Center for Civil Rights and the UCLA Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UNC in April. "These conferences brought together administrators, scholars, advocates and parents to dialogue with each other about school integration, and who now want to communicate their experiences and findings on school integration directly to national policymakers," says Benita N. Jones, a fellow at the UNC Center for Civil Rights.
Jones notes that while many people may believe the issue of integrated schooling has been resolved, innovative diversity policies have been threatened at every policy level in recent years.
"The coalition was formed to demonstrate that there is a live constituency advocating for racially and economically integrated schools and neighborhoods," says Jones. "The coalition members and conference participants recognize that educational quality suffers in schools where diversity does not reflect the nation's diversity. Our goal is to communicate to federal, state and local policymakers that voluntary school integration must be a priority in any successful education reform agenda."
Jones notes that the Washington, D.C., venue will help the coalition reach a national audience of government officials and advocacy groups, and she expects more than 100 participants at the conference. "It's important to us to recruit participants nationwide. The voices of parents, administrators and advocates from around the country will add valuable perspectives to this dialogue about diversity programs that are working, as well as areas for improvement."
Confirmed conference panelists from the Obama administration include Russlynn Ali, assistant secretary for civil rights, U.S. Department of Education; Julie Fernandes, deputy assistant attorney general, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights; Carmel Martin, assistant secretary for planning, evaluation and policy development, U.S. Department of Education; Roberto Rodriguez, special assistant to the president for education policy, White House Domestic Policy Council; and Jocelyn Samuels, senior counselor, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights.
Although the coalition remains informal, it has implemented a targeted agenda to influence federal education policy. Several coalition member organizations, including the Center for Civil Rights, united in August to submit a letter to the U.S. Department of Education commenting on the department's proposed standards for its Race to the Top Fund, a new source of federal funding to encourage and reward states that are creating the conditions for educational innovation. The coalition has encouraged the Department to redraft the fund standards to reflect the goal of supporting racial and economic integration in public schools.
Coalition members convening this conference include: NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF); ACLU Racial Justice Program; Poverty and Race Research Action Council; Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights; the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA; the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School; UNC Center for Civil Rights; Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University; Institute on Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota Law School; Chief Justice Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity at Berkeley Law School; Howard University School of Law Education Rights Center; The Fair Housing Law Clinical Program at Howard University School of Law; Center for Understanding Race and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University; and Education and the Public Interest Center (EPIC) at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
For more information about the conference and to register, visit: www.law.unc.edu/centers/civilrights/conferences.
-- Oct. 26, 2009