TY - JOUR
T1 - New Jersey’s Segregated Schools: Trends and Paths Forward
AU - Orfield, Gary
AU - Ee, Jongyeon
AU - Coughlan, Ryan
N1 - Orfield, G., Ee, J., Coughlan, R. (2017). New Jersey’s segregated schools: Trends and paths forward. Los Angeles, CA: The Civil Rights Project-Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA.
PY - 2017/11
Y1 - 2017/11
N2 - This is the second report by the Civil Rights Project on school segregation in New Jersey. The first, A Status Quo of Segregation: Racial and Economic Imbalance in New Jersey Schools, 1989-2010, explored the patterns from l989-2010. That report goes extensively into the history, legal, and policy issues as well as much greater detail on the metros, cities and school districts. . After that report was widely discussed in the state, concerned New Jerseyans asked for an update and an expansion of the issues we discussed. This second report, funded by a small grant from the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, is our response. We have updated the original report with data from 2010 to 2015 and expanded the analysis to additional issues including preschool segregation and the situation of English language learners amid the schools doubly segregated by race and poverty. We have studied another five years of racial change trends and looked at the racial patterns of private and charter schools, which need deeper examination in an era with leaders advocating alternatives to public schools. This report shows that New Jersey has moved another substantial step toward a segregated future with no racial majority but severe racial stratification and division. The resulting harms affect a continually growing sector of the population and mean that schools are not serving their historical function of bringing newcomers and excluded groups into the mainstream of the society. We undertook this reexamination because we were encouraged by the response to the first report and because we believe that New Jersey has the talent and the institutions that could help the state turn in a much more positive direction. The best way to move forward is through leadership and voluntary action, informed by critical analysis. Even a modest turn away from ignoring the challenges can begin to move toward a better path. The risks to the future of the state are severe since the schools are the only major institution with the capacity to prepare the people for a different future and better relationships in a highly polarized society damaged by deep racial divisions and harmful stereotypes. The passage of time is only makeing the challenges more severe. Little has been accomplished in the years since the first report, It is time to act.
AB - This is the second report by the Civil Rights Project on school segregation in New Jersey. The first, A Status Quo of Segregation: Racial and Economic Imbalance in New Jersey Schools, 1989-2010, explored the patterns from l989-2010. That report goes extensively into the history, legal, and policy issues as well as much greater detail on the metros, cities and school districts. . After that report was widely discussed in the state, concerned New Jerseyans asked for an update and an expansion of the issues we discussed. This second report, funded by a small grant from the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, is our response. We have updated the original report with data from 2010 to 2015 and expanded the analysis to additional issues including preschool segregation and the situation of English language learners amid the schools doubly segregated by race and poverty. We have studied another five years of racial change trends and looked at the racial patterns of private and charter schools, which need deeper examination in an era with leaders advocating alternatives to public schools. This report shows that New Jersey has moved another substantial step toward a segregated future with no racial majority but severe racial stratification and division. The resulting harms affect a continually growing sector of the population and mean that schools are not serving their historical function of bringing newcomers and excluded groups into the mainstream of the society. We undertook this reexamination because we were encouraged by the response to the first report and because we believe that New Jersey has the talent and the institutions that could help the state turn in a much more positive direction. The best way to move forward is through leadership and voluntary action, informed by critical analysis. Even a modest turn away from ignoring the challenges can begin to move toward a better path. The risks to the future of the state are severe since the schools are the only major institution with the capacity to prepare the people for a different future and better relationships in a highly polarized society damaged by deep racial divisions and harmful stereotypes. The passage of time is only makeing the challenges more severe. Little has been accomplished in the years since the first report, It is time to act.
UR - https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/education_fac/29
M3 - Article
JO - The Civil Rights Project-Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA
JF - The Civil Rights Project-Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA
ER -