Hebh Jamal

Brantlinger, Ellen A. Dividing Classes: How the Middle Class Negotiates and Rationalizes School Advantage. Routledge Falmer, 2003.

 Ellen Brantlinger analyzes class and its correspondence with the achievement gap in public schooling which further perpetuates the “information” gap between students and families. Brantslinger delves into the social hierarchies that separates students into losers and winners. She uses examples of the discriminatory test mandates and the No Child Left Behind policy that standardized high stakes testing. As wealth aligns with performance, Brantslinger points out those that acquire more affluence have an advantage when it comes to the “choice process” (the choice students have to selecting schools of their choice). The use of this source in my project would be after outlining the gentrification that persists and the wealth gap it creates. That wealth gap then ties into the perpetuation of school segregation as the “good schools” (affluent prestigious schools) are majority white, and “bad schools” (low performing) are predominately black. Establishing the divide of achievement and the fallouts of high stake testing align with gentrification, the influx of white folks, and the segregation of communities as a result.

Brown, Frank. “The First Serious Implementation of Brown: The 1964 Civil Rights Act and Beyond.” The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 73, no. 3, 2004, p. 182. 

Frank Brown lays the groundwork of what Brown v Board of Education is, and the importance of outlawing school segregation. Brown begins his work by introducing the 1954 court case, and its decision that imposed segregation of public schools that violates the U.S Constitution. Although “separate but equal” was deemed unconstitutional, a lot of time passed without significant school desegregation. Policy makers found no incentive to reverse the de jure segregation. The efforts, or lack thereof, by the Department of Education and state officials to enforce Brown v Board of Ed allowed states like NY to continue run as is. Although NY has never had de jure segregation, it has defacto segregation, making it have the most segregated school system in the country. Brown’s work goes into the 1964 Civil Rights Act that authorized to bring legal action to such states, and the civil cases against the states themselves. The use of this source in my presentation would build the framework of why there is school segregation and the history behind it.

Collins, Damian, and Tara Coleman. “Social Geographies of Education: Looking Within, and Beyond, School Boundaries.” Geography Compass, vol. 2, no. 1, 2008, pp. 281– 299

Damian Collins and Tara Coleman look at the social and political surroundings of where a school is located to determine that geographies impact and influence a school community. The authors discuss that every student must face the environments that surround a school and how a neighborhood is a key role into the performance of a school. I believe this article is signifiant to my work as it proves geographically in urban areas, schools segregation aligns with residential segregation, and often times poverty. If an area around the school is poor, without proper funding and distribution of resources, the school itself will suffer. Gentrification plays in, because it creates that overarching poverty that alienates a part of a community.

Davis, Tomeka, and Deirdre Oakley. “Linking Charter School Emergence to Urban Revitalization and Gentrification: A Socio-Spatial Analysis of Three Cities.” Journal of Urban Affairs

Using urban cities, Tomeka Davis, links the revitalization of gentrification to the emergence of charter schools, an alternative educational institution that divests from the public. Amping city life typically includes the opening of new museums, art galleries, cafes, businesses and banks. Davis analyzes that the revitalization of urban life leads to the change of wealth which is linked to the change of the number of charter schools in these urban cities. The demographic changes associate with less and less people funding and enrolling in public schools as affluence often times allows individuals instead enroll in private education. Charter schools in NYC, on the other hand have another purpose. Serving the black and brown community when public education has failed them, furthering school segregation. Davis points out that “charter schools operate autonomously from the local public school district bureaucracy, although they receive public and sometimes private funds.” Using this argument to point out the divestment away from public education and into the dangers of charter schooling. The charter school system can teach their students as they please with little oversight. Teachers, although in not all cases, are not completely qualified and the inability to unionize also makes it harder for a teacher to teach progressive education, and instead continue to perpetuate high stake testing.

Kucsera, John, and Gary Orfield. “The Civil Rights Project / Proyecto Derechos Civiles.” New York State’s Extreme School Segregation: Inequality, Inaction and a Damaged Future – eScholarship, 8 Apr. 2014

New York has the most segregated schools in the country. This UCLA report highlights the highest concentration of “majority minority” schools as it has “the lowest exposure to white students.” The report goes on to present desegregation cases in NY, and goes in depth about the numbers and statistics that impact students. This would be used strictly for data and statical analysis.

McCarthy, Cameron “Social Inequality and Schooling.” International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001, pp. 14309–14313

Cameron McCarthy ties in social and economic inequality to disparities in the education system based on race and class. McCarthy takes an unconventional approach and organizes the book based on the dynamics of race relations: (1) “Introduction: Race and Curriculum”; (2) “Mainstream Accounts of Racial Inequality in Schooling”; (3) “The Multicultural Solution”; (4) “Neo-Marxist Approaches to Racial Inequality: The Subordination of the Problem of Race”; (5)”Nonsynchrony and Social Difference: An Alternative to Current Radical Accounts of Race and Schooling”; and (6) “Racial Inequality and the Challenge of Educational Reform.” These chapters have helped the organization I work with, IntegrateNYC (student led organization tackling school segregation) which uses parts of the framework introduced in the book that I will similarly use in my presentation. The 5 R framework takes the accounts of race relations to incorporate a definition of integration that is unconventional. True integration is when the Race and enrollment policies are not racist and classist (such as the insurgence of botique screened schools), when Resources are equally distributed, when the school to prison pipeline is dismantled and we incorporate Restorative justice, when teachers of color are Represented, and finally when Relationships across identity lines through culturally responsive pedagogy are met.

Stillman, J. Gentrification and schools: the process of integration when whites reverse flight. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

Jennifer Stillman writes on the process of the pursuit of integration and desegregation when looking at the influx of white people flooding inner cities. The integration effort according to Stillman seems to be in the hands of white people. Their affluence would be needed to ‘diversify’ a school environment. Although acknowledging gentrification and its negative effects, my use with this book would be on the controlling narratives of white activists when it comes to education equity. I believe that the burden of integration is not on an invidious but an institution. The future of integration will not be determined on whether or not white people choose to enroll in predominately black schools, yet it is when policies are enacted to enforce Brown v Board of Ed. As an obstacle to change, I was use this book to point the flaws in the integration movement and what the role of white people are when fighting for school de- segregation.

Garcia, Nelson. “Race and Enrollment Narratives .” 27 Oct. 2017.

This interview covers Nelson Garcia, a student I work with, and his experiences surrounding the enrollment process in NYC. Garcia talks about the way in which screened schools prevent him from going to school the provide an academically stimulating environment. Taking Garcia’s account, I’m going to talk about the essence of the implications of school segregation, using his narrative when discussing the fallacies of the choice process.