Equity Resources

Desegregation

Two resources explain the effect of the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education that limited the use of race in voluntary desegregation plans and provides guidance on what parents, school boards, communities, and advocates can do to promote diversity.
 
Preserving Integration Options for Latino Children: A Manual for Educators, Civil Rights Leaders, and the Community (2008), prepared by The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) and the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles (CRP/PDC), explains the effect of the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision for Latino students and outlines what school districts can legally do to promote diversity and equal educational opportunity in the public schools.
 
Still Looking to the Future: Voluntary K-12 School Integration; A Manual for Parents, Educators and Advocates (2008), prepared by the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles (CRP/PDC) and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), provides information about how communities and school districts can promote racial diversity and address racial isolation in schools nationwide.

Dropout Prevention

Preventing students from dropping out of school and increasing graduation rates are national priorities.   In two reports from the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago, researchers describe and define “freshman on-track indicators.”

The On-Track Indicator as a Predictor of High School Graduation (2005)  shows the relationship between being on-track in course performance at the end of the freshman year and graduating from high school. (18MB PDF)

What Matters for Staying on-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public High Schools (2007) examines in-depth a variety of indicators of freshmen course performance—course failures, attendance, and grades—that identify potential dropouts. 

Dropout Risk Factors and Exemplary Programs (2007) from The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network at Clemson University and Communities In Schools, Inc. identifies risk factors for dropping out and reviews quality evidence-based programs that address particular risk factors.  The report includes recommendations for implementing dropout programs and strategies and for evaluating their effectiveness.

Magnet Schools

Through an analysis of responses to a survey of public school employees, The Forgotten Choice: Rethinking Magnet Schools in a Changing Landscape (2008) by Erica Frankenberg and Genevieve Siegal-Hawley examines the policies, legal and political constraints, and practices contributing to the decline of racial diversity in magnet schools and explores whether and how magnet schools may be affected by the presence of nearby charter schools.  This report concludes with a discussion of policy recommendations for furthering racial diversity.