Understand racialized tracking.

Get Educated

• Support non-profit organizations committed to bringing equity to public schools, such as the Center for Educational Equity.

• Review your own school district's policies and practices for tracking and admission into gifted and talented programs. Contact your school board if you have any concerns.

• Support Black educators through the National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE).

• Vote in your local elections for your school board and school superintendent.

Almost seven decades after Brown v. Board of Education, school segregation continues, often within the walls of a single school building. Black students comprise 17% of our nation’s students but represent less than 10% of gifted and talented programs – and 53% of remedial programs. (The Atlantic). The process of diverting Black students from educational opportunities is known as “racialized tracking” and is practiced in many school districts across the country. The process is simple: gifted and talented programs practice gatekeeping through admissions tests that privileged students are more prepared to take, resulting in a student body segregated by the courses they are taking (The Atlantic).

New York City’s public school system is the most frequently cited example of this kind of segregation in school districts. Children as young as kindergarten are separated through standardized testing. The unsurprising result is a segregated student body. In a school district where Black and Latino children make up 65% of the kindergarten population, they comprise only 18% of the gifted students. These disparities continue up until graduation (NY Mag). The New York City school system also utilizes other metrics to determine tracking, such as attendance-- which also puts students of lower socioeconomic status at a disadvantage. In 2019, a task force established by Mayor Bill de Blasio recommended that New York City scrap their gifted and talented programs and their selective admissions programs entirely. Still, the school district has yet to act on this recommendation (NY Times).

Inequities in school districts perpetuate systematic oppression in an especially devious way. By implementing small magnet and gifted programs and gatekeeping through admissions, school districts deprive Black students of the educational opportunities granted to their white counterparts. Meanwhile, they maintain the illusion of an integrated and diverse district. Because education is a predictor of long term success (people who have four-year college degrees earn over $30,000 more annually than people who do not, according to CNN), disenfranchising Black students perpetuates institutionalized racism and upholds the standards of the status quo.

In 1954 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated school districts violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution’s “equal protection clause.” The ruling required school districts to integrate immediately, arguing that the status quo of “separate but equal” was not actually equal (United States Courts).

Although Brown required that schools desegregate, the practice was shaky. Southern states worked around integrating schools through private school vouchers. Many Black schools were simply shuttered, and white students were given vouchers to attend private schools, funding them with public funds (American Progress). Even within school districts, most white students attend mostly white schools, and schools that are predominantly Black have fewer resources to provide quality education. The voucher programs also deliver funding that should be used in the public school system into private schools (SPLC). Also, the closure of Black schools after Brown displaced tens of thousands of Black educators, and Black teachers are still underrepresented in education today (Education Week).  As of the 2015-2016 school year, white educators made up 80% of teachers in public schools in the United States (NCES). For more on the lack of diversity in education, check out our previous newsletter.

The good news: there are meaningful alternatives to racialized tracking. Duke University researchers found that when a North Carolina school district adopted rigorous academic standards and treated all students as gifted, educational outcomes improved. The students enrolled in the program during 2006-2010 closed the achievement gap by 4-6 percent and had better graduation and testing rates (Duke). Now, Wake County, North Carolina, is partnering with Duke University to implement a program called Nurturing for a Bright Tomorrow, exploring this concept further (WCPSS).

Covid-19 has given New York City some time to sit back and reconsider their admissions process after their admissions exam process fell apart during the pandemic (NY Times). School districts should take this year of reflection to restructure their programs to adopt an “honors for all” approach (Washington Post). We need to guarantee that our school districts offer the same academic opportunities to all our students.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• In many districts, schools use “racialized tracking” to segregate student bodies through the admissions process to gifted and talented programs.

• Many of the metrics schools use to determine tracking, such as attendance, work against students of color and students with lower socioeconomic status.

• In a school district where Black and Latino children make up 65% of the population, they comprise only 18% of the gifted students (NY Mag).

• Schools should adopt an honor system for all approaches to curriculums to offer all students equal opportunities.