Mickelson reviews research on effects of diversity in public schools

July 12, 2011

UNCC sociologist Tuesday reprised the lessons to be learned from more than 400 academic research projects into the effects of having diverse classrooms in the nation's public schools.

In the video excerpts of her presentation, Dr. Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, pictured at right, tells that story and what prompted her multiyear effort to summarize the body of research. And she encouraged people to read the summaries in the online Spivack Archive and judge for themselves what the research says, unfiltered by her or any of the advocacy groups active in shaping public opinion.

Mickelson provided these links to materials she referenced Tuesday:

� A multi-page document titled "School Integration and K-12 Educational Outcomes: A Synthesis of Educational Research." This scan of the document is in PDF format.

� A two-page abstract of the first document. Both are dated March 18, 2011. The second document says the material was in support of "invited remarks presented to [U.S. Department of Education] Secretary Arne Duncan's Learning Roundtable on Resegregation and Diverse Schooling" held in Washington on that date.

� Mickelson said she had gathered in an online Spivack Archive the summaries her research team created on educational research on this topic.

� At UNCC, Mickelson has a personal web page with links to other material.

 

 

1. The goals of the research, and how Julius Chambers' call to sociologists to make research accessible to lawyers led to a multiyear research project. (4:38)

 

 

2. The administration's interest in what could be done in Washington to promote diversity in local schools. (0:38)

 

 

 

3. What the research says: Diversity aids academic achievement. (1:10)

 

 

4. What the research says: All students benefit. (2:28)

 

 

5. What the research says: Diversity promotes graduation, undermines fears on people who are different; promotes friendship across divides; deters involvement in criminal justice system; better prepares young people to work in a diverse work environment. (2:14)

 

 

6. The myth that "the schools are failing." (1:05)

 

 

 7. Making segregated schools academically successful "can't be done." (1:05)

 

 

8. Suggestions for improving schools that come out of the research. (1:48)

 

 

 

9. About the lack of a race gap in [overseas] military schools. (1:26)

 

 

 

10. U.S. Chamber of Commerce has supported integrated schools and colleges because it makes business sense. (1:16)

 

 

 

11. What administration can do: A different Race to the Top; charter schools should be required to serve a population representative of the school's community; addressing lack of diversity in neighborhood housing. (2:38)

 

 

 

12. Responds to suggestion that race be dropped as a consideration in diversifying schools. (0:57)

 

 

 

13. Diversity defined. (1:02)

 

 

 

14. Why high-poverty schools with opt-in programs are unrepresentative of the norm, due to the "selection effect." School board District 2 member Richard McElrath adds a comment. ( 2:25)

 

 

15. Postpones a response to a question asking what would the school board be able to implement that would be upheld by the courts in the wake of Judge Robert Potter's Federal District Court ruling prohibiting the use of race in school assignment. (0:39)

 

 

 

16. What the research says about achievement in charter schools. (2:56)

 

 

 

17. "The school reform movement is really about an initiative to undermine public education and make way for privatization. That's the big picture, folks." (1:52)

 

 

 

18. "Boom for Whom" and the Charlotte Chamber's abandonment of support for desegregated schools. (1:22)

 

 

 

19. Why Mickelson no longer studies local education trends. (0:42)

 

 

 

20. On the relationship between research and policy: Policy is driven by politics. (0:57)

 

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