Separate But Equal Once Again.

Is separating children by race in schools beneficial for students?

The Wall Street Journal recently reported about programs being used in Evanston, Illinois and Minneapolis public schools to address academic achievement gaps between the districts’ black, Latino, and white students: racially segregated classrooms. Evanston Township High School offers what they describe as “affinity-based” classes in which students are all one minority race and are taught by a teacher of color, while the Minneapolis Public School District offers classes through their “Office of Black Student Achievement” for black students solely taught by black teachers.

The de-segregation of public schools was celebrated as a significant civil rights win after the famous 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. The ruling overturned the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson decision and declared “separate but equal” educational facilities to violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Educational lawyers have stated that segregated classrooms such as those in Evanston and Minneapolis are legal because they are voluntary, but it still seems odd to us that schools would revert to segregated classrooms. Do segregated classrooms benefit students?

Would Northern Colorado Districts Racially Segregate Classrooms?

This makes us wonder if our local school districts would consider offering similar race-specific classrooms to address racial achievement gaps. We also wonder if separating classrooms along racial lines is even an effective, reasonable, moral, or legal solution to academic achievement problems.

Earlier this year, the Poudre School District Human Resources Department provided a presentation to the Board of Education titled, “PSD Diversity in Hiring Report”, which may provide some insight. The first sentence of the coversheet summary seems to support the efforts in Evanston and Minneapolis as it states,

"Students of color who are taught by teachers of color experience improved academic outcomes, higher graduation rates, fewer unexcused absences, and are more likely to attend college."

Wow. According to PSD, students of color taught by teachers of color can really impact a student’s education in a profound way. So IF the district truly believes their assertion, then wouldn’t ensuring all PSD students of color are taught by teachers of color be the proper ethical pursuit? We wonder if ensuring all students of color are taught by teachers of color is the district's plan. We are curious as to how this educational feat could practically be achieved.

There seem to be two options:

1. Segregate all students of color into separate classrooms exclusively staffed by teachers of color.
   OR

2. Ensure that all classes that may include any student of color are led by teachers of color.

Either option seems like a significant recruitment challenge. Both options seem like potential legal minefields, too.

If PSD stands behind their statement that students of color taught by teachers of color experience improved academic outcomes, then it seems the district would have to significantly increase the percentage of teachers and administrators of color, while reducing the number of white employees. According to the district’s presentation in the graphic below, the current percentage of students of color in PSD is about 30%, but the percentage of licensed and administrative employees who are people of color hovers around merely 9%.

The vision of PSD's Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse and Talented Workforce team states, "Our vision is to cultivate a diverse workforce, reflecting the intersectional identities and needs of our students..." so the district may be actively pursuing this racial parity path. According to a PSD Facebook post, the district is participating in a recruitment fair focused on diverse candidates today at a virtual event sponsored by a company called Diversity in Ed. PSD is even one of the districts featured on the organization's website featuring PSD's Diversity Profile. The profile states that PSD "...will create policies and enact practices that ensure outcomes are not predictive by identify or demography by: Confronting and eliminating disparities and inequities through inclusive leadership...Developing and expecting culturally responsive pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment."

Would Students Actually Benefit?

Diversity is important because children grow as thinkers and citizens when challenged by differing perspectives, helping them treat other ideas and people with greater respect and understanding, but we wonder if it truly is best for PSD students and staff to focus hiring and educational efforts on intersectional characteristics or if it would be better for students if PSD focused its hiring efforts on recruiting teachers who are academic content and classroom management experts instead? According to the 2023 Colorado Measure of Academic Standards (CMAS) results, thousands of PSD students are below expectations in key academic subjects such as English Language Arts and Mathematics. Many of the district elementary schools ELA results show high percentages of students performing below expectations: Bauder Elementary at about 60% below expectations, Linton Elementary at 67% and Eyestone Elementary at 61%. The percentage of non-charter middle school students testing below expectations in math is about 60%: Boltz Middle School at 69%, Timnath Middle School at 55% and Wellington Middle School at 73%. However, some PSD schools such as Traut, Bethke, and O'Dea Elementary Schools, as well as Kinard Middle Schools have successful CMAS scores. Do these schools have the highest matchup of students and teachers based on their immutable characteristics? Or are there possibly other factors involved in ensuring students' academic achievement? Has the district analyzed studies which may disprove their assumption? Is it possible for students of color to achieve academic excellence with teachers of any skin color?

What Should You Do?

We believe our community expects PSD to prepare students for life success, by encouraging them to identify as thinkers, creators, science investigators, writers. Why would we want schools to pivot from that to focusing on students' non-academic identities--such as their race? Of what benefit would it be for kids to think about their skin color more?

Ask Questions

• Do students learn best from teachers sharing their immutable characteristics or do students learn best from qualified, knowledgeable, excellent teachers regardless of skin color?

• Is there conclusive evidence supporting the separation of students by race?

• What negative secondary effects could result from the separation of students along racial characteristics?

• Should PSD focus hiring efforts on the immutable characteristics of applicants, or should PSD hiring efforts be focused on hiring the most talented and qualified applicants, regardless of skin color or other social characteristics?

Pass Along the Information

• Please share this newsletter with your friends who are also interested in being open-minded, curious, and willing to consider thought-provoking questions!