Thread by @arayes17

This Thursday's @StatesideRadio ep. featured a look at modern school segregation through the example of Grand Rapids Public Schools.

michiganradio.org/post/stateside…

I pitched this and put a lot of work into prepping it and analyzing the data. So give it a listen, then read this thread!

In case you didn't listen, here's a summary:
In 2014, Grand Rapids Public Schools was part of a “resolution agreement” with the @usedgov's Office for Civil Rights after an investigation that targeted an underrepresentation of African Americans in the district’s advanced programs

Last year, the district was released from the agreement after fulfilling OCR's requirements. But, state data I looked at showed that that things haven't improved that much. On top of that, the data shows a school district that is generally split along racial lines.

First thing I want to point out is - as Prof. Woods noted -GRPS is far from alone in this.

This pitch was based on a 2014 @propublica project, Segregation Now, which listed schools that had desegregation orders/agreements at the time:
bit.ly/2GhyQPG

PP did a lot more than list the agreements, I highly recommend reading the whole thing. There are 10 schools in MI under similar agreements (& more across the country)

Ed Dept. Spokesman disputed PP's use of the term "Voluntary Desegregation Order" to describe these agreements.

Ed Dept. spokesman said these agreements “cover a range of topics, including whether students are being segregated on the basis of race in instruction or school activities; have equitable access to courses and educational opportunities in the district; and are being subjected...

...to racial harassment. The resolution agreements, the investigations that led to them, and technical assistance are OCR’s primary means to ensure that the desegregative goals of Title VI are being satisfied and that schools are in compliance with Title VI.”

We chose GRPS for this segment because focusing on one district as a "case study" made more sense for Stateside's format. GRPS happened to be one of the biggest and most recently involved of the districts listed.
So with all of that in mind, let's dive into the numbers:

GRPS has this school, City Middle High School (6-12), which is massively successful. @USNewsEducation ranked it the second best HS in Michigan, and the 38th best in the NATION.
It's an International Baccalaureate school, and according the state, has a near 100 percent grad rate.

It's really successful: abt 95 percent of it's students go to college and 70 percent are "proficient" on state tests. It eclipses MI's similar schools (and the state avg itself) by 20 percent or more.

In 2014, OCR said that black enrollment at City was "disproportionately low "

OCR explained what "disproportionately low" meant: "While overall the District was 37% African American during the 2010-2011 school year, City had only 99 African Americans (13.9%)."

City is a school that you apply to get into. It's not just for kids in its neighborhood.

In the 18/19 school year, the district was 37 percent Hispanic/Latino, 30 percent black and 22 percent white.

City in 18/19 was 46 percent white, 27 percent Hispanic/Latino and 10 percent black.

Anyone else see what's off about this?

To make this more clear, I broke it down and did the math:

City Middle High (7-12th grades) holds about one third (36%) of the overall 7-12th grade white population, 1/10th (10%) of the overall hispanic population and just 1/25th (4%) of the overall black population

So let's pause here, because I hit "send tweets" on accident. (was only drafting them in here to get an idea of how much space I'd get for each point before editing and double checking stuff)
I need to correct some things:
Tweet #5 should say "were under"
Tweet #8 should say 7-12

City Middle High is only one of the five largest secondary schools in the district. Allow me to introduce Ottawa HS (a comprehensive 9-12), Union HS (a comprehensive 9-12), Innovation Central HS (a career prep 9-12) and Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy (6-12).

None of those schools are ranked nearly as highly as City. Their college going rates are AT LEAST 30 percent less than City. State test proficiency rates are AT LEAST 50 percent less.
Three of these high schools have a white population that is around 5%. One is 12% white.

Plainly: Most black/Hispanic/Latino students are in schools that perform at fairly low levels and white students are barely represented in those schools. Despite being the smallest overall population, white students make up the largest part of the best school (City).

And that is just ONE aspect of this story, you get all that and MORE in the segment as we talk the data over with John Helmholdt, Executive Director of Communications and External Affairs for GRPS and Ronald Woods, @EasternMichU Professor and desegregation expert

@EasternMichU In case this is easier than a thread:
@threadreaderapp unroll