Segregation Still Exists in Schools Today, But Where?

Our discussions this week have been both personal and reflective. As we continue to reflect on the effects of hegemony, let us pinpoint where segregation may lie in schools today.

Assignment Instructions:

This written assignment is a personal reflection of your interpretation of your findings on segregation after performing a short literature review and conducting an interview with a local school.

Article Review

Locate two relatively current peer-reviewed articles (no more than 10 years old) on segregation in schools or resegregating schools. These articles do not have to discuss segregation overtly, it can be (and often is) implied. You may use the recommended resources for this week to locate these sources.

Interview

What experience or knowledge do you have of any contemporary segregation happening in your local schools, a school you used to attend, or one you have heard about? Think about the variety of groups discussed thus far as you consider contemporary segregation.

Conduct an informal interview, either face to face, via phone, or other means, with an administrator, teacher, or other credible staff member to address the perception of segregation in the school setting.

The following points should be considered in your interview:

• Student demographics: (race, ethnicity, ELL, SPED, socioeconomic status, sexual orientations, if known)
• What evidence is there to suggest that contemporary segregation is occurring and to what extent?
• What they suggest could potentially be done to desegregate in their school OR describe what they know has been done over time to change perceptions.

Realize that the community itself may be segregated. For example, for students living in certain rural areas, there is simply very little exposure to minority cultures. This is an example of community segregation.(You may choose to use a different word, as “segregation” (e.g., exclusion) is a socially charged word and school personnel may become defensive).

It is pertinent that this interview is handled with sensitivity. Your goal is not to provoke an emotional reaction or make accusations or judgments. It is critical that your communication is proactive and professional when you set up your interview. You should be transparent about your assignment and the intent to understand issues that are commonly referred to as being historical in nature but may still be prevalent or in different forms than typically understood. It is therefore equally important that you select your interviewee wisely, keeping to professional staff with some real knowledge of the demographics and background of the school selected.

The Written Reflection Assignment (two to four pages, not including title and reference pages, and using APA format as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center, will include the following sections:

Part 1: Article Review

Summarize your findings, including what impact researchers say these practices may have on students and student achievement.

Part 2: Interview

Summarize your interview results. Do not include a script of your question and answer session; rather, put into your own words how the interviewee addressed each question.

Part 3: Personal Interpretation

Analyze the data you’ve collected from the articles and your interview. What connections and or confirmations can you make between the results of your interview and what you learned from the research in the articles? With which particular findings from the research do you agree and disagree and why? How has your personal perception of contemporary segregation changed since reading these articles and conducting this interview?