The Coleman Report 50 Years Later, re-examined at a Johns Hopkins University conference last week, reinvigorated research efforts originally commissioned by Congress as part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.  Desegregation does drag on.

 

To reprise the landmark Coleman report, the Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences presented more than a dozen nuanced analyses, ranging from parent involvement to the impact of technology on equality.  The material is online here – and it is authoritative.

 

The Coleman-plus-50 re-examination of the impact of socio-economic status on school achievement – and on racial and ethnic disparities in academic achievement – concluded that the initial agenda is just as relevant today as it was during the civil rights era.

 

The latest looks at the legacy of equal educational opportunity touched on the influences of family and school; segregated schools and racial academic achievement gaps; and what racial and ethnic gaps reveal about postsecondary aspirations and enrollment, among many other policy topics.

 

The Bottom Line.  Segregated metropolitan areas, like Greater Hartford’s, are the bane of the American existence.  Our area does lead, however, in at least grappling with the problem.  The latest round of Sheff negotiations has been extended indefinitely past its earlier October 6 deadline – a positive development as additional improvements to the next stipulation still can be formulated.  Please see our open letter discussion of how Sheff could and should be revolutionized.