Running head: 1

Skip Spoerke

Introduction to Sociology

Southern New Hampshire University

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John Lennon’s 1971 song, “Imagine,” describes a world where there is no religion, no

countries, no Heaven, no Hell, no greed, no war, and no hunger. “Imagine” drives home the point

of living in peace and acceptance of differences, and is arguably one of the most recognizable

and thoughtful songs ever recorded. Lennon’s claim: “You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the

only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one.” Forty-four years later, the

world is still not as one; in fact, some people might insist that since 1971, the world has divided

itself further. For this study, one reason for continued segregation in the United States is

challenged.

Segregation of students enrolled in charter schools is a relatively new problem that the

United States education system faces. The political push for “school choice” programs across the

country started in the early 2000s and has been the motivation behind most charter schools

opening the past few years. While segregation of students enrolled in charter schools is a

relatively new problem for the United States education system, it is not easily repairable.

The difficulty in repairing school choice programs is two-fold. First, many charter

schools provide low-income and minority families access to higher quality education than they

would receive through traditional public schools in urban areas, guaranteeing a student

population of low-income minorities. Second, parents of charter school students typically choose

the charter school because other families enrolled at that charter school are of similar ethnicity,

race, income level, social values, or religious practice, which makes it difficult to register new

students outside of the popular demographic concentration already enrolled.

Overcoming segregation may not be possible for all charter schools, but accepting

segregation in charter schools is not an option either for many Americans. There must be a way

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to repair the problem before it dominates the education system, which would ultimately result in

further segregation of a society that has always struggled to overcome segregation.

Overview of Resources

While the majority of scholars and political leaders may agree that charter school

segregation is a problem, few have proposed solutions to the problem. One such article by Iris C.

Rotberg entitled “Charter schools and the risk of increased segregation,” paints a poignant

conclusion of the social impact derived from the sudden push for inclusion of charter schools in

the United States. Part of Rotberg’s claim was that to avoid segregation, charter schools could

apply a significant effort to maintain a student body and faculty that represent multiple races,

ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, religious beliefs, and incomes.

Other articles are excellent at explaining the causes of segregation by comparing

numerous research studies, but offer nothing in terms of a solution to the problem. For example,

Mary Ann Cooper, author of "Elite High Schools, Charter Schools – the New Segregation,"

explains that charter schools have been criticized for enabling "reverse segregation" and that

proponents of charter schools consider segregation to be necessary to the goal of providing

minority students the same educational opportunities as affluent students.

Similar to Mary Ann Cooper’s article, “A Closer Look at Charter Schools and

Segregation” by Ritter, Jensen, Kisida, and McGee examines numerous studies of segregation in

charter schools. The article concludes "while segregation for blacks among all public schools has

been increasing … black students in charter schools are far more likely than their traditional

public school counterparts to be educated in intensely segregated settings.”

Eddie Marceau, school leader of Making Community Connections Charter School (MC2)

in Manchester, New Hampshire, confirmed the threat of segregation during an interview. Along

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with many charter schools in the United States, MC2 has adopted several policies in an effort to

avoid segregation. One example is the open enrollment policy, in which, "We accept anyone. If

you want to learn, come." Marceau also indicated that, even with several strategies to help

combat segregation, students and parents of students are major influencers of new student

enrollment and because of that, a natural shift to segregation is almost certain.

It could therefore be suggested that if segregation of students enrolled in charter schools

is, in fact, something that happens—purposefully or not—then society is encouraging future

leaders to reconstruct a country of total inequality. With this reconstruction, perhaps distinct

minority groups will have fewer rights based on religion, race, or culture; perhaps women will no

longer have a voice and be forced into subservient roles to men; or perhaps slavery will be an

acceptable practice. "There is no reason to repeat bad history," proclaimed Eleanor Holmes

Norton; by enforcing segregation with future leaders enrolled as students in charter schools, we

are bound to repeat bad history.

Research Design

MC2 demonstrates a basic understanding of the social implications of segregation, and the

active involvement of school leaders in the prevention of segregation from consuming the

student body. It is important to study more schools like this to gain a better understanding of

potential solutions that could be applied to solve the problem of segregation in charter schools

nationwide. According to MC2's Charter Application, the school's mission is "to establish a

sustainable network of multiple preschool through graduate school pathways for high-quality

learning that are student-centered, mastery-based, and community-oriented." As reported in the

school’s brochure, part of the vision reads, “to eliminate the predictive value of race, class,

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language, gender, and special capacities on student achievement in our schools and our

communities.”

In keeping true to its mission and vision, MC2 programs—as seen on the school’s website

and printed promotional material—encourage students to interact with community leaders and

business owners, apply skills to benefit the community, and expand their level of social and skill

mastery beyond the classroom. Students have earned school credit for activities that take place

outside the classroom such as, volunteering with nonprofit organizations, working internships at

local businesses, and beautifying the local community.

Data Collection

To accurately gauge what might cause student segregation in charter schools, it is equally

important to understand their available financial resources, student recruitment opportunities, and

marketing capabilities. Without at least a basic knowledge of these elements, it would be difficult

for researchers to determine if charter schools could efficiently combat segregation or if the

design of charter schools forces them to enable segregation. Studies on these charter school

elements are easy enough to gain access to through interviews with charter school leaders and

organizations like the New Hampshire Center for Innovative Schools and the National Charter

School Resource Center. Very few charter school segregation studies include data from those

sources, and instead focus only on determining the problem of student segregation in charter

schools; yes, there is a problem. Without first confirming healthy diversification capabilities of

charter schools, the research is incomplete thereby making it impossible to develop a solution.

Scholarly articles—easily located in university libraries—are another valuable source of

information about segregation and charter school structure that can aid in the research process.

For example, the Southern New Hampshire University library has more than 28,000 scholarly

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articles on charter school segregation and another 145,000 articles on the charter school

structure. Reading a few of these articles on charter school segregation provides the researcher

with a well-rounded view of the various studies conducted over the past few years. The goal

should be to expand research and develop a solution to the problem, not repeatedly arrive at the

same conclusion, as seen in the majority of these articles. New studies should focus on

answering questions like these: "What might happen to student enrollment if new federal policies

were to require diversification of charter schools?” and “What might individual charter schools

do to actively prevent segregation?” With enough answers to similar questions, a solution to the

problem can be developed.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

According to the New Hampshire Center for Innovative Schools, state authorized public

charter schools in New Hampshire received $5,498—approximately a third of the funding that a

traditional public school received—for each enrolled student in 2014. There are examples of

public charter schools in New Hampshire and all other states that have been struggling

financially, including MC2. School leaders have expressed that the viable solutions to the

problem are to increase student enrollment aggressively and lower faculty salaries. In the case of

MC2, faculty members are currently earning less than half the median salary of traditional public

school teachers in Manchester for the 2014-2015 school year, based on figures released by the

New Hampshire Department of Education. Similar gaps are found in school choice programs all

across the country. Such financial constraints have not only hindered the ability of charter

schools in the United States to hire and retain highly qualified faculty, but also supply students

with educational opportunities equal to those offered in traditional public schools. The result:

without highly qualified faculty and the ability to provide students with the necessary

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educational opportunities to effectively compete with traditional public schools, charter schools

are bound to only attract minority groups that might see some value in attending charter schools,

which strengthens segregation.

The political expectation is that charter schools will produce greater educational

opportunities than traditional public schools for minority students. The reality is that charter

school budgets don’t always support the expectation. In fact, charter schools close every year

throughout the country due to a lack of funding. In their place, multiple charter schools open;

some succeed and some fail. The result: insecurity and instability across school choice programs

nationwide.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools declared that the proportion of charter

schools to traditional public schools tripled between the years 2000 and 2013 (Rotberg, 2014).

Many charter schools openly target minority groups, such as black and Hispanic students and

low-income families—separating these minorities from their counterparts in traditional public

schools (Cooper, 2011). Other charter schools openly target students with disabilities—

separating this minority group from their counterparts in both, charter and traditional public

schools. A relatively small number of charter schools are like MC2 and open their doors to any

student that wants to attend their school. The result: a growing number of educational institutions

designed to encourage segregation.

In relation to Rotberg's claim that charter schools could avoid segregation by applying a

significant effort to maintain a student body and faculty that represent multiple races, ethnicities,

genders, sexual orientations, religious beliefs, and incomes, questions were raised about MC2’s

position. Discovered, was that even though MC2 does does take proactive measures to combat

segregation, it is still starting to take shape at the school. For instance, until the current school

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year, MC2 only had one female teacher and the female student population was small and

inconsistent. Now, the school has a larger female population but is in transition to an all-white

student body even after hosting African drumming exhibitions and other cross-cultural events to

attract students of different races and cultures. The result: segregation of charter schools is near

impossible to prevent, no matter how much emphasis a school applies to prevention efforts.

Conclusions

Although segregation is a problem with most charter schools, it is not something that will

go away easily or combatted efficiently through the willpower of school faculty. Students and

families are drawn to schools where they fit in with other students and families, which escalates

the threat of becoming an all-black, all-Hispanic, or all-white school, as MC2 is currently

experiencing. It would also appear that unless charter schools can offer competitive services to

traditional public schools, they will likely attract minority groups that can see some benefit to the

programs offered.

Overall, this means that in order for school choice programs to succeed in abolishing

segregation, they need more funding so they can compete with services offered by traditional

public schools; they need to remove the stereotype that charter schools are for the disadvantaged

minority; they need to provide faculty competitive salaries to improve retention and expertise;

they need to adopt open enrollment policies; and they need to combat segregation proactively. It

is not an easy problem to fix, but if society chooses to avoid fixing it, bad history will be

repeated and John Lennon’s idea that “the world will be as one” will only be true in the

imagination because these students are learning that segregation is encouraged and essential to

their success.

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Future Research Exploration

This research has provided a basic understanding of what charter schools face in terms of

the battle against segregation. Future research should explore the options available to charter

schools to help them remain free from the natural shift to segregation, like MC2 is facing.

Researchers should also start examining the capabilities of charter schools to combat segregation

successfully and start developing solutions instead of restating the widely known problem. If it

can be demonstrated through example how a charter school can effectively beat segregation, that

model can be used to create laws and professional training that will empower all charter schools

to become fully integrated learning environments. The first change, however, needs to include

providing charter schools with the tools, funding, and highly-qualified faculty they need to be

successful.

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References

Cooper, M. A. (2011, Nov 14). Elite high schools, charter high schools - the new segregation?

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, 22, 30-31.

Frankenberg, E., Siegel-Hawley, G., & Wang, J. (2011). Choice without equity: Charter school

segregation. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 19(1), 1-92.

Ritter, G., Jensen, N., Kisida, B., & McGee, J. B. (2010). A closer look at charter schools and

segregation. Education Next, 10(3).

Rotberg, I. C. (2014). Charter schools and the risk of increased segregation. Phi Delta Kappan,

95(5), 26-31. Doi:10.1177/003172171409500507