NEWSWEEK POLL: School Segregation Far From Dead and Goal of Educational Equality 'As Elusive As Ever,'   NEW YORK, May 9, 2004 -- On the 50th anniversary of the landmark school desegregation decision Brown v. Board of Education, a report commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation has found that Brown, measured purely by its effects on the poor schoolchildren of color at its center, is "a disappointment-in many respects a failure."

Majority (59%) of Blacks Say It's Impossible to Provide Equal Educational Opportunities As Long As Children of Different Races Go to Separate Schools

The report, authored by Contributing Editor Ellis Cose, is excerpted in the May 17 issue of Newsweek. "A half century later, school segregation is far from dead and the goal of educational equality is as elusive as ever," writes Cose. "Since the early 1990s, despite the continued growth of integration in other sectors of society, black and Latino children are increasingly likely to find themselves in classes with few, if any, nonminority faces."

Indeed today, most blacks are no longer convinced their kids necessarily do better in integrated settings, writes Cose. According to an exclusive Newsweek Poll, some 57 percent of black parents say the schools' racial mixture makes no difference, significantly more than the 41 percent who said that in a 1988 Newsweek Poll. But they also know resource allocation is not colorblind. Hence, 59 percent of blacks, 52 percent of Hispanics and 49 percent of whites agree that it will be impossible to provide equal educational opportunities for all "as long as children of different races in this country basically go to different schools."

And while most white and Hispanic Americans (59 percent for each group) think their community schools are doing a good or excellent job, only 45 percent of blacks feel that way, according to the Poll. "That is up considerably from the 31 percent who thought their schools were performing well in 1998, but it means a lot of people are still unhappy with the deck of skills being dealt to black kids," writes Cose, who on May 16 will moderate a townhall meeting and panel discussion reflecting upon Brown's legacy, its influence on the current educational climate and its future implications at Harlem's historic Apollo Theater.

Cose writes that 50 years after the court case that changed America, another battle is upon us. "It may in some ways be the second phase of Brown: a continuation by other means of the battle for access to a decent education by those whom fortune left behind." Cose writes that a major shift in tactics among those fighting for the educational rights of poor people is underway, with emphasis shifting from "equity" to "adequacy." "Now the cases are about whether states are providing sufficient resources to poor schools to allow the students who attend them to effectively compete in society," he writes. They are called "adequacy" cases, and they aspire to force states to produce graduates capable of functioning competently as citizens and as educated human beings."

"The shift in strategy stems, in part, from the Supreme Court's making equity cases more difficult to win but leaving the door open to adequacy claims," writes Cose. "In a seminal moment for this new movement, the Kentucky Supreme Court decided in 1989 that students in Kentucky had a right to a much better education than they were receiving. In response, the legislature totally overhauled the state's educational system."

"Elsewhere, legislative reforms-so far-have been less dramatic as politicians have fought efforts to mandate spending increases. But in several states, including New York, judges are looking on adequacy suits with favor. Indeed, last week a group of high-profile businessmen called on New York politicians to heed the call for more and smarter education funding. The notion that schools ought to invest more in those whose need is greatest goes against American tradition, but it seems an idea whose time is coming."

In the last several years, writes Cose, voucher programs have also sprouted in a number of states. "Certainly there is evidence that voucher programs can help some students," writes Cose. "And most people view vouchers in a positive light." Some 66 percent of blacks and 67 percent of Hispanics favor vouchers, as do 54 percent of whites, according to the Newsweek Poll. "But most people understand quite clearly that in the real world they are not likely to get a voucher that will allow them to send a child to any school of their dreams," writes Cose. "So it is not inconsistent that a majority of Americans favor increasing funding for public education over providing parents with vouchers. Nor it is surprising that blacks, even more than whites, strongly support funding for public schools."

Though it may come as a surprise to some, testing is particularly popular with the black and Latino public, writes Cose. Blacks (83 percent) and Hispanics (91 percent) are much more likely than whites (73 percent) to believe that it is important or very important to use "standardized tests to raise academic standards and student achievement." "My guess is that the numbers measure support more for the idea of testing than for the reality of what testing has become," writes Cose. "The idea-that ability can be recognized and developed, that deficiencies can be diagnosed and remedied-is impossible to argue with. It is far from clear at this junction that that is what is happening."

In too many ways, when it comes to children of color, we continue to ask the wrong questions, writes Cose. "We poke and probe and test those kids as we wrinkle our brows and ask, with requisite concern, "Why are you such a problem? What special programs do you need?" when we should be asking, "What have we not given to you that we routinely give to upper-middle-class white kids? What do they have that you don't?"" The answer, writes Cose, is simple. "They have a society that grants them the presumption of competence and the expectation of success; they have an environment that nurtures aspiration, peers who provide support and guardians who provide direction. If we are serious about realizing the promise of Brown, about decently educating those who begin with the least, we will have to ponder deeply how to deliver those things where they are desperately needed."

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