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American Morning
Wealth Integration in Schools
Aired September 02, 2002 - 07:56 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: We don't have to tell most parents this: School is open again. Most public school students, who aren't already back in class, will be there starting tomorrow.
While many public schools are still facing problems in terms of performance, there is a new approach to fixing under-achieving schools. Call it "wealth integration." It's showing positive results in some cases, but not everybody is happy about it.
Here is Kathy Slobogin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Curb every part of your body, and freeze, hold your...
KATHY SLOBOGIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Now, this is the way to learn geometry. These first graders are learning about circles and straight lines through movement.
It's part of an arts-oriented magnet school in Wake County, North Carolina. But it's also an ambitious attempt to solve the problem that has stymied reformers for decades.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the python's behavior, Terry (ph)?
SLOBOGIN: Douglas Elementary was slipping into the fate of many urban schools, middle-class children were leaving, and the percentage of low-income students was rising.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, ready?
SLOBOGIN: That changed two years ago with the new magnet curriculum, which attracted more middle-class students.
Douglas is an example of what experts call "wealth integration," rather than "race integration." The idea is, instead of pouring money into broken schools, bring in the middle class.
(on camera): Wake County wants no school to be more than 40 percent low income, a tipping point where needy children can overwhelm the school, and teachers start to leave. But to get there, officials have to move some families, involuntarily, from their neighborhood school.
LYDIA JENSEN, APEX SCHOOL PARENT: When the reassignment occurred, it was like being ripped out of your family. SLOBOGIN (voice-over): Lydia Jenson's son was one of about 60 children in suburban Apex, who were reassigned to another school with too many low-income children.
JENSEN: People are angry that children are being used for social engineering.
SLOBOGIN: Numerous studies show the performance of low-income students goes up when you bring in the middle class.
WILLIAM MCNEAL, SUPERINTENDENT, WAKE COUNTY: It works in Wake County
SLOBOGIN: Superintendent William McNeal says student performance in Wake County is at an historic high, especially that of the hardest- to-reach kids.
MCNEAL: African-American students have broken 80 percent at or above grade level. We have special education students, 80 percent at or above grade level. We have Hispanic students, 80 percent at or above grade level. Yes, it's working.
SLOBOGIN (on camera): Do low-income children bring down the achievement of more affluent children?
MCNEAL: The research says that it does not.
SLOBOGIN (voice-over): But tell that to Lydia Jensen and the other parents of Apex. Told their children were being sent to a school with lower test scores, they were outraged.
JENSEN: And the big question raised to us was: How is going to affect my child? It certainly isn't a better place than where he is coming from.
SLOBOGIN: Jensen and other parents mounted a campaign to stop the reassignment. Last March, the school board backed down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That will be delayed.
SLOBOGIN (on camera): You won. Is it over?
JENSEN: No, because we only have a one-year reprieve. They may come back for us next year.
SLOBOGIN (voice-over): McNeal says he uses forced reassignment as a last resort, but he will use it if necessary.
MCNEAL: If everyone decides to go to their neighborhood schools, then we're talking a completely segregated district. Is that where we want to go as a community? It's not where I want to go. I lived it. I know about it. We have a responsibility. There are no throw-away children. We have to educate all of them.
SLOBOGIN: Other school districts around the country are watching closely to see if he succeeds. Kathy Slobogin, CNN, Wake County, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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