On Who Benefits From School Choice
In D.C., undertones of race and class are often part and parcel of debates over school reform. For instance, the role of wealth, privilege and power has been raised by parents in majority-black Ward 5 when all of that ward’s middle schools were shuttered. In a New York Times essay published today, D.C.-based journalist (and Ward 5 resident) Natalie Hopkinson offers her take on how school choice results in education inequities.
IF you want to see the direction that education reform is taking the country, pay a visit to my leafy, majority-black neighborhood in Washington. While we have lived in the same house since our 11-year-old son was born, he’s been assigned to three different elementary schools as one after the other has been shuttered. Now it’s time for middle school, and there’s been no neighborhood option available.
Meanwhile, across Rock Creek Park in a wealthy, majority-white community, there is a sparkling new neighborhood middle school, with rugby, fencing, an international baccalaureate curriculum and all the other amenities that make people pay top dollar to live there.
Read more at: www.nytimes.com
