SD Resources Roundup: Equity Maps, Toolkits, Events & More

Originally posted here at the School Desegregation Notebook.

I normally include resources and events/opportunities as part of the news roundup posts, but I’ve come across so much great stuff lately that I thought it makes sense to highlight these in a standalone post. As always, I hope you find something useful. And, feel free to use comments to let me know if I missed anything.

ProPublica Civil Rights Resources – As you may have seen, ProPublica recently reported that the DeVos DOE has “scuttled more than 1,200 civil rights probes inherited from Obama.” Consistent with the DOJ under Jeff Sessions, the DOE has walked away from its role as a defender of civil rights. I don’t have space to summarize the full story, but here’s a key excerpt:

• “Under Obama, 51 percent of cases that took more than 180 days culminated in findings of civil rights violations, or corrective changes. Under the Trump administration, that rate has dropped to 35 percent.”

ProPublica is stepping in here to provide more transparency and public accountability on this. Here are the associated resources:

• Civil Rights Investigation Database – This allows you (for the first time ever!) to search at the individual school level for any civil rights investigations conducted by the DOE over the last three years.
• Share your story – This is an online form that quickly allows you to share information about civil rights violations at schools. You can even upload documents if you want.

National Maps – Maps are almost always fascinating. I’ve come across three great ones recently:

• Racial Equity Here – A national database of racial equity actions that are organized by organization type (community, gov’t, philanthropy, business and education) and issue area (housing, education, civic engagement, to name a few). The website currently lists 342 racial equity commitments across the country and allows orgs to directly enter/upload any commitments that aren’t listed. It’s run by the Government Alliance for Race and Equity (GARE).
• Residential Segregation – At the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, Apartment List looks at residential segregation in the 50 largest metro areas in the country. It uses a “segregation index” which calculates the “the percentage of the minority group that would need to move to a different neighborhood in order for the distribution of minorities in each neighborhood to match that of the metro as a whole.” For each metro area, there is an overall segregation index as well as a segregation index for individual demographic groups. Lots of interesting and troubling stuff here, like this, for example: “Black populations are the most segregated minority group in all of the nation’s 25 largest metros except for Phoenix, where the Hispanic segregation index is highest.
• Grading the States: School Privatization Report Card – You’ve likely seen the state report cards from groups like ALEC, which rates states highly for things like “private school choice policies.” This first-of-its-kind report flips that on its head – grading states on their commitment to public education. Each state gets a letter grade for its charter policy, voucher policy and for its overall commitment to public schools. This is run by the Schott Foundation and the Network for Public Education, and these groups are hosting a webinar about this on Thursday of this week. And, at the IN School Matters blog, Steve Hinnefeld looks into Indiana’s F rating and outlines important recommendations from the report.

Equity Toolkits/Frameworks – These are educational resources for the topics listed here and everything can be downloaded for free at each highlighted website.

• Fair Housing Toolkit – This is from  Building the Beloved Community, who created a series of short primers on fair housing history and fair housing rights as well as lists of educational resources and suggestions for advocacy/engagement on fair housing.
• Equity-based Framework for Achieving Integrated Schooling – This is a guide for school or community-based leaders in designing meaningful integrated learning environments. It includes considerations for planning, school-based supports, and outcome measures, and it comes from the Intercultural Development Research Association, which has a lot of useful educational equity resources available at its website.

Events/Opportunities – Of course, for those who don’t know, Integrated Schools has opportunities available on its parent advisory board. In the interest of space, here are just a few other opportunities that I found interesting. I recommend checking the NCSD conference website for a more complete list of events.

• Massachusetts Racial Imbalance Advisory Council – For folks in MA, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has openings on its Racial Imbalance Advisory Council, which was established to monitor the state’s 1965 Racial Imbalance Act. They are asking for a resume and cover letter to be submitted by July 15th.
• The Future of the School Diversity Movement in DC and Beyond. This is a launch event to celebrate the creation of the Learn Together, Live Together non-profit (website & twitter) and, as it says in the name, to “learn more about how to get involved in the school diversity movement in Washington, DC and beyond.” Former Secretary of Education John B. King will be giving the keynote. It’s tonight, but I’m including it anyway because I’m excited that I’ll be able to attend. Will include thoughts/updates on twitter or in a future post.