Year: 1994
Type: article
Abstract: Magnet schools-schools offering a special curriculum and capable of attracting students of different racial backgrounds-are often touted as one of the most effective desegregation tools available.How often racial segregation occurs within such schools, however, is rarely discussed.In a successfully desegregated school, we expect to see children of various races and ethnicities learning together in the same classroom.Yet, many supposedly desegregated magnet schools operate racially segregated classrooms.By definition, it is paradoxical to attach the label "desegregated' to a magnet school that operates segregated classrooms.Nevertheless, the commonly accepted definition of desegregation permits a magnet school with racially segregated classrooms to be deemed desegregated.This Note argues that courts assessing the desegregation effectiveness of magnet schools should evaluate the desegregation of classrooms as well as buildings.Part I, after describing magnet schools and their role in the desegregation of school systems, presents support for the claim that many magnet schools are rife with racially segregated classrooms.Racial segregation within partial-site 2 magnet schools is particularly damaging to the minority students who constitute the nonmagnet portion of the school, because it labels them as inferior to the white transfer students who constitute the bulk of the magnet students within the school.Part II explains how the methods developed by academics to evaluate desegregation plans have made it possible for magnet schools to operate separate classrooms for minority and white students, yet still be considered desegregated schools.Part IlI describes constitutional prohibitions against racial segregation within magnet schools, but notes that federal funding programs' for desegregation-oriented magnet schools do not explicitly require the Department of Education to consider how the magnet program will affect classroom racial composition.Part IV discusses the 2568
Source: The Yale Law Journal
DOI: 10.2307/797056
Author: Kimberly C. West
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2517544862