Dive Brief:
- Bricolage Academy, a charter school in New Orleans that currently serves students in kindergarten through third grade, has had to fight to retain diversity that reflects the wider district because of popularity among wealthier, white families who are actually in the minority in the public schools.
- The Hechinger Report writes 37% of Bricolage students are black and 41% are considered economically disadvantaged, while 82% of public school students fit each category, which has prompted administrators to get permission to weight the school’s lottery system, setting aside one-third of its seats for students whose families qualify for food stamps or Medicaid.
- White families have so far clamored for relatively small class sizes and progressive pedagogy that prizes creativity and student autonomy, and a mission that emphasizes diversity places Bricolage in a new generation of charters explicitly fighting segregation, but not everyone is convinced new schools are the way to solve this when increasing diversity in existing buildings could be more effective.
Dive Insight:
The problem with opening new schools and planning for diverse student populations from the beginning is not in the goal, but in the pace at which it can impact an entire school system. If integration is believed to be a way to increase outcomes for all students, which many argue, creating a more systemic solution can be more efficient.
Many districts around the country have used magnet and other specialized programs to try to attract new families into a homogenous school community. Programs with widespread appeal, including those focused on science, technology, engineering and math or dual language, tend to diversify existing schools relatively quickly. The problem in this scenario, however, as with neighborhood gentrification, is that the original school population can get displaced from high-quality programs because of new arrivals.