The New Politics of Diversity: Lessons From a Federal Technical Assistance Grant
Abstract
In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education distributed $2,500,000 via a competitive grant program, the Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans, to 11 school districts. The grants and their local effects provide an opportunity to examine the new politics of diversity in public education. Participants cited a wide range of conceptions of diversity, most of which were race-neutral. Some districts enacted policies deemphasizing their original diversity goals. Even in Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans (TASAP) districts, whose leaders presumably value diversity, diversity was not always a compelling goal when competing with priorities such as fiscal austerity, school improvement, and neighborhood school demands. Future federal efforts to increase students’ exposure to diverse peers should recognize that local conditions might create contrary political pressures for local policymakers.
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Biographies
Erica Frankenberg is an assistant professor in the Department of Education Policy Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, 200 Rackley Building, University Park, PA 168802; e-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests focus on racial desegregation and inequality in K–12 schools and the connections between school segregation and other metropolitan policies. Recent book publications include Educational Delusions? Why Choice Can Deepen Inequality and How to Make Schools Fair (with Gary Orfield), The Resegregation of Suburban Schools: A Hidden Crisis in American Education (with Gary Orfield), and Integrating Schools in a Changing Society: New Policies and Legal Options for a Multiracial Generation (with Elizabeth DeBray).
Kathryn A. McDermott is associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, She is a political scientist who studies the connections between education policy and equity. Most commonly, she uses qualitative and case-study methodology. She is the author of Controlling Public Education: Localism Versus Equity (University Press of Kansas, 1999) and High Stakes Reform: The Politics of Educational Accountability (Georgetown University Press, 2011).
Elizabeth DeBray is a professor in the Department of Lifelong Education, Administration & Policy in the College of Education, University of Georgia. She received her EdD from Harvard University. Her research interests are the politics of federal education policy, policy implementation, and interest group politics. Most recently, she has been studying the role of intermediary organizations in disseminating research and information to policymakers about incentivist K–12 educational policies.
Ann Elizabeth Blankenship is an assistant professor of education law and policy in The University of Southern Mississippi’s Department of Educational Leadership and School Counseling. Her research focuses on teacher employment law and equality of educational opportunity in P–12 public schools.
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Article first published online: June 1, 2015
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