Over 60 years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education, reports show that schools have become more racially and economically segregated over the past 15 years. Even in Oakland, where diversity is a source of civic pride, schools often fail to reflect the city’s ethnic and economic mix. Fewer than 10% of students in Oakland public schools are white, yet they are a majority of the student population at a handful of the city’s schools. One expert says the segregation of black and Latinos students in Oakland is “severe.” We’ll talk to the Oakland Unified School District superintendent and others about why integrating the city’s schools has been such a challenge.
More from KQED News:
- Two Moms Choose Between Separate and Unequal Schools in Oakland
- Oakland Prides Itself on Being Diverse — Until It Comes Time to Send Kids to School
- Gentrification Threatens Oakland’s Few Truly Diverse Schools
More Information:
Brown at 62: School Segregation by Race, Poverty and State (PDF of UCLA report)