Five Miles Away, A World Apart: One City, Two Schools, and the Story of Educational Opportunity in Modern AmericaHow is it that, half a century after Brown v. Board of Education, educational opportunities remain so unequal for black and white students, not to mention poor and wealthy ones?In his important new book, Five Miles Away, A World Apart, James E. Ryan answers this question by tracing the fortunes of two schools in Richmond, Virginia--one in the city and the other in the suburbs. Ryan shows how court rulings in the 1970s, limiting the scope of desegregation, laid the groundwork for the sharp disparities between urban and suburban public schools that persist to this day. The Supreme Court, in accord with the wishes of the Nixon administration, allowed the suburbs to lock nonresidents out of their school systems. City schools, whose student bodies were becoming increasingly poor and black, simply received more funding, a measure that has proven largely ineffective, while the independence (and superiority) of suburban schools remained sacrosanct. Weaving together court opinions, social science research, and compelling interviews with students, teachers, and principals, Ryan explains why all the major education reforms since the 1970s--including school finance litigation, school choice, and the No Child Left Behind Act--have failed to bridge the gap between urban and suburban schools and have unintentionally entrenched segregation by race and class. As long as that segregation continues, Ryan forcefully argues, so too will educational inequality. Ryan closes by suggesting innovative ways to promote school integration, which would take advantage of unprecedented demographic shifts and an embrace of diversity among young adults.Exhaustively researched and elegantly written by one of the nation's leading education law scholars, Five Miles Away, A World Apart ties together, like no other book, a half-century's worth of education law and politics into a coherent, if disturbing, whole. It will be of interest to anyone who has ever wondered why our schools are so unequal and whether there is anything to be done about it. |
Contents
Introduction Freeman and TeeJay | 1 |
Past School Desegregation and Middle America | 19 |
Present Save the Cities Spare the Suburbs | 119 |
Future Demography Is Opportunity | 269 |
Freeman and TeeJay Revisited | 305 |
Notes | 309 |
| 347 | |
| 371 | |
Other editions - View all
Five Miles Away, A World Apart: One City, Two Schools, and the Story of ... James E. Ryan Limited preview - 2010 |
Five Miles Away, A World Apart: One City, Two Schools, and the Story of ... James E. Ryan Limited preview - 2010 |
Five Miles Away, A World Apart: One City, Two Schools, and the Story of ... James E. Ryan No preview available - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
academic achievement addition American areas argued attend believe Brown busing charter schools clear constitutional continued County create decision described desegregation discussed diverse effect enrollment equal especially example existing families federal Freeman Freeman High School funding given goal Henrico High School housing important improve increased integration issue Judge Justice least legislative less limited lines litigation majority metropolitan middle-class middle-income Milliken minority neighborhood offered officials opportunity parents percent plaintiffs plans political poor private schools programs public schools question race racial rates reason receive reform remain reported Richmond Richmond School Ryan School Board school choice school districts school finance seems segregation separate socioeconomic spending standards studies suburban suburban schools suburbs success suggest Supreme Court teachers Tee-Jay test scores tion urban schools Virginia voucher