Still Failing

Stephen J. Caldas has published many articles and books on school desegregation. He also publishes in the area of bilingual education. He currently teaches quantitative research methodology and education policy at Manhattanville College in New York.Carl L. Bankston III is an American sociologist and author. He is best known for his work on immigration to the United States, particularly on the adaptation of Vietnamese-American immigrants, and for his work on ethnicity, social capital, sociology of religion, and the sociology of eduction.

• ContentsChapter 1 — School Desegregation: Irrelevant Public Policy?The Continuing Racial and Socioeconomic Segregation of American SchoolsResegregation by the NumbersFailure of Will or Failure of Command and Control?Redistributing Children’s “Social Capital”The Fallacy of “Diversity”Unintended ConsequencesA Noble, Misguided VisionBlinders of Moral CommitmentChapter 2 — How Did We Get Here?The Long Legal RoadThe Genesis of Civil RightsThe Paradox of Slavery in Free Market SocietyReconstruction and the Origins of “Affirmative” Protection of Group RightsRetreat from Reconstruction and the Protection of Group RightsPlessy v. Ferguson and “Separate but Equal”The Era of Jim Crow and American “Apartheid”Black Grass Roots Resistance to “Separate but Equal”The Earthquake of Brown IGrass Roots Civil Rights StruggleA Return to ReconstructionThe Desegregation Battle IntensifiesA Sea Change of Civil RightsFreedom of Choice“Affirmative” ActionMaximum Federal InvolvementChapter 3—Desegregation Expansion—and LimitsSetting LimitsUnitary Status and the End of OversightThe Diversity Doctrine and Supreme Court SchizophreniaThe Future of Desegregation LitigationChapter 4 — The Demographic Transformation of AmericaA Changing SocietyFamily StructureDemographic Change: New Student PopulationsHispanic ExplosionThe Asian AdvantageThe Problem of PovertyDemographics and School DesegregationChapter 5 – It takes “a certain” Kind of Village to Raise a ChildWhat is Social Capital?Families, Schools and Communities: Social Capital and School EnvironmentsSocial Capital in Child and Parent InteractionsSocial Capital in Parent-to-Parent InteractionsSocial Capital in Parent and School InteractionsSocial Capital in Student-to-Student InteractionsThe Power of School Peer CulturesChapter 6 – The Power of School Peers and the Power of CommunityThe Positive Power of PeersDisruptive School ClimatesSchools and the Creation of Community Social CapitalDesegregation and the Destruction of Community Social CapitalUnderstanding the Importance of CommunityChapter 7 — School Desegregation and the Racial Achievement GapA Controversial TopicIs There Really a Gap?The SAT/ACT GapThe High School GapThe Higher Ed GapWhy the Continuing Gap?The Origins of the Black-White GapHistory of Racial Oppression as Cause of the Black/White Achievement GapEnvironmental Hazards and Educational AchievementSchool CurriculumStereotype ThreatWhy the Need for School Racial Integration?Do Blacks Achieve Better in Majority White Schools?Is White Achievement Hurt in Majority Black Schools?Are Standardized Tests Culturally Biased Against Minorities?The Stubborn GapHow Can We Close the Gap?Chapter 8 — A New Perspective of Race and Schooling: Attaining the DreamNew ParadigmsResistanceSocioeconomic IntegrationStrategies that WorkNeighborhood SchoolsStrengthening CommunitiesPublic Support for Public EducationLocal Control in Minority CommunitiesApproach Reforms with Caution and Limited ExpectationsLet Schools Be Schools

Still Failing reveals America’s daunting reality of the persistent racial gap in academic achievement despite decades of judicial actions on school desegregation. Critical of top-down social engineering, the authors offer an alternative account to explain why desegregation still fails to meet its intended goal, guiding readers toward a better understanding of how race, class, and social networks influence educational outcomes and help them envision a more realistic approach to equal access to educational opportunities.