05-12-2004

Matt Maurer or Shep Ranbom

202-955-9450

Civil Rights Group Pushes for "Vigorous Enforcement" of School Choice Provision, Calls for More for Inter-District School Choice

 WASHINGTON, DC — On the eve of 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, a clause that provides transfer opportunities under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is creating new opportunities for minority and poor children, despite resistance and lack of compliance by many states and school districts, according to a study released today by the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights.

The Commission found that the school transfer option is more widely used than previously reported, and while almost 70,000 students included in their survey exercised transfer options this year, the number of requests for transfers is significantly higher than the number of acceptances.

Although the program is still too new to have produced definitive academic gains, the Commission expressed confidence that next year's results would reflect such progress. William L. Taylor, Chair of the Commission, noted that major congressionally mandated studies conducted over the years have demonstrated that poor children perform far better in middle-class environments than in racially and economically isolated schools. "An extraordinary number of parents are seeking transfers," he said, "and they are doing so because they know the new schools will provide a better opportunity for success."

Under the education law, parents have the right to transfer their children out of schools that are designated "in need of improvement" to other public schools that are performing better. The Citizens' Commission's 130-page report, Choosing Better Schools: A Report on Student Transfers Under the No Child Left Behind Act, presents a detailed study of districts and states' implementation of the school choice provision. Researchers collected and analyzed transfer data from 47 states and 137 school districts to determine what effect the law has had on student transfers, how school districts are enforcing and implementing the provision, and the level of parental interest in the provision.

 In two states, Connecticut and Utah, and 16 different districts included in the study, over 90 percent of transferring students were from low-income families. These districts include Long Beach and Oakland, Calif., Hartford, Conn., Hillsborough County, Fla., Jefferson and Orleans Parishes, La., Atlantic City, N.J., Pittsburgh, Pa., Providence, R.I., and Kanawha County, W. Va. (see page 48 of report).

Among the report's other key findings:

• Parents express strong interest in selecting better-performing public schools for their children to attend. In fact, based on the number of requests for NCLB transfers, the report reveals that parental interest in finding better schools for their children is significantly higher than the number of acceptances.
  
  
• The school transfer option is being used much more widely than generally has been reported. The Commission was able to confirm that almost 70,000 students included in their survey exercised their NCLB school choice right in the current school year. The Commission believes this number is likely much higher, considering the number of gaps in the data and inadequate and inconsistent reporting requirements
  
  
• NCLB school choice is helping to promote racial and economic diversity in a significant number of school districts. Among the places where NCLB transfers have had a desegregative effect are Alabama and South Carolina, "places that were once highly resistant to Brown v. Board of Education," according to Taylor.
  
  
• State and district implementation of NCLB school choice requirements is uneven. The Commission identified districts where 100 percent of eligible parents who applied were approved for transfers to better schools. These districts include: Anchorage, Alaska; Huntsville and Mobile, Ala.; Palm Beach and Miami-Dade, Fla.; Jefferson Parish and East Baton Rouge, La.; Frederick and Baltimore Counties, Md.; Portland, Ore.; Greenville, S.C.; Hamilton County (Chattanooga), Tenn.; Tacoma, Wash.; and Wood County, W.V. The Commission also identified other districts where no parent requests were accepted, including: Detroit, Mich. and Paterson, N.J.

The report also found a number of factors limiting participation in the school choice program. One major obstacle is the lack of high-performing schools within some districts. According to the report, districts with high-performing schools rarely accept NCLB transfer students from neighboring school districts. To address the issue, the Commission urged Congress to strengthen NCLB by requiring mandatory inter-district public school choice.

Other problems include: failure of school officials to notify parents of their right to transfer in timely manner before the beginning of the school year, failure to provide adequate and clear information about transfer opportunities to families, and some opposition to NCLB among school officials.

To better serve parents and students and improve the school choice provision of NCLB, the Commission's report makes a detailed set of recommendations for federal, state and local school officials, parent and community groups, and called for future amendments to NCLB. It also asked that the U.S. Department of Education collect more data from states and districts on requests and denials. The report also proposes that the Department fund inter-district choice demonstration projects in selected communities.

"We're finding many parents who do not want their children locked into substandard schools simply because they cannot afford to move to more affluent neighborhoods," said Dianne Piché, Executive Director of the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights. "Failing to provide information and options to students wishing to transfer out of low-performing schools violates the spirit and intent of the law." Piché added, "many districts clearly are out of compliance."

Mr. Taylor, who also serves as the Vice Chair of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, noted that a coalition of civil rights organizations had strongly supported inclusion of public school choice in the NCLB act and want to see it carried out for the benefit of poor and minority children. Taylor emphasized "the transfer provisions are part of a larger set of measures designed to promote high standards and accountability for schools and, ultimately, better opportunity to learn for students." He also called on the Bush Administration and the Congress to fully fund Title I and on states to close resource gaps between rich and poor districts and for better enforcement of the teacher quality provisions so that schools in need of improvement "can turn around and actually make the progress called for under the law."

Download the full report here.