Schools

Reports Detail Racial Segregation in N.J. Public Schools

Rutgers-Newark and UCLA studies cite stark disparities and even 'apartheid' in education system

by John Mooney, NJSpotlight.com

Provocative titles: “New Jersey’s Dysfunctional State Education System: Apartheid and Intensely Segregated Schools as an Important Cause” and “A Status Quo of Segregation: Racial and Economic Imbalance in New Jersey Schools, 1989-2010”

The authors: The reports were released jointly on Friday by the Institute of Law and Policy at Rutgers-Newark and the Civil Rights Project at University of California, Los Angeles. The first report was written by Paul Tractenberg of Rutgers and Gary Orfield and Greg Flaxman of UCLA. Flaxman was lead author of the second report.

What they are: The studies update and detail the long-running picture of race in New Jersey schools, which continues to have some of the most segregated schools in the nation. The Civil Rights Project report tracks data since 1989 to show little change, even as the general population has grown more diverse. The Rutgers report details how the most segregated schools are in the urban centers, sometimes within a stone’s throw of suburban schools where there are few black or Hispanic students. Both reports make specific recommendations, including a new focus on desegregation models that succeed.

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NJ Spotlight is an issue-driven news website that provides critical insight to New Jersey’s communities and businesses. It is non-partisan, independent, policy-centered and community-minded.

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