Suburban Multiracial Transformation in a Policy Vacuum

Suburban Multiracial Transformation in a Policy Vacuum:

Denial, Resegregation or New Civil Rights Strategies?

        
America is a primarily suburban society and suburbs are on the frontier of rapid racial and socioeconomic change. While increasing numbers of African Americans and Latino families have been migrating to the suburbs, we know little about how suburban school systems are responding to this increasing diversity.  Already, over half of minority students in large metropolitan areas now attend suburban schools (Orfield & Frankenberg, 2008), and there are more poor people living in suburbs than in cities (Berube & Kneebone, 2006).  Even though this migration has been going on for decades, there is little research and few analytical frameworks available to understand the complex social, political and institutional context of demographic change and factors predicting responses to that change by suburban school systems. Dated models drawn half a century ago from biracial cities don’t tell us how suburban areas can enhance our understanding of race and education.  As racial transformation of the suburbs continue, it is important to understand how these demographic shifts affect the opportunities of low-income students and students of color in suburban communities, some of which may have limited political and institutional resources to serve these students.
 
These presentations highlight some key factors that seem to explain how and why suburban districts seem to be adopting particular responses to growing racial and economic diversity. The session:  (1) described the racial and economic shifts in suburban communities and districts; (2) illuminated public policy issues facing suburban school districts and their capacity to respond to an increasingly diverse school population; and (3) examined how different factors (e.g., metropolitan location, desegregation history, size, tax base) play into the analysis of suburban response. The four papers in this session, which each address an aspect of these issues, provide researchers, practitioners, and policymakers analytical tools to understand the implications of suburban change on the schools.  Together these papers propose an evolving typology of suburban districts as well as a typology of response.

Presenters:

Chair: Gary A. Orfield

Erica Frankenberg:

Understanding Suburban School District Transformation: A Typology of Suburban Districts

Jennifer Jellison Holme, Sarah Lauren Diem, Anjale DeVawn Welton:

Suburban Change and the Power of Place: Demographic Change in a Suburban San Antonio District

Suburban Diversification in Hillsborough County Public Schools, Florida: Resistance and Community Identity

Elizabeth H. Debray, Ain Grooms:

High Civic Capacity, Low Demand for Integration: Rapid Demographic Transition in a Southern School System