Book Review of “Children of the Dream: Why School Integration Works”

Finding Integrated Schools? Latino Families Settle in Diverse Suburbs, 2000–2015

“…Significantly, suburban districts that enjoyed rising instructional spending per pupil show declining exposure scores. This may stem from progressive gains in school finance in districts with higher shares of disadvantaged students (Johnson 2019). Overall, these estimation models account for about half the within-district variance in change in exposure scores and four-fifths of between-district variance.…”

“…Suburban districts received higher revenues per pupil ($13,079), totaling all government sources, than city districts ($12,670) in 2015. The gain in revenue per pupil for suburban districts equaled 57 percent between 2000 and 2015, perhaps due to finance reforms yielding additional state revenues exceeding the 37 percent rise in the consumer price index (Johnson 2019). Instructional spending per pupil was 7.3 percent higher in suburban districts for 2015 relative to city districts.…”

“…Many Latino parents migrate to suburban areas with this expectation in mind. We know that poor children benefit when learning within integrated classrooms (for cognitive facets of achievement), mostly based on the African American experience (Cook 1984;Johnson 2019). Disparities in Latino children's oral language and preliteracy skills emerge early in life, yet these disparities can be narrowed by quality pre-K and elementary schools (Fuller et al 2015;Reardon and Galindo 2009).…”

“…We then review trends in Latino segregation found in urban and suburban schools, emphasizing how the organiza-s u b u r b a n i n e q u a l i t y r s f : t h e r u s s e l l s a g e f o u n d a t i o n j o u r n a l o f t h e s o c i a l s c i e n c e s 3. This implies a racially arranged distribution of resources, such as experienced teachers and stronger education funding (Johnson 2019;Rotberg 2020). 4.…”

Demographic Change and School Attendance Zone Boundary Changes: Montgomery County, Maryland, and Fairfax County, Virginia, Between 1990 and 2010

“…Segregated schools typically have fewer resources and are associated with lower student outcomes in terms of verbal and math achievement scores, educational attainment, and racial isolation later in life (Vigdor and Ludwig 2007;Reardon et al 2019;Goldsmith 2009;Stearns 2010;Borman and Dowling 2010;Hanushek, Kain, and Rivkin 2009). Students who attend racially integrated schools have better long-term academic and social outcomes-including higher high school graduation rates, better college completion rates, higher earnings in adulthood particularly for African American students, and, for students of all races, more cross-racial friendships that are associated with long-term social and psychological benefits (Johnson 2019;Mickelson and Nkomo 2012;Pettigrew and Tropp 2008). Merely putting racially or economically diverse students in the same building is not enough to achieve integrated, equitable schools, however, as minoritized children have mixed experiences in white dominated school spaces due to within-school policies and practices that reinforce racial inequality (Lewis and Diamond 2015;Lewis-McCoy 2014).…”