Enrolling a diverse group of students is only the first step in the creation of an integrated learning environment. In order to harness the full set of academic, social, and civic benefits that racially and economically mixed settings have been shown to offer, schools with diverse student bodies should also have integrated classrooms. Even at schools with diverse enrollment, though, this is not always the case: academic tracking can create situations in which students are siloed along lines of race and class.
In this video, experts on school integration, including TCF researchers as well as leaders and teachers from diverse public schools, discuss ways that educators can reduce segregation among classrooms within a school, avoid tracking, and explore new ways to meet the needs of all students within integrated settings.
The strategies described in this video are presented in more detail in a toolkit for educators, “Integrating Classrooms and Reducing Academic Tracking,” which is part of a series on strategies for creating successful diverse schools that includes two other toolkits: “Fostering Intergroup Contact in Diverse Schools” and “Recruiting and Enrolling a Diverse Student Body in Public Choice Schools.”
Strategies for Promoting Integrated Classrooms within a School
Enrolling a diverse group of students is only the first step in the creation of an integrated learning environment. In order to harness the full set of academic, social, and civic benefits that racially and economically mixed settings have been shown to offer, schools with diverse student bodies should also have integrated classrooms. Even at schools with diverse enrollment, though, this is not always the case: academic tracking can create situations in which students are siloed along lines of race and class.
In this video, experts on school integration, including TCF researchers as well as leaders and teachers from diverse public schools, discuss ways that educators can reduce segregation among classrooms within a school, avoid tracking, and explore new ways to meet the needs of all students within integrated settings.
The strategies described in this video are presented in more detail in a toolkit for educators, “Integrating Classrooms and Reducing Academic Tracking,” which is part of a series on strategies for creating successful diverse schools that includes two other toolkits: “Fostering Intergroup Contact in Diverse Schools” and “Recruiting and Enrolling a Diverse Student Body in Public Choice Schools.”