Collaborative Research: School Segregation and Resegregation: Using Case Studies and Public Polls to Understand Citizen Attitudes

为什么有些学区能够维持学校废除种族隔离，而其他学区却不能？虽然社会科学家一直在积极研究学校种族构成对学生成绩的影响，但相对被忽视的是，导致学区隔离本身的社会因素中包含了学区之间的差异。通过五个案例研究和民意调查，研究小组将研究公民特征与他们支持（或不支持）学校废除种族隔离的态度和价值观之间的关系。本研究增加了五个战略选择的案例研究的价值，包括威克县，北卡罗来纳州（罗利）；田纳西州戴维森县（纳什维尔）；杰斐逊县，肯塔基州（路易斯维尔）；夏洛特-梅克伦堡，北卡罗来纳州和罗克希尔，南卡罗来纳州通过在每个地点进行民意调查，其中民意调查包含大多数跨站点的常见问题。这些民意调查将揭示成年人态度的异同，从而追踪到这些地区废除种族隔离学校持续时间的差异。研究结果在制定政策方面对其他学区具有启示意义，这些政策将更好地支持学生的社会经济混合，从而通过促进教育成就和社会向上流动来增强多样性，特别是对于有风险的学生。一些学区多年来坚持废除种族隔离，而另一些学区则没有。现有的研究主要是基于案例研究。案例研究具有有限的外部有效性，并且通常在方法上是异质的，因为研究人员构建问题和引用理论的方式不同。从深度访谈、参与性观察和文献分析中获得的数据很少与学区成年人口的理论调查数据进行三角分析。这些态度和价值观在解释地区目前的学校分配政策和告知未来的政策方面起着重要的作用。本研究通过使用共同的理论视角，并通过交互式语音应答（Interactive Voice Response）和手机样本，在五个学区进行问卷调查，解决了现有社会科学文献中关于废除种族隔离的空白。这项研究将产生至少5000名成年受访者的民意调查数据。分析将(1)将每个民意调查嵌入到每个案例的现有定性数据中；(2)利用调查数据分析不同地点在价值观和态度上的共性和差异。

Why are some school districts able to sustain school desegregation while others are not? Although social scientists have been active in studying the effects of school racial composition on student achievement, relatively neglected is the inclusion of variation among districts in the social factors that lead to school district segregation itself. Using five case studies and public opinion polls, the research team will study the relationship between citizen characteristics and their attitudes and values supporting (or failing to support) school desegregation. This study increases the value of five strategically chosen case studies including those of Wake County, NC (Raleigh); Davidson County, TN (Nashville); Jefferson County, KY (Louisville); Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC and Rock Hill, SC by fielding an opinion poll in each location, where the polls contain mostly common questions across sites. These polls will reveal similarities and differences in adult attitudes that track to differences in how long these districts have sustained desegregated schools. Study findings have implications for other school districts beyond the five studied here in terms of formulating policy that will better support socioeconomic mixing of students, which enhances diversity by promoting educational attainment and upward mobility in society, especially for at-risk students. Some school districts sustain desegregation over many years while others do not. Existing research is largely based on case studies. Case studies have limited external validity and are often heterogeneous in approach because researchers frame questions and invoke theory differently. The data obtained from in-depth interviews, participant observation, and document analyses are rarely triangulated with data from theoretically-driven surveys of the school district's adult population. These attitudes and values play an important part in explaining districts' current school assignment policies and inform future policies as well. This study addresses gaps in existing social science literature on desegregation by using a common theoretical perspective and fielding a largely common questionnaire via Interactive Voice Response, supplemented by cell phone samples, across five school districts. The research will produce poll data on a minimum of 5000 adult respondents. Analysis will (1) embed each poll within the existing qualitative data on each case; and (2) use the poll data to analyze both commonalities and differences in values and attitudes across sites.