Despite the desegregation of public schools begun half a century ago, steps are still needed to provide a better education for minority students, particularly in high-poverty schools, said John Jackson of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) during his presentation. Fifty years after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision mandating the desegregation of public schools across the United States, many poor, black students are still caught in a cycle of low achievement.
John Jackson
Schools too often show a "soft bigotry" characterized by low expectations, said Jackson, national director of education for the NAACP. When low-achieving students are given low-level assignments, they tend to perform poorly on standardized tests. Those test results lead teachers to once again give the students low-level assignments, and the cycle continues. In addition, he said, high-poverty schools often tend to get less-qualified teachers—for example, those working out of their certification area.
One step that is needed to help better educate students living in poverty is to fully fund the Title 1 program, Jackson stated.
While outlining the history of the Brown v. Board of Education decision and highlighting the great legal minds that worked for desegregation, Jackson noted that the decision is also the legacy of caring parents. "When we talk about Brown v. Board of Education, we're not just talking about attorneys," he said. "We're talking about parents who made the decision to stand up for their children."
