21st-Century School Integration in New York City: New Paradigms, Promising Practices, and Familiar Obstacles in the Nation's Largest District

Abstract

In 2019, the New York City mayor–appointed School Diversity Advisory Group released two separate sets of recommendations to the Department of Education (DOE) on how to integrate its schools. The first set addressed the conditions necessary for integration to take root and was adopted by the DOE in June 2019. The second set addressed enrollment policies and special programs. It was released in August 2019 for consideration by the DOE. This residency, based in the Chancellor’s Office of the New York City DOE, involved two primary tasks: coordinating cross-agency implementation of the recommendations that were adopted, and creating a process and a strategy to advance policy objectives from the recommendations under consideration. This capstone is a critical analysis of these efforts with implications for large-scale racial and socioeconomic school integration efforts in urban school districts. The findings paint a nuanced picture of progress during the 2019–2020 school year. First, recommendations that were narrowly focused in one to two offices, had clear mandates, or overlapped with existing priorities, generally were successfully implemented. In contrast, recommendations that were broadly cross-divisional or open to interpretation generally made limited early progress. The analysis suggests that hierarchy, siloed divisions, and competing priorities impeded the implementation of complex recommendations, although enlisting senior leadership eventually accelerated the implementation of some of these recommendations. Second, the analysis shows that the public reception of the second report, especially its portrayal in the media, and the political reaction to the public reception created significant obstacles for advancing policy changes that would lead to more diverse schools. This led the DOE to reconsider strategy, timing, and community input, delaying substantive reform of enrollment policy beyond 2019–2020. The implication for school districts attempting to integrate is that successful school integration requires both internal and external strategies, undergirded by an expansive vision of school integration. The external strategy should involve (a) having a clear, strategic, and persuasive public narrative that frames the value proposition of integrated schools as a boon to student achievement; and (b) cultivating support and legitimacy by the media, the public, and politicians. The internal strategy should involve (a) having innovative solutions to ingrained organizational practices, such as student placement; (b) deliberately creating novel structures for work; and (c) deploying targeted resources for transformative change.