The Wall Street Journal lauded the Clinton Public Schools for its integration model in November:
Nearly five decades ago, this town on Jackson’s outskirts decided to send students to schools organized by grade level, rather than geography.
So all of the kindergartners and first-graders would go to one school, all of the children in second and third grades would be at another, and so forth, all the way through 12th grade. The approach in Clinton was rolled out in 1971 to little fanfare.
Today, the 5,300-student Clinton Public School District is being held up by researchers and educators as a success—and a possible solution as the number of “intensely segregated” minority public schools increases throughout the U.S. The UCLA Civil Rights Project, a research center, defines “intensely segregated” minority schools as those made up of at least 90% of nonwhite students.
Research shows that minorities concentrated in high-poverty schools tend to have lower performance and fewer educational opportunities than those who attend schools in more-affluent areas.
The structure in the Clinton schools assures that public-school students learn alongside each other, regardless of race, economic status or where they live in town. According to state education data, the district has maintained diverse schools in an area of the country with a history of racial division.
Clinton’s student population is 54% black, 36% white, 6% Asian, 2% Hispanic and 2% other, with almost half of the students considered low-income.
The community has endured as a greater percentage of minority students in the U.S., especially poor ones, attend “intensely segregated” schools than they did decades ago, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal education data.
“In principle, one could do something like this in any district,” said Sean Reardon, professor of poverty and inequality in education at Stanford University. “Done right—with zones drawn to create diverse schools and with school cultures focused on creating real social and academic integration—it’s a promising model.”
Dr. Reardon found several other districts in the U.S. using a grade-level concept, most with enrollments under 5,000 and in different states.
Students in Clinton who start in kindergarten and go through high school will attend seven schools; most are one or two grade levels. A comparable public-school student elsewhere will attend three schools: elementary, middle and high school.
The concept presents challenges. If the district grows, Clinton Superintendent Tim Martin said, it will have to consider splitting schools that have two grades for manageability, requiring additional school buildings.
Some parents said the number of schools students attend was initially concerning, but the benefits outweigh the challenges.
“We do a lot of busing in Clinton, but it works,” said Sharon Alexander, a college administrator who is black with two children in the district. “The children only see schools, not low-income or upper-class.”
Nationwide, about 9.5 million minority students attended intensely segregated schools in 2018, representing 18% of the number of public schools, with the vast majority of the students low-income. That is up from 2.5 million minority students, or 5% of schools, in 1988, according to the Journal’s analysis.
Achieving schools with racial and economic balance has proved perplexing for school districts across the U.S., including a Maryland school district that recently rankled some in the community with a proposal that would reassign some students to help level out concentrations of poor students. In New York City, many parents decried a recent proposal by a mayoral advisory group to phase out elementary gifted and talented programs, where black and Latino students are underrepresented....
In classrooms at several Clinton schools recently, students of various races and ethnicities worked with each other during chemistry experiments and classroom discussions, exhibiting a familiarity that comes from going to the same schools for years. Those interactions could be seen after school as clusters of students of various races mingled while waiting for rides.
“I feel like we’ve grown up together,” said Caitlin Carter, a 17-year-old white student working on a chemistry project with several classmates. When asked about the district’s grade-level schools, a look of confusion crossed her face.
“It’s normal,” she said. “I’ve mostly gone to schools with two grade levels.”
The district carries an “A” rating by the state and is ranked No. 3 overall. District officials attribute the success in part to the grade structure, under which principals only focus on the curriculum for a couple of grade levels, compared with the typical school with many grades.
Virgil Belue, who became the district’s first superintendent in 1970, came up with the grade-level schools as a way to integrate campuses. Dr. Belue, who is 87 years old and white, said he made rounds to different community groups, including the local NAACP, to sell them on the idea.
“We mixed it all up,” said Dr. Belue, who retired in 1992 and still lives in Clinton. “About time they get to 12th grade, they know one another.”
Dr. Belue—and his idea—are still lauded years later around town.
“The students that live in Clinton know each other,” said Bobby Hathorn, Clinton’s NAACP president. “That makes it almost like a utopia-type situation.”
Some parents called the district a melting pot of different cultures and races.
“That’s what our world is,” said Laci Pittman, a real-estate agent who is white with a daughter in the district. “Each child will go to school together, from beginning to end.”
Good press about the Clinton public schools. Why did the school district hide the news? Most public school districts would pump out the press releases if receiving positive national coverage.
18 comments:
Clinton succeeds because they do not compromise on standards. When a kid enters kindergarten until he graduates from Clinton High School he is expected to meet the same high standard. No excuse. The teachers must teach at the same high standard. No excuse. Even people from the "lower classes" can understand this and will respond as long as the requirement is there. You need only cross Shaw Road on the east to see the alternative. Excuses and failure-JPS. Clinton is the only school district in the State with it's unique makeup and level of success. DO NOT ALLOW JACKSON TO CHANGE CLINTON.
Integration works in Clinton because everything works in Clinton. Integration fails in Jackson because nothing works in Jackson. It's Common Sense. Look at the leadership.
@3:53- Yes, one can't imagine the pressure put on teachers in this district to meet standards. Experienced teachers from outside districts typically don't survive (long) in CPSD.
Regarding those 'high standards"... there are some very concerning policies coming down the pipes regarding punishment. With the spread of population from Jackson/Hinds County comes students with behavior issues. The parents typically do not care and/or make excuses. The district expects the teacher to uproot their entire classroom to coddle the problem child. (They are clamping down on expulsions and sending students to alternative school... losing too many... funding becoming an issue.) You cannot imagine the stress it puts on the teacher and the students who know how to behave. Teachers DID NOT sign up to deal with behavior issues stemming from dysfunctional families and social circles. Imagine being a teacher, expected to meet very high performance goals, and having students constantly disrupt the classroom environment.
Even if you take the behavior nightmare out of the equation, imagine as a teacher being given MULTIPLE children (transfers from other districts and non-english speaking students) who perform 2, 3, 4 grades below grade level and YOU are expected to make them exceptional before state testing rolls around (remember those constant behavior interruptions... yeah, it's happening live and daily during this road to exceptional process.) The cherry on top is the parents who are convinced YOU are the problem because Johnny made straight A's at his old (D-performing) school.
I pray continued success for Clinton, but I fear a breaking point is coming. It is interesting that this wasn't celebrated by the district. However, their social media was terminated last fall (thanks to people posting hate about a moron employee), so maybe an email blast went out to the parents who bothered to register. Honestly, the teachers probably don't even want to hear about it.
I honestly could care less as long as we have powerful athletes and win championships. Winning ball games is really what is most important in life.
Clinton is involved in a tremendous struggle. Especially when parents of kids who did not start in Clinton from the beginning transfer their bad ass children into the Clinton district. Many have no conception of discipline but expect the district to save their kids. It's going to be tough. There will be pressure from other parts of Hinds County to soften and be overrun. We MUST support Clinton leaders when they respond by holding the line. Hopefully they will not give up.
Standards of public education have just been lowered to keep Clinton schools as rated good but this is nothing like the system of years ago.Being the better of the worst is not good in the real work.
@4:25 is SPOT ON and probably a Clinton Public School teacher. God help them.
" Integration works in Clinton because everything works in Clinton. Integration fails in Jackson because nothing works in Jackson. It's Common Sense. Look at the leadership."
Well said 3:55.
The integration model in Cleveland worked for over 50 years and resulted in a 53-47 model at what was Cleveland High School. Everything was fine until three years ago when the Justice Department, for the fifth, time cranked up its program to tear the schools asunder. Now it's a fragmented shit-show with new school colors, mascot and school names. All for naught. But, in the grande book of social experiments, it will forever be a footnote.
my kid goes to clinton. there’s 21 year old sophomores at chs that are failing. when she was in 8th grade there were students driving themselves to 7th grade...
they are maintaining the standard. we in clinton have to hope that the district doesn’t slide.
my daughter has had experienced teachers from other districts..they don’t last long because they can’t maintain the standard. the only problem teacher we had was someone who started off with 5 years in rankin cty. she didn’t make a second contract.
A prime example is when Charlotte seals was named Madison county superintendent the only thing Jackson people like Otho Cain focused on was her skin color. These people can't get out of there own way with decisions and leadership. I live in NE Jackson and my kids go to a school much more diverse than JPS.it really is sad for the kids at JPS that there leaders are race baiting hustlers.
Interesting article.
I wonder how Dr. Belue sold this idea to the whites ? If I am reading it correctly, it sounds like he knew the busing and logistics would be a nightmare,(even though Clinton was a small town in 1970) but that would be a secondary problem as long as the integration efforts made the Feds happy. Plus, it eliminated any issues of separate, but equal.
It's obviously worked up until now, but this ain't 1970. Clinton is infected with the poison Jackson has incubated. I hope they have a plan, because the times they are a changing.
If you can afford it, send your kids to private schools where government interference on standards will be negligible. Drive used cars, live in smaller homes, forgo vacations and do all you can to afford it- the country is likely at stake if we keep allowing liberals to indoctrinate our kids' minds.
Parents who want top ranked schools send their kids to Clinton.
Parents who want pretty good schools that are mostly white opt for NW Rankin and Germantown, and for a little while longer, Madison Central.
@5:45- I know of more than one who left over nightmare behavior issues, with zero administrative support (after the initial stages), and not being able to meet goals/standards due to continual disruptions in classroom. This type of shit-storm will make you feel like you are losing your damn mind!!! While Rankin and Madison County have SOME behavior issues, it’s NOTHING like Clinton is currently experiencing. Nothing!!
I’ll agree it’s possible she was a weak teacher. They exist in all districts. I’d bet her experiences in Rankin, compared to Clinton, factored in to her departure.
They could all likely be good teachers if all the extra was off the table... but you’re expected to be a teacher, therapist, counselor, social worker, and on and on, versus just teaching. College does NOT equip teachers to deal with the societal chaos of the many family structures. There are so many parents/step-parents, grandparents, fiancés, boyfriends/girlfriends, babysitters, etc. that these poor children are coming in incredibly damaged. Moms more worried about their significant other, YOUNG children cooking and cleaning and raising siblings, exposed to dealing with the criminal justice system because of poor choices by parents, etc., etc. The PTO-mom crowd is shrinking. Not to mention the growing number of elementary parents who CANNOT comprehend the lessons... and I’m not talking about math! Despite what those with grown or older children say, Clinton is (sadly) rapidly changing!
Sadly, the lack of pay, the "problem children", and the red tape associated with teaching keeps so many individuals away from the profession.
8:19 - You might not know this, but parents in one school district do not have the ability to 'send their kids' to districts of their choice. Otherwise, your post is bullshit.
@5:11- Well, the renters tend to float around... a LOT!! Also, they use G’ma’s address when necessary. They get around it... TRUST me! And, it’s almost ALWAYS the children with behavior and/or learning problems whose parents do this!
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