Sec. 2. Findings

446 words·~2 min read·/bill/117/s/3849/is/section-2

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Congress finds the following: Studies have found that the academic benefits of attending integrated schools for students of color include— higher achievement in mathematics, science, language, and reading; school climates supportive of learning and studying; increased likelihood of graduating from high school and entering and graduating from college; higher income and educational attainment; and increased access to highly qualified teachers and leaders who are less likely to transfer to other schools.

The benefits of integrated schools extend to all students regardless of race or socioeconomic background. On average, students in socioeconomically and racially diverse schools have stronger academic outcomes than students in schools with concentrated poverty. Students in diverse schools have higher test scores, are more likely to enroll in college, and are less likely to drop out. Integrated schools help reduce racial bias and counter stereotypes, as well as foster friendships across diverse groups, improve students’ satisfaction and self-confidence, and enhance leadership skills.

Students of color attending schools that are highly segregated by race and poverty are deprived of the benefits of integrated education. These schools are characterized by resource inequities that translate into large proportions of inexperienced and underprepared educators and a lack of rigorous coursework, which have negative consequences for students’ academic outcomes as measured by performance on standardized achievement tests and high school graduation rates. A 2019 study of every school district in the United States found that higher racial segregation contributes to a greater magnitude of achievement gaps in 3rd grade, and increases the rate at which gaps grow from 3rd to 8th grade, for students of color.

A 2016 Government Accountability Office analysis found that a growing percentage of public elementary schools and secondary schools in the Nation are hypersegregated, with 90 percent or more Black and Latino student populations and students from low-income families. A study reviewing 8 years of data from all United States school districts found that racial segregation appears to undermine achievement, in part, because it concentrates minority students in high-poverty schools, which are, on average, less effective than lower-poverty schools and tend to be under-resourced.

Research shows that students’ exposure to other students from different backgrounds and the new ideas and opportunities that such exposure brings leads to improved critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Other benefits of attending diverse schools include increased civic participation in a diverse global economy and increased likelihood of living in integrated neighborhoods and holding jobs in integrated workplaces as adults. Magnet schools have been effective in promoting school diversity, especially when district demographics along with magnet school design, structure, and focus (particularly the centering of school integration in the school mission and the design for family outreach) are a priority.