Race and the Ferguson-Florissant School District Closure--Penn GSE Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education

Ferguson, Missouri, the city in which a White police officer recently shot and killed an unarmed Black teenager, shares its public school district with Florissant, a neighboring community. The District notes on its website that schools are closed this week due to unrest in and around Ferguson. Local law enforcement officials and district security staff were consulted on this decision, according to the site. Last Thursday, August 14, was supposed to be the first day of school. University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education researchers found stark racial differences between the two towns, despite being just 3.4 miles apart. Shaun R. Harper and Charles H.F. Davis III, directors of Penn GSE's Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education, matched data from the U.S. Census with statistics from the U.S. Department of Education to determine the extent to which schools in the Ferguson-Florissant School District reflect the children who live in the two communities. "School closure is disproportionately affecting African American children," Davis notes. "Their White peers have been in school somewhere for a week, presumably learning and likely getting even further ahead of their African American neighbors." "Ferguson had structural problems that systematically disadvantage Black families long before Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown," Harper suggests. "Inequitable schooling there didn't start two weeks ago." He adds, "White families are obviously aware of alternatives to the Ferguson-Florissant School District. Are Black families uninformed of their choices or are there other, more troubling structural explanations?" The researchers present some key findings in this infographic:   About the Center The Center unites University of Pennsylvania scholars who do research on important topics pertaining to race and equity in education. Our staff and faculty affiliates collaborate on assessments, funded research projects, and the production of timely research reports. The Center's strength resides in its interdisciplinarity - professors from various departments in the School of Arts and Sciences (including Mathematics, Sociology, English, History, Anthropology, and others), the Wharton School, the Perelman School of Medicine, the School of Social Policy and Practice, Penn Law School, and the School of Nursing join Graduate School of Education faculty as affiliates of the Center. Principally, we are committed to rigorous research and consulting projects that improve equity in P-12 schools, colleges and universities, and social contexts that influence educational outcomes.  www.gse.upenn.edu/equity