Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Critical Policy Analysis of the Politics, Design, and Implementation of Student Assignment Policies

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Critical Approaches to Education Policy Analysis

Part of the book series: Education, Equity, Economy ((EEEC,volume 4))

Abstract

Legal rulings on school segregation have played critical roles in shaping the demographic make-up of public schools in ways that we continue to struggle with long after separate schools were declared unequal. School districts’ efforts to racially diversify their schools are not only impacted by these rulings but the politics (local, state, federal) surrounding student assignment policies also influence their design and implementation. Pairing a critical policy analysis approach with a policy implementation framework, I provide a nuanced analysis of the complexities behind the development and implementation of three student assignment policies that use a number of factors in assigning students to schools in order to achieve racial and socioeconomic diversity, paying particular attention to how and why decisions are made, and the (un)intended consequences of the policy implementation process. By examining different student assignment policies in different contexts, we can begin to understand what types of policies may work best to achieve racial and socioeconomic diversity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education, 396 U.S. 1218 (1969).

    Google Scholar 

  • American Civil Rights Foundation v. Berkeley Unified School District, A121137 No. RG0692139 (Cal. Ct. of Appeal 1st District, March 17, 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  • Artz. M. (2004a, January 16). BUSD asks for lawsuit dismissal.The Berkeley Daily Planet, News section.

    Google Scholar 

  • Artz, M. (2004b, January 23). New school assignment plan debuts. The Berkeley Daily Planet, pp. 1

    Google Scholar 

  • Avila v. Berkeley Unified School District, No. RG03-110397 (Cal. Super. Ct. April 6, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. J. (1998). Big policies/small world: An introduction to international perspectives in education policy. Comparative Education, 34, 119–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkeley Unified School District. (2002). Student Assignment Advisory Committee preliminary report to the board of education, December 17, 2002. Berkeley: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkeley Unified School District. (2004). Berkeley Unified School District Student Assignment Plan/Policy. Retrieved from http://www.berkeley.net/student-assignment-plan/

  • Berkeley Unified School District. (2013). BUSD district profile sheet 2013. Berkeley: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Board of Education of Oklahoma City Public Schools v. Dowell, 498 U.S. 237 (1991).

    Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, C. A. (2008). Interpreting the policy past: The relationship between education and antipoverty policy during the Carter administration. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, C. A. (2014). Historicizing in critical policy analysis: The production of cultural Histories and microhistories. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 27(3), 273–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (II), 349 U.S. 294 (1955).

    Google Scholar 

  • Burke, P. (2004). What is cultural history? Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • California Department of Education. (2015). Enrollment by ethnicity for 2014–15, Berkeley Unified. Retrieved from http://dq.cde.ca.gov

  • Chartier, R. (1988). Cultural history: Between practices and representations (L. G. Cochrane, Trans.). Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chavez, L., & Frankenberg, E. (2009). Integration defended: Berkeley’s unified strategy to maintain school diversity. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California, Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity & Diversity, & University of California, Civil Rights Project/Proyecto DerechosCiviles.

    Google Scholar 

  • City of Berkeley. (2010). About Berkeley. Retrieved from http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/

  • Cummings, S., & Price, M. (1997). Race relations and public policy in Louisville: Historical development of an urban underclass. Journal of Black Studies, 27(5), 615–649.

    Google Scholar 

  • Datnow, A. (2006). Connections to the policy chain: The “co-construction” of implementation in comprehensive school reform. In M. I. Honig (Ed.), New directions in education policy implementation: Confronting complexity (pp. 105–124). Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diem, S., & Young, M. D. (2015). Considering critical turns in research on educational leadership and policy. International Journal of Educational Management, 29(7), 838–850.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diem, S., Frankenberg, E., Cleary, C., & Ali, N. (2014a). The politics of maintaining diversity policies in demographically changing urban-suburban school districts. American Journal of Education, 120(3), 351–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diem, S., Young, M. D., Welton, A., Mansfield, K. C., & Lee, P. L. (2014b). The intellectual landscape of critical policy analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 27(9), 1068–1090.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diem, S., Frankenberg, E., & Cleary, C. (2015). Factors that influence school board policymaking: The political context of student diversity in urban-suburban districts. Educational Administration Quarterly, 51(5), 712–752.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dounay, J. (1998). Desegregation policy across the nation: Practices and questions. Denver: Education Commission of the States.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dumas, M. J., & Anyon, J. (2006). Toward a critical approach to education policy implementation: Implications for the (battle)field. In M. I. Honig (Ed.), New directions in education policy implementation: Confronting complexity (pp. 149–168). Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankenberg, E., Diem, S., & Cleary, C. (2016). School desegregation after Parents Involved: The complications of pursuing diversity in a high-stakes accountability era. Journal of Urban Affairs. DOI: 10.1111/juaf.12309

  • Freeman v. Pitts, 503 U.S. 467 (1992).

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodsell, P., Matczak, M., & O’Connor, M. (1999, May 12). Voters end busing in Omaha bonds win by margin of 1,465 history of integration in Omaha schools. Omaha World-Herald. News section.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, A. (1999). The houses of history: A critical reader in twentieth-century history and theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hampton v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 102 F. Supp. 2d 358, 360 (W.D. Ky. 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, H. C. (2006). Language matters: How characteristics of language complicate policy implementation. In M. I. Honig (Ed.), New directions in education policy implementation: Confronting complexity (pp. 65–82). Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holley-Walker, D. (2010). After unitary status: Examining voluntary integration strategies for southern school districts. North Carolina Law Review, 88, 877–910.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holme, J. J., & Diem, S. (2015). Regional governance in education: A case study of the metro area Learning Community in Omaha, Nebraska. Peabody Journal of Education, 90(1), 156–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holme, J. J., Finnigan, K., & Diem, S. (2016). Challenging boundaries, changing fate? Metropolitan inequality and the legacy of Milliken. Teachers College Record, 118(3), 1–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holtz, D. L. (1989, December 16). Berkeley hopes to woo Whites to city schools. San Francisco Chronicle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Honig, M. (Ed.). (2006). New directions in educational policy implementation: Confronting complexity. New York: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horn, C., & Kurlaender, M. (2006). The end of Keyes: Resegregation trends and achievement in Denver Public Schools. Cambridge: The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jefferson County Public Schools. (2008). Agenda Item III, May 28, 2008 Board of Education meeting. Louisville: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jefferson County Public Schools. (2009, October). Governing urban schools in an era of change. Presentation given at the CUBE 42nd annual conference, Austin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jefferson County Public Schools. (2015). Elementary, middle, and high school data books. Retrieved from http://www.jefferson.k12.ky.us/Departments/AcctResPlan/databook/index.html

  • Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver, Colorado,413 U.S. 189 (1973).

    Google Scholar 

  • Linn, R., & Welner, K. (Eds.). (2007). Race-conscious policies for assigning students to schools: Social science research and the Supreme Court cases. Washington, DC: National Academy of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malen, B. (2006). Revisiting policy implementation as a political phenomenon: The case of reconstitution policies. In M. I. Honig (Ed.), New directions in education policy implementation: Confronting complexity (pp. 83–104). Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malen, B., Croninger, R., Muncey, D., & Redmond-Jones, D. (2002). Reconstituting schools: “Testing” the “theory of action”. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 24(2),113–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDermott, K. A., Frankenberg, E., & Diem, S. (2015). The “post-racial” politics of race: Changing student assignment policy in three school districts. Educational Policy, 29(3), 504–554.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mendez v. Westminster School District, 64 F. Supp. 544 (S.D. CA 1946).

    Google Scholar 

  • Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 551 U.S. 05–915 (2007).

    Google Scholar 

  • Merriam, S. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education: Revised and expanded from case study research in education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mickelson, R. A. (2001). Subverting Swann: First- and second-generation segregation in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. American Journal of Education, 38(2), 215–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mickelson, R. A. (2008). Twenty-first century social science research on school diversity and educational outcomes. Ohio State Law Journal, 69, 1173–1228.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mickelson, R. A., & Nkomo, N. (2012). Integrated schooling, life course outcomes, and social cohesion in multiethnic democratic societies. Review of Research in Education, 36(1), 197–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Data management and analysis methods. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (pp. 769–802). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U.S. 717 (1974).

    Google Scholar 

  • Missouri v. Jenkins, 115 S. Ct. 2038 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  • Newburg Area Council, Inc. v. Board of Education of Jefferson County, 510 F.2d 1358 (6th Cir. 1974).

    Google Scholar 

  • Olszewski, L. (1995, March 18). School choice delivers in Berkeley: Most children get into the campuses parents had picked. San Francisco Chronicle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Omaha Public Schools. (1999). Omaha Public Schools student assignment plan. Omaha: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Omaha Public Schools. (2007). Student Assignment Plan 2007–2008. Omaha: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Omaha Public Schools. (2015). Assessments and statistics. Retrieved from http://district.ops.org

  • Omaha Public Schools. (2016). Transportation eligibility changes: 2017–2018. Retried from http://sap.ops.org/

  • Omaha Public Schools. (n.d.). Student assignment plan summary. Omaha: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orfield, G., & Eaton, S. (1996). Dismantling desegregation: The quiet reversal of Brown v. Board of Education. New York: The New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orfield, G., & Lee, C. (2007). Historic reversals, accelerating resegregation, and theneed for new integration strategies. Los Angeles: University of California, The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto DerechosCiviles.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orfield, G., & Yun, J. T. (1999). Resegregation in American schools. Cambridge, MA: The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, 551 U.S. 05–908 (2007).

    Google Scholar 

  • Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896).

    Google Scholar 

  • Potter, H., Quick, K., & Davies, E. (2016). A new wave of school integration: Districts and charters pursuing socioeconomic diversity. New York: The Century Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reardon, S. F., & Yun, J. T. (2003). Integrating neighborhoods, segregating schools: The retreat from school desegregation in the South, 1990–2000. North Carolina Law Review, 81(4), 1563–1596.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riddick v. School Board of the City of Norfolk, Virginia, 784 F. 2nd 521 (4th Cir. 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, J. (2007). The Supreme Court and voluntary integration. Harvard Law Review, 121(1), 131–157.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smylie, M. A., & Evans, A. E. (2006). Social capital and the problem of implementation. In M. I. Honig (Ed.), New directions in education policy implementation: Confronting complexity (pp. 187–208). Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan, N., & Stewart, E. S. (1969). Now is the time: Integration in Berkeley schools. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 (1971).

    Google Scholar 

  • Timeline: Desegregation in Jefferson County Public Schools. (2005, September 4). The Courier-Journal.

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. & Nellie Mae Webb et al. v. School District of Omaha, 521 F.2d 530 (8thCir.1975).

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). Berkeley city, California, 2010. Retrieved from http://factfinder.census.gov

  • Weaver-Hightower, M. B. (2008). An ecology metaphor for educational policy analysis: A call to complexity. Educational Researcher, 37(3), 153–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wells, A. S., & Frankenberg, E. (2007). The public schools and the challenge of the Supreme Court’s integration decision. Phi Delta Kappan, 89(3), 178–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wells, A. S., & Holme, J. J. (2005). No accountability for diversity: Standardized tests and the demise of racially mixed schools. In J. C. Boger & G. Orfield (Eds.), School resegregation: Must the South turn back? (pp. 187–211). Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Werts, A. B., & Brewer, C. A. (2015). Reframing the study of policy implementation: Lived experience as politics. Educational Policy, 29(1), 206–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wicinas, B. (2009a). Chronology: The fashioning of a race-blind integration plan in Berkeley Unified School District, 1999–2004. Retrieved from http://friendofberkeley.com/busd/TimelineBerkeleyPlan2003.htm

  • Wicinas, B. (2009b). The gestation of the 1993 integration plan, Berkeley Unified School District, 1989–1995. Retrieved from http://friendofberkeley.com/busd/TimelineBerkeleyPlan1993.htm

  • Wollenberg, C. (2008). Berkeley, a city in history. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, University of Missouri, 202 Hill Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Sarah Diem

Authors
  1. Sarah Diem
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah Diem .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

    Michelle D. Young

  2. Dept. of Educ. Lead'ship & Pol. Analysis, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA

    Sarah Diem

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Diem, S. (2017). A Critical Policy Analysis of the Politics, Design, and Implementation of Student Assignment Policies. In: Young, M., Diem, S. (eds) Critical Approaches to Education Policy Analysis. Education, Equity, Economy, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39643-9_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39643-9_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39641-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39643-9

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation