Julian Betts' Research Cited in The San Diego Union-Tribune
Schools Supposed to Integrate Even Without Buses
05/16/2011
Emily Alpert,
The San Diego Union-Tribune
It was 1967. Race riots broke out from Detroit to D.C. The Supreme Court struck down bans on interracial marriage. And a group of parents sued San Diego Unified, arguing its schools were segregated.
The case became known as "Carlin," after a little girl named in the suit. A decade after the suit was filed, the courts ultimately found that nearly two dozen schools were racially isolated and ordered the school district to come up with plans to alleviate it. Busing grew from there to move kids across the city.
Fast forward to 2011. Hoping to save more teacher jobs, the San Diego Unified school board is talking about halting integration busing in the massive school district. Yet under an old court order that stems from the Carlin case, San Diego Unified is still supposed to integrate its schools.
Now the question is whether the vast city can desegregate with far fewer yellow buses to ferry kids across town. Decades after busing began, the achievement gap remains a constant issue for schools.
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Much of Julian Betts' research has focused on the economic analysis of education. He has written extensively on the link between student outcomes and measures of public school spending including class size, teachers' salaries, and teachers' level of education. More recently, he has examined the role that standards and expectations play in student achievement.
