{"id":4358,"date":"2013-04-06T20:56:58","date_gmt":"2013-04-07T00:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/?p=4358"},"modified":"2013-04-06T21:02:46","modified_gmt":"2013-04-07T01:02:46","slug":"research-proposal-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/2013\/04\/research-proposal-6\/","title":{"rendered":"How did metro integration advocates envision Hartford county public schools post Sheff v. O’Neill?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Research Question:<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>How did metro integration advocates envision Hartford county public schools after the Sheff v. O\u2019Neill ruling?\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t their vision come to fruition?<\/p>\n

Significance:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>As a graduate of Hartford public schools, I feel as though I was not given access to an education that would adequately prepare me for higher education. \u00a0A quality education should be a public good equally available to all students.\u00a0 Historically in the state of Connecticut, where you live has been the primary (and sometimes sole) determining factor as to what type of education a child will receive.\u00a0 There is vast disparity between the qualities of education children in urban areas receive in comparison to their suburban counterparts.\u00a0 I am interested in the way school district lines have been drawn and their impact on diversity throughout Hartford County. \u00a0In the state of Connecticut, wealthy suburban children seem to be walled off from impoverished urban children.\u00a0 If there were such a way to alleviate the segregation of children from these backgrounds, why hasn\u2019t it been done?<\/p>\n

The 1989 case, Sheff v. O\u2019Neill sought to provide all children within the state of Connecticut access to their \u201cfundamental right to education and equal protection under the law\u201d.\u00a0 According to the Sheff Movement organization, the lawsuit \u201cseeks to prepare all children to live and prosper in a growing racial\/ethic, economically globally connected world.\u201d\u00a0 Many local reformers have theorized ways in which to remedy the racial and socio-economic segregation of public schools in Hartford county.\u00a0 The initial vision that integration advocates had for public schools in Hartford County is relevant to our Education Reform course, because it is important to see how reformers of the past sought to remedy the stratification of Hartford schools.\u00a0 It is also important to note the reasons why metro integration advocates\u2019 recommendations to redraw school district lines based on regions and not towns were not implemented into practice.\u00a0 Knowledge of this particular group\u2019s past efforts and why they did not work helps to frame the current discussion of what reform strategies are possible for Hartford County public schools to implement today.\u00a0 Through this analysis, an assessment can be made as to whether redrawing school district lines is a viable integration strategy for current times, and also are the past barriers to redrawing district lines still prevalent today.\u00a0 From what Jack has shown me, the structure of Hartford County\u2019s past settlement patterns and town based school zones prevents effective racial and socio-economic integration.\u00a0 I am curious to discover why a reform strategy that seems to remedy Hartford County\u2019s segregation and truly integrate schooling did not come to pass.<\/p>\n

Research Strategy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>My first order of business for research is to become familiar with the material.\u00a0 It is impossible to conduct in-depth research of a topic unless you are knowledgeable on the subject.\u00a0 My research strategy is to thoroughly read through the consolidation plan that Jack was kind enough to share with me.\u00a0 I will go through the oral history transcripts that Jack provided me with to get a first hand perspective on what metro integration advocate leaders were seeking and what was actually accomplished.\u00a0 To uncover why the metro integration plan didn\u2019t happen, I will use the consolidation plan as a starting point and think like a historical actor to pick out key points that may have been controversial at the time.\u00a0 I will narrow them down and investigate the major themes.\u00a0 Initially, I used the files Jack gave me and searched for similar terms via the Internet.\u00a0 As I sift through this first batch of\u00a0 related sources, I will look through education reform documents of the time to get a general idea of what suggestions or alternatives were on the table at the time of this recommendation.\u00a0 Hartford obviously chose to go in a different direction to address racial and socio-economic integration.\u00a0 What made the current strategy more compelling?\u00a0 Since Sheff v. O\u2019Neill was a catalyst for school integration in Hartford, I will use the major findings of the case to foreground my research.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Primary Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cAbout Sheff v. O\u2019Neill.\u201d\u00a0 Sheff Movement<\/em>.\u00a0 Web.\u00a0 5 April 2013. \u00a0<http:\/\/www.sheffmovement.org\/aboutsheffvoneill.shtml><\/p>\n

Bruno, Gordon.\u00a0 Interview with Jennifer Williams.\u00a0 The Unexamined Remedy Metropolitan School District Oral History<\/em>. \u00a0Hartford, 2004.<\/p>\n

Hasegawa, Jack.\u00a0 Interview with Jennifer Williams.\u00a0 The Unexamined Remedy Metropolitan School District Oral History<\/em>. \u00a0Hartford, 2004.<\/p>\n

Judson, George.\u00a0 \u201cPoverty Tied To Failures In Hartford.\u201d\u00a0 New York Times<\/em> 20 Feb. 1993.\u00a0 Web.<\/p>\n

McDermott, Kathryn.\u00a0 Interview with Jennifer Williams.\u00a0 The Unexamined Remedy Metropolitan School District Oral History<\/em>. \u00a0Hartford, 2004.<\/p>\n

Sacks, Michael.\u00a0 \u201cSuburbanization and the Racial\/Ethnic Divide in the Hartford Metropolitan Area.\u201d\u00a0 2003.\u00a0 PDF file.<\/p>\n

Staples, Cameron.\u00a0 Interview with Jennifer Williams.\u00a0 The Unexamined Remedy Metropolitan School District Oral History<\/em>. \u00a0Hartford, 2004.<\/p>\n

The Connecticut Center for School Change.\u00a0 The Unexamined Remedy<\/em>.\u00a0 1998.\u00a0 PDF file.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Research Question: How did metro integration advocates envision Hartford county public schools after the Sheff v. O\u2019Neill ruling?\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t their vision come to fruition? Significance:\u00a0 As a graduate of Hartford public schools, I feel as though I was not given access to an education that would adequately prepare me for higher education. \u00a0A quality … Continue reading How did metro integration advocates envision Hartford county public schools post Sheff v. O’Neill?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":356,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[49],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4358"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/356"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4358"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4373,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4358\/revisions\/4373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}