Metco Proposal

Research Question

 

How have the experiences of METCO (Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity) students changed since the programs establishment in 1966? How has the program, then and now, both positively and negatively affected the children sent to the suburbs, as well as those living in the suburbs?

 

Relevance

 

There has been a long-standing national crisis of educational disparities among different racial groups. Research has shown that of whites and minorities in the same socioeconomic group, minorities generally live in much more impoverished neighborhoods (Logan, 2003).  As a result of these racially concentrated neighborhoods and districts, minorities are often stuck with far worse educational opportunities than whites. The METCO (Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity) program seeks to address two major issues in the Massachusetts public school system by placing inner city, minority (Asian, Hispanic, and Black) students in predominately white suburban schools. The first is the “racial imbalance” that is experienced in the districts sending students. That is, the concentrated amount of minority groups in public schools. The second and less obvious issue is “racial isolation.” This issue pertains to the school receiving METCO students, where students are almost exclusively accustomed to interacting with other white students. Studies have shown the importance for students of all races to have the experience interacting with races different than their own (Cubeta, 2014.) In examining the experiences of several of my close friends in the METCO program, it seems that students have a very positive experience today. In fact, in a study conducted by Harvard University, researchers found that “91 percent of students said that they had a good or excellent experience in “learning to get along with people from other backgrounds”” and “82 percent of students surveyed reported a good or excellent experience with the academic program”(Harvard, 1997). These statistics provide extremely persuasive evidence for the positive impact METCO has on the lives of inner city children and young adults. Though they have positive experiences, the METCO students, some of them had been in the suburban schools since kindergarten, still have substantially lower test scores than their peers in school (Angrist, 2004).

I would like to explore further the more negative experiences of METCO students that are not explicit in these statistics. For example, whether or not METCO students have been marginalized based on their race in a predominantly white school, or if they were potentially discriminated against in their classes. I would also like to find out more about the experiences of METCO students in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, and how potentially these experienced based on the specific town.

 

 

 

 

Research Strategy

 

To begin my research, I searched “education and race” in Google Scholar. However, the results were far too broad. I narrowed my search to “northern school desegregation.” After searching this phrase, I gathered a few useful articles based in the contemporary. When I was looking for articles in the years leading up to and during the start of the METCO program, I performed that same search in Google scholar, but limited my search between the years 1964 and 1972. I found a wonderful chapter called “Barriers to Northern School Desegregation” from a book on “Jstor.” This provided good insight into what scholars were saying at the time about racial inequality and ways to approach tackling it. Finally, I wanted to get a contemporary, local level article on METCO. I searched “METCO Massachusetts” into the basic Google search engine. I found an article from the local newspaper of Arlington, Massachusetts explaining all of the wonderful attributes of METCO in that specific town.

 

Sources

 

“METCO Program.” Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. N.p., 19 Dec. 2013. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.

 

“METCO Study Finds Broad Support from Parents/Students.” The Harvard University Gazette. N.p., 25 Sept. 1997. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.

 

“Segregation in Neighborhoods and Schools: Impacts on Minority Children in the Boston Region.” Lewis Mumford Center Census 2000 American Newcomers Report. N.p., 1 Sept. 2003. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.

 

Dentler, Robert A. “Barriers to Northern School Desegregation.” Daedalus 95.1, The Negro American—2 (1966): 45-63. JSTOR. Web. 06 Apr. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/20026966?ref=search-gateway:087cad3cdf71390e31ff194c00dac63a>.

 

Cubeta, Kate, Regina Caines, and Bonie Williamson. “METCO an important Program.”The Arlington Advocate. N.p., 05 Apr. 2014. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.