Giving Compass' Take:

• Christina Veiga reports that five New York City school districts are using grants to fund their own approaches to school integration. 

• How can funders help school districts and states to develop effective integration policies? 

• Learn more about the importance of school integration. 

New York City is home to one of the most segregated school systems in the country, recent research has shown, and grassroots activists have pushed the mayor to take on the issue in recent years.

Last month, the education department awarded $200,000 grants to five of the city’s local school districts to gather feedback and ideas, and ultimately craft their own diversity plans.

Such a process is what guided Brooklyn’s District 15 to implement one of the most far-reaching integration plans in the city: This year, the district spanning Park Slope and Sunset Park eliminated competitive middle school admissions, which many fault for fueling segregation.

It remains to be seen whether other districts in the city will take similarly sweeping steps. Though one of the grant recipients is already considering admissions changes similar to what other districts and schools have tried, others are just kicking off public conversations about what needs to be done.

In still others, where most students are black or Hispanic, districts are taking different approaches, supporting efforts to boost school quality and create environments that are more fair, even if the absence of large numbers of white students in the districts at present make racial and economic integration exceedingly difficult.

Read the full article about NYC districts taking their own approaches to school integration by Christina Veiga at Chalkbeat.