Giving Compass' Take:

• The Century Foundation published data on over 5,000 charter schools finding high rates of integrated and diverse student populations within the charter network due to the flexibility in their school models which they call 'diverse-by-design'. 

• How can other schools adopt the flexibility of the charter school models to encourage diversity? 

• Read about an alternative view to charter schools, in which white affluent families move to low-income neighborhoods which brings about gentrification instead of integration. 

Educators, parents, and policymakers all helped to open charter schools, and at the center of the creation of each of these schools was a shared vision: to use the flexibility of the charter model to incorporate diversity into the school design.

As researchers who study school integration, we know these stories may sound surprising to many. Charter schools, historically speaking, have not been diversity’s best friend.

Over the past year at The Century Foundation, we’ve analyzed roughly 5,700 charter schools in all 50 states in an attempt to produce the first-ever nationwide inventory of diversity in the charter sector. We reviewed school websites, analyzed enrollment data, and administered a follow-up survey, evaluating charter schools based on their institutional commitment to diversity, as well as their actual student populations.

We identified 125 diverse-by-design charter schools, meaning they have both integrated enrollment and a commitment to diversity. More broadly, we found that 1 in 5 charter schools (1,026 schools) showed some consideration of diversity in their school model, while 1 in 4 (1,477 schools) had medium or high diversity in enrollment.  This mirrors a pattern across public education more generally. A small but growing number of districts and charters are working to promote integration in the face of rising racial and economic segregation.

In other words, integrated charter schools are not just possible, they are possible nearly everywhere — in communities of different sizes and demographics, at all levels of education, and in a variety of educational models and forms.

Read the full article about diversity in charter schools by Halley Potter and Kimberly Quick at The 74