A survey of methods for implementing desegregation in four California school districts

The purpose of this project was to survey what has been done to desegregate school districts in California. This included an examination of guidelines, and a review of plans and procedures for implementing desegregation. The survey focused on four California school districts: Berkeley, Riverside, Pasadena and Los Angeles. In each district particular attention was paid to the following: 1. Characteristics of the district 2. Racial composition 3. The development of a desegregation plan 4. Preparation of teachers for desegregation 5. Community preparation for desegregation of the schools 6. The effects of the desegregation program on the motivation, achievement, and personality development of its students 7. The curriculum implications for students School districts were selected on the basis of varied geographical sizes, socio-economic levels, population sizes and their ethnic distributions. The methodological procedure employed was a study of plans and procedures for school desegregation. In preparation for making surveys of communities and schools, visitations to particular districts were arranged. Conferences and interviews were conducted with school personnel, and visits were made to selected classrooms. The major conclusions were: 1. Extensive teacher and community preparation is necessary in order to assure the success of a desegregated school plan. 2. Berkeley, Riverside and Pasadena are the only cities in California, with populations exceeding 100,000, to adopt complete racial balance plans. 3. Both Berkeley and Pasadena have implemented a modified version of the Princeton plan. Pasadena's plan also called for an educational park. 4. Riverside closed three predominately minority s~hbols and transported students to schools throughout the district. 5. Los Angeles has only begun to desegregate its district. Presently a voluntary busing program is in operation. There arc signs to indicate that the integration movement in Los Angeles is in serious difficulty. Some of the major recommendations offered for Los Angeles were: 1. Improve the quality of education in minority schools, involving those communities in the decision making, planning and management stages. 2. Plan and build multi-ethnic school complexes in areas which are presently in some stage of racial integration. 3. Expand the voluntary busing program. 4. Adopt a policy whereby no new school site purchases or construction would be financed that perpetuate the present segregated situation at public expense.