Across the Railroad Tracks: Segregation and Education Inequality in Cincinnati

Voiceover

Presenter(s)

Elizabeth Spera

Abstract or Description

While the Brown v. Board of Education ruling eliminated racial segregation under the law, racial inequality has persisted in American neighborhoods and schools for decades through covert forms of residential segregation and socioeconomic divides. Extensive research proves attending schools with low socioeconomic composition (SEC) has detrimental impacts on students’ futures; however, there is a lack of investigation into the specific segregation of Cincinnati neighborhoods and schools. Further, since the early 1990s, scholars have continually debated about integrating schools and whether this is the most effective way to address this inequality. This paper examines disparities in socioeconomic levels, racial makeup, and academic achievement of the neighboring Cincinnati communities of Wyoming and Lockland through a close examination of existing quantitative data, each school district’s website, and a personal interview with Lockland High School principal, Mr. Adam Raby. Additionally, I emphasize the importance of amplifying voices of people of color who live and work in low SEC school districts to determine the best course of action. These findings, combined with research on the historically ineffective use of magnet schools in Cincinnati desegregation efforts and problematic realities of school integration, illustrate that investing in teachers, in-classroom learning, and extracurricular programming is the best avenue through which to ameliorate educational disparities.