Milwaukee School Integration

The purpose of this study was to examine the nation’s oldest voluntary public school integration effort, Milwaukee’s Chapter 220 program, and describe its rise and decline. People of color experience a disproportionate amount of poverty in the urban neighborhoods, adding support to the argument that current high poverty, high minority demographics plaguing segregated school districts are vestiges of past discrimination that have yet to be removed. The paper provides qualitative, historical analysis to describe the nation’s oldest, public, voluntary, cross-district transportation program, and contributes to the debate on the value of and practical considerations for how to implement school integration programs. The authors trace the economic, social, and legislative history that brought this program into being and led to its decline and will consider the impact that the newer programs and policies have had on the further re-segregation of the Milwaukee public school system. …show more content…
They employed 40 years of primary and secondary sources, such as school board meeting minutes, district program-level data, and court documents, to conduct a qualitative analysis of historical documents. Their case study approach emphasized the contextual analysis of a limited number of events or conditions and their relationships, and the value of a case study is that it strives to elicit insights into the unique experiences of one phenomenon. They use U.S. Census and secondary data sources to examine Milwaukee’s demographic and economic shifts over the past 40 years to frame the legal battle over quality school options in Milwaukee. The Wisconsin Legislature created the Chapter 220 program as a voluntary school integration program, in 1975 with the goal of promoting cultural and racial integration in education on a voluntary basis without cost to local