''The End of Consensus: Diversity, Neighborhoods, and the Politics of Public School Assignments'' is a 2015 non-fiction book by Toby L. Parcel and Andrew J. Taylor, published by
University of North Carolina Press.
The book covers how the
Wake County Public School System program to socioeconomically balance its schools was abolished due to the local political climate. The authors state that the voters in
Wake County, North Carolina liked ethnic diversity but disliked year round education and a lack of
school choice, and voters opposed those school district rules.
Background
Prior to writing the book, they conducted a
literature review on the topic. The authors did a spring 2011 survey to determine how residents of Wake County felt about the socioeconomic student assignment practices, with 1,706 people surveyed. The authors also specifically held a focus group for African-American residents, with another focus group for White residents. Additionally, the authors specifically conducted interviews of Wake County-area activists and politicians; 24 such interviews were conducted.
[Logan.]
Contents
The first chapter describes how education influences
the ability to advance in society and how educational segregation or lack thereof affects this trajectory. The school district's history is in the second chapter, and the end of the socioeconomic balancing is covered in the third, fourth, and fifth chapters. A comparison between the Wake County district and other comparable school districts is in the end chapter.
[Hyres, p. 504.]
John R. Logan of
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
described the book as "relatively short".
[
]
Reception
Erica Frankenburg and Kendra Taylor of Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...
praised the book's "rich account of the context of Wake County".[Frankenburg and Erica Taylor, p. 3.]
Alexander Hyres of the University of Virginia wrote that the book serves as "a sound foundation and model for future scholars".[
]
See also
* ''Hope and Despair in the American City
''Hope and Despair in the American City: Why There Are No Bad Schools in Raleigh'' is a 2009 book by Gerald Grant, published by Harvard University Press.
The book's argument is that the Wake County School District of Raleigh, North Carolina has a ...
'' - Book that compared the diversity policies in Wake County to the lack of such policies in Syracuse, New York
References
*
Also available at
Project MUSE
*
*
Notes
Further reading
*
External links
*
The End of Consensus: Diversity, Neighborhoods, and the Politics of Public School Assignments
'
{{DEFAULTSORT:End Of Consensus
2015 non-fiction books
Education in Wake County, North Carolina
University of North Carolina Press books