When this U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (PDF) study, "The Benefits of Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Elementary and Secondary Education", landed on my desk this morning I wasn’t especially looking forward to reading into it. Then I noticed (page 3) that the first finding of the Commission is this:
"Based on the record, the Commission issued a number of findings, including:
There is little evidence that racial and ethnic diversity in elementary and
secondary schools results in significant improvements in academic
performance..."
That should go without saying.
Clearly the analysis methodology was faulty. It did not arrive at the correct conclusion. Go back and run the numbers again ... and this time make sure they come out right.
"Based on the record..." they've been running those numbers for years. It is almost amazing that "they" have given up and accepted the obvious.