School Integration in Twin Cities Metro Area Interdistrict Collaboratives: Implementation and Interpretation of the Minnesota State Desegregation/Integration Rule

Abstract

Understanding issues of racial and socioeconomic segregation in schools is one way of examining equity in educational policy. This thesis elucidates and explains the social, legal and political context of the contemporary school desegregation debate in Minnesota by investigating access to and use of integration resources in the state's largest urban center. The relationship between policy design and policy implementation in the area of school integration in Minnesota is explored using a case study analysis approach which contrasts four models of interdistrict collaboration in terms of organization, management and resource distribution. The role of decision-makers, front-line service providers, students and families is examined by identifying particular cultural assumptions that place integration goals in the context of other educational priorities.