NCLB Accountability Collides With Court-Ordered Desegregation

The Case of Pinellas County, Florida

Bibliographic Data

ID11259170
AuthorsElizabeth DeBray (0000-0002-7503-0584, corresponding author), Elizabeth H DeBray
Year2005
Volume80
Issue2
Pages170-188
Publication date2005-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePeabody Journal of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0161-956X • E-ISSN: 1532-7930
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1207/s15327930pje8002_10
OpenAlexW1979505203
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited8

This article examines a conflict that arose in 2004 between a federal court's oversight of desegregation and the implementation of the public school choice provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act in Pinellas County, Florida. School system leaders challenged the statute on the grounds that it would likely disrupt a controlled-choice plan designed to achieve racial balance as part of a court settlement to its desegregation case. The judge ruled that no changes could be made to the prior court order mandating these balances through 2008. Drawing on interviews with the county school superintendent and school board attorney, the author describes the county's decision to seek the judge's protection and analyzes several attendant conflicts. These include the legal conflict between two federal mandates, desegregation and school choice; the political tension arising between local and federal officials resulting from the changing nature of federal authority with respect to desegregation; and the policy-related conflict between test-based accountability and desegregation in southern school systems

Accountability · Business · Desegregation · Federal court · Political science · Politics · Settlement (finance · Statute · Supreme court · Higher Education Research Studies · Law · Public Administration · School Choice and Performance

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