Detroit Public Schools Metropolitan Detroit Area Integration Plan

    BASIC GUIDELINES 
for a

METROPOLITAN DETROIT AREA INTEGRATION PLAN

Detroit Public Schools 
Integration Task Force

February 29, 1972



TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION..........................................
Quality Education...................................
Desegregation and Integration ........... ....... . . .
Socioeconomic Status and Achievement................
Early Integration..........................
Decentralization and Community Involvement..........
Feasibility and Funds...............................
Intergroup Understanding............................
The Underlying Problem..............................
Stability, White Flight, Diffusion and Defusing.....
Summary of the Board's Position.....................

II. IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL QUALITY........
Instructional Improvement Plans.. . . 
Improvements in Staff Effectiveness
Parent and Pupil Involvement......
Recourse for Individual Students...
Socioeconomic Status Balance......
Attention to Human Values.........
Increased Funds............ ......

III. AREAS AND GOVERNANCE...................................
Geographic Aspects of a Metropolitan Integration Plan.
Initial Operational Responsibility............•......
Smaller Operational Units as an Ultimate Objective....
Socioeconomic Status Balance.........................
Standard Scores from Grade 7 State Assessment........
Governance............................................

IV. ASSIGNMENTS ............................
Other Proposals....................
Detroit Position on Pupil Assignment 
Considerations for Staff Assignments

1
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3
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4
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5
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6

8

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19
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25
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28

30
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32
33



I. INTRODUCTION

The problem is to provide equal educational opportunity for 
all children and youth. We want that opportunity to lead to an 
education of high quality for every student.

Quality Education

Although desegregation is a necessary condition for integration 
and integration is a necessary condition for quality education, 
neither desegregation nor integration is sufficient alone to produce 
quality education. The instructional program and the counseling 
program must be the best possible, and all of the student's school 
experiences are a part of his eduction.

Therefore, the Detroit Board of Education has sought to design 
a desegregation plan that will result in a sound educational program 
based in an open integrated democratic school community.

Desegregation and Integration
Desegregation occurs when people from different races are 

present in the same situation. Integration will occur when members 
of different races are living and working and learning together for 
their mutual benefit. White people, black people, and other minority 
groups have important cultural contributions to make to society.
Each of us is richer because the other is somewhat different. In a



t •-

well integrated situation one culture does not have to be assimilated 
by another one. Quality education includes integration.

Socioeconomic Status and Achievement

The equal educational opportunity study1 2 by Professor Coleman 
and the work of other researchers have shown that socioeconomic 
status is more closely related to achievement than is race, and 
that once the impact of socioeconomic status on achievement is removed, 
there is very little, if any, difference in achievement accounted for 
by differences in race. Educational research has shown that if 
students from economically poor families are present in schools with 
students from middle class families and the students from middle 
class families are in the predominance, then the students from the 
lower class make greater achievement as measured by the usual tests 
of educational progress than when only the poor are present. If 
the middle class students are not in the majority, such gains do not 
seem to occur. Another advantage of mixing students from different 
socioeconomic levels is that each can gain important understandings 
and values about the total society by having the other present.

1
Coleman, James S. et al. Equality of Educational Oonortunitv. 

U.S. Dept, of H.E.W. , 1966. ‘ * “ -------~
2

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Racial Isolation in the 
Public Schools. U.S. Gov't, 1967.



There is evidence in this case of a disparity in income level 
between Detroit and the suburbs. About 71% of the elementary school 
districts in Detroit have an average annual family income between 
$3,000 and $10,000; another 25% are between $10,000 and $12,000.
In view of the small proportion of middle class families in the city, 
it is impossible to achieve an optimum socioeconomic mix for improved 
achievement without going outside of the city limits.

Early Integration
3

Educational research also shows that desegregation experiences 
which begin early in life are more likely to produce improved 
attitudes and other learnings than those which occur later. In 
addition, disturbances which are sometimes associated with deseg­
regation are minimized at the earlier grade levels.

Decentralization and Community Involvement
Decentralization of Detroit schools and the accompanying 

increased community participation in school decisions is occuring.
A desegregation plan which retains the advantages of bringing the 
community and its schools closer together is desirable. Parents 
must not be disenfranchised in matters affecting the education of 
their children, nor should contact with the school be made more 
difficult.

Ibid.
3



Feasibility and Funds
The school system of the City of .Detroit is laden with burdens 

which can be partially eliminated through adequate funding. Lower 
class size, improved inservice education of staff, better teaching 
materials, adequate facilities and equipment, sufficient supportive 
staff, and improvement through research, development, and innovation 
are dependent upon better funding and are essential to quality 
education. As stated earlier, equal educational opportunity may 
come with desegregation but desegregation plans are expensive, too. 
Those who are concerned with improving the educational opportunity 
for Detroit children and youth need to recognize that the problem 
cannot be solved by the grouping of children alone; its solution 
requires attention to the whole realm of financial support. In the 
meantime the burden of inadequate education will continue to be 
borne by our students.

Intergroup Understanding
Historically, school desegregation efforts have at times led to 

certain undesirable conditions including conflicts between some 
members of each group, fear for safety by parents and students of 
both races, disruptions of the school operation, etc. These un­
desirable consequences can be reduced by effective programs for staff 
pupils, and parents designed to build understanding between the races



•  . •

- '5- - •

Such programs exist; they are effective; but they require the will 
to initiate and sustain them and they are essential under desegregation.

The Underlying Problem
As the Kerner report concluded, "...white society is deeply 

implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white 
institutions maintain it, and white society condones it." That 
white society resides largely in the suburbs. Equal educational 
opportunity will never prevail for minority groups until society has 
dealt effectively with problems in race relations. Full under­
standing will not occur until the experiences of children and youth 
are diverse, both racially and across socioeconomic lines. Isolation 
and social stratification within the metropolitan area deprive 
suburban youth of the opportunity to learn how to function in a 
multi-racial society. Therefore, any desegregation plan which does 
not involve the larger metropolitan community must be seen as tem­
porary and as insufficient in solving the basic problem.

Stability, White Flight, Diffusion and Defusing
The history of community desegregation in this city and many 

other urban areas across the nation is that it promptly leads to 
resegregation. When a society takes the complex of problems 
surrounding race relations and focuses them on a few neighborhoods,

h
Della-Dora, Delmo. "The Schools Can Overcome Racism, 

Educational Leadership, February, 1972.



6

then the burden of the full concentration of those problems must be 
borne by black people and white people who for the moment are at the 
center of the integration belt. In that situation most black people 
cannot escape, so they stay. Many white people can escape, so they 
do, and the belt moves forward, shifting the still concentrated 
burden to another group. It is time for the American society to 
diffuse this pressure and in so doing hopefully to defuse it. All 
of us in the metropolitan Detroit area should share the benefits of 
desegregation and should share the burdens of misunderstanding between 
the races. In this way we can bring the full force of our capa­
bilities to the solution of race relations problems and hasten their 
end.

This concept, of course, means that desegregation plans which 
are limited to the City of Detroit, can be only temporary. If we 
have the courage and good sense at this late date to deal effectively 
with the real problem in its entirety, we will look to a metropolitan 
solution.

Summary of the Board's Position
In light of the background information given above, the Detroit 

Board of Education views any desegregation plan which is limited to 
the City of Detroit as temporary at best. Efforts to achieve de­
segregation ratios in all city schools equal to the total city ratio 
can only interfere with the long range solution.



7

The costs, both financial and other, of starting and stopping 
educational programs are high. The Board urges that no remedy be 
ordered for implementation until all plans have been considered.

The Board has given full consideration to a wide range of 
possible plans for desegregation, including the six State plans and 
the borough plan. It has heard from the community and has held 
planning sessions with members of the Regional Boards. Plans have 
been appraised on the basis of how well they meet criteria for 
integration and quality education.

The Board submits the following position for consideration by
the Court.



- 8 - 1 .

II. IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL QUALITY

To be adequate, an integration plan must not only eliminate 
isolation but must include a method for improving the quality of 
education provided to all students.

Specific action must be taken to improve educational quality 
through:

1. developing and carrying out curriculum and instructional 
improvement plan for each school and each district,

2. improving staff effectiveness both through additions 
to staff and through training of existing staff,

3. involving parents and pupils in planning,
*4. providing recourse when students need help,
5. balancing socioeconomic status by school and by 

classroom,
6. emphasizing human values and the dignity of each 

student, and
7. providing more money to carry out these programs. 

Instructional Improvement Plans
The need for improved programs in urban education is strikingly 

evident from reports of low achievement scores in all large cities. 
Desegregation alone cannot provide improved quality.



•  •

' -  '9 -  '

Under this plan, each school and each district is required to 
develop and carry out an educational improvement plan which specifies 
action in educational research, program developmentinnovation and 
experimentation3 dissemination of new ideas} evaluation and assess­

ment of progress3 and the widespread use of practices that have been 
demonstrated to be successful.

Such a plan has to provide for different life styles of learning 
of a wide variety of students. Each district and each school should 
include practices which address themselves to a heterogenous 
population.

5

Some practices that already have proven effectiveness are:
1. instruction based on diagnosis of individual pupil status,
2. inquiry teaching, not rote,

3. first-hand observation, not just reading and listening,
4. wide variety of learning materials,
5. attention to individual differences,
6. extensive use of learning principles, e.g., reinforcement, 

use of student ideas,
7. vigorous pupil discussions, not just lecture,
8. flexible organizations, e.g., team teaching, 

nongraded instruction, and
9. attention to pupils with special problems.

^Goodlad, John I. "The Schools vs. Education," 
Saturday Review, April 19, 1969, Vol. 52.



10, -

It should be understood that while the search continues for 
more effective ways of teaching the urban poor and all other students 
as well, educators must continue to use and test the best ideas they 
have. We should not require each school to be like every other
school. Students arrive at school with a variety of life experiences
and learning styles. Schools in turn have been successful in 
developing a variety of effective teaching styles. For these reasons 
each school should have responsible autonomy to develop those teaching 
methods which can be most effective for its students. Under such a 
system the schools and districts have the freedom to explore and ex­
periment but are held accountable for the results of their work. The
educational institution becomes both responsible and renewing so that 
it can indeed meet the needs of its constituency.

Such an effort cannot be carried on in the late afternoon or on 
week-ends by tired educators. Time, staff, and money from the 
regular program must be devoted to this improvement effort. This 
means cooperation from the State in several ways, including, perhaps, 
the modification of restrictions on the length of the school day and 
the school year to facilitate adequate planning time, and the en­
couragement of a variety of improvement approaches. It also means 
more money, perhaps one-half of one percent of the total school 
district budget on a continuing basis for planning the improvement



- 11 -

efforts, and five percent added on to the total school budget for 
carrying out such improvement efforts.,

For all school districts it also means sufficient funding .to 
provide for reasonable operation of the existing program. A good 
guide is 60 professionals per 1,000 students. Some districts in 
the metropolitan area approach this standard already, e.g., Oak Park, 
Birmingham, Dearborn, Southfield, Lamphere, and River Rouge.
Detroit, at 43 per 1,000, falls far below.

The treatment of minority groups in textbooks, tests, and other 
materials should recognize the dignity and worth of all. The present 
Detroit program can serve as a model for the metropolitan area in this 
respect.

Under this plan the metropolitan desegregation authority will 
develop guidelines for the selection and use of instructional 
materials which guarantee fair treatment and full representation of 
minority groups.

Improvements in Staff Effectiveness
No educational improvement program can be successful without 

recognition that the most potent single controllable variable in 
the teaching-learning situation is the teaching behavior of teachers 
and other staff.



- 12

The addition of new staff is not enough. The highest quality 
inservice education programs .for teachers, counselors, administrators 
and others must be provided in all school districts. Teachers must 
learn to communicate high expectations for school success to all pupils 
and especially to children and youth from low socioeconomic status 
or minority groups. It has been shown that teacher attitudes, 
teaching behavior, and teacher effectiveness can be improved through 
carefully planned inservice training sessions. The universities can 
be helpful in this effort but the training cannot be turned over to 
them. It requires a joint program.

Under this plan each school and each school district is 
required to plan, conduct, evaluate, and report on its staff improve­

ment effort.

Parent and Pupil Involvement
Students, parents and other community persons should be involved 

in planning and evaluating the school program.
Each school and. each district is required to design, conduct, 

evaluate, and report on its plan for full involvement of students 
and parents in the establishment of goals and objectives, design of 
educational experiences, and the evaluation of school program.

This is not to say that the responsibility which is primarily 
attached to the educators should be shifted to students and parents.



, 1 3

It is simply to recognize that no program that omits parents and 
pupils from participation can be relevant. Further, it is necessary 
to begin programs by which parents may learn about and participate 
constructively in such a way as to increase their understanding of 
the integration effort.

Recourse for Individual Students
Education has long needed a method by which the individual student 

can get help when he needs it so that we can prevent drop-outs who 
leave school and psychological drop-outs who remain in school but who 
do not progress satisfactorily.

This plan requires that each school and each district dev elop 3 
conduct, evaluate, and report on its program for providing each 
student with a method of getting special help when needed whether 
that help he in the academic program, the counseling area3 or any 
other phase of the educational program. Such plans must include 
provision for individual and confidential attention, easy access 
for students and parents to a full range of diagnostic services, 
appropriate communication between the diagnostic services and the 
regular teachers3 and a system of improving this "recourse" plan as 
it operates.



14

Socioeconomic Status Balance

We seek desegregation by socioeconomic status as well as by 
race. xhe presence of a predominance of middle class students in 
the classroom increases the chances for improved achievement by the 
poor and does not impede the achievement of the middle class.

Therefore} in this plan it is required that the strategy for 
recombining students by race also provides a mixture of socioeconomic 
leve Is.

In a later section of this plan the socioeconomic levels and 
the composite achievement scores of the various participating 
districts are presented as measured by the State assessment program.

Attention to Human Values

The protection of individual dignity is essential to both quality 
and equality. Under desegregation plans some students will be placed 
in situations where they may not be as welcome as they should be.

Unfortunately, it is in this area that avoidance of real issues 
most often occurs. There is danger that financial and human 
resources will become totally involved in the mechanics of deseg­
regation so that nothing remains for the effort to develop integration. 
Each school and district should guard against this tendency and should 
utilize whatever programs, techniques, and strategies are available 
for the resolution of intergroup and interpersonal problems. Estab­
lished agencies are prepared to provide consultants, knowledge, and 
experience in this area.



- 15.

In order to assure that human values are upheld and new under­

standings are built among individuals and groups3 each district and 
school is required to designconducty evaluate3 and report on its 
plan to move from desegregation to integration.

Such plans should make provision for each of the following 
concerns:

1. A leading human value is self-determination; students 
should have a central role in the development of the 
school plan.

2. Adequate resources should be provided for special programs 
and materials to help students achieve and maintain their 
own identity as individuals and as group members.

3. Procedures should be devised for students, staff, and 
parents to share with each other their own values and 
cultures. These experiences belong in the regular 
curriculum courses as well as in co-curricular activities.

4. Students should participate in decision making regarding 
the operation and policies of the school.

5. Students, parents, staff, and other groups, including 
racial groups, should be allowed to meet to formulate 
goals and plans of importance to them for the betterment 
of the educational program.

6. Staff training should provide full understanding of 
differing cultures and experiences as well as skills 
in leading group discussions of values, cultural 
differences, and race relations problems.

7. Each school should involve its new students in a review 
and reformulation of statements of student rights and 
codes of conduct.

8. Personnel selection, placement, and promotion policies 
should reflect the multi-racial makeup of the student 
body and the metropolitan area generally.



- 16

Increased Funds '
Certain facts must be understood by those who seek quality and 

equality in education in the Detroit area. There are inequalities 
among the districts in financial support to education. In some 
districts the property tax rate for schools is lower than in others. 
Some districts have a much higher assessed value. Some municipalities 
use a large amount of property taxes for other services, reducing the 
amount available for education. The costs of educational services 
and facilities vary.

The education of children and youth from poor families is far 
more costly than for the middle class because of deficits in health, 
language, experience, access to support, family level of education, 
income, influence on institutions, and expectations of success.
The additional educational and related services required to provide 
equality of opportunity are costly.

Industry may spend five percent or more on improvement efforts 
through research and development. Severe restrictions on expenditures 
have prevented educators from spending even one percent on the 
creation and testing of better ways to educate. This condition 
further jeopardizes the education of the poor because the need for 
better methods of teaching and learning is greatest for them.



17.

Some districts have an inordinate number of students from 
poor families. ,

Blackness has brought even further oppression and deprivation 
to many Detroit pupils which compounds the problem of providing 
equality and quality in education.

This plan requires that tax rates be equalized throughout the 
metropolitan area to a level at or near the highest millage rate among 
the districts. It further requires the State to furnish:

1. Supplementary funding to equalize the per capita funds 
available,

2. Funding the special programs for disadvantaged students 
wherever they attend school,

3. Funding for specific costs of transportation for which 
the remedy must he found in amendment of the State law 
which now excludes Detroit from participation in general 
transportation funds, and

4. Funding for research, development, and other improvement 
functions at 5% of current operating costs.

The absence of such increased financial support will certainly 
prevent this desegregation from having its intended impact, namely, 
the provision of equal educational opportunity and quality integrated 
education for all students.

Much attention has been focused upon the financial costs of 
implementing any desegregation plan requiring the movement of students 
outside their neighborhood "walk-in" school. Even greater costs 
are attached to plans which deal with the improvement of educational



18, -

quality so that desegregation becomes more than a simple mixing of 
black and white students. These costs must be recognized and 
provided for. .

At the same time, the fact should not be overlooked that 
segregation in and of itself maximizes the ultimate cost to the 
taxpayer. Containment of a group of people within any prescribed 
area is costly. Unequal education with resultant loss of economic 
stability is costly. Separation of the races and the drift to a 
dual society is costly.

But the greatest cost lies in the inability of our society to 
utilize the full talent of all its citizens. How many potential 
scientists have we lost, for example, because creativity was stifled 
through a segregated environment? How many of our youth have become 
drop-outs from society because of their disuliusionment when they 
compare the promises and the practices of our democracy?

To those who believe that we cannot afford to desegregate our 
schools, let us bluntly say, "We can't afford not to."



19

III. AREAS AND GOVERNANCE

Geographic Aspects of a Metropolitan Integration Plan
'  - • - ”** "  ' '  ........... '......  ” ....  .............  -j...—  _  -  ............................. - , (

The City of Detroit and its surrounding areas of urbanization 
extend principally into three counties: Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb.
Within this area there are 982,000 public school students in grades 
K-12, of whom approximately 20 percent are black. These students 
are distributed geographically as follows:

Black Total
Detroit 177 ,942 288,256
Western Wayne County 11,459 260,775
Eastern Wayne County 7 ,164 26,185

(Highland Park, etc.)
Oakland 9,118 236,845
Macomb 2,615 169,923

208 ,298 981,984
The geographic distribution of these students has been examined 

to explore the divisibility of the area for two purposes.
1. Establish geographic units smaller than the metropolitan 

area which may serve to develop and implement an inte­
gration plan. Essential characteristics of these 
geographical units are the following:
a. That each be reasonably representative of the 

racial and socioeconomic make-up of the total 
area.

b. That they recognize and permit the most proximate 
and convenient movements of students to achieve 
integration.

c. That they permit movement along existing public 
transportation and thoroughfare lines.

d. That they be consistent with patterns of growth and 
movement of black families insofar as these can be 
anticipated.



2.

■: 20

Relate these units of area to a level of jurisdiction, 
preferably an existing administrative agency, to which 
administrative authority to develop and implement an 
integration plan may be delegated at least in an interim 
phase until new jurisdictions can be developed.

As an initial basic for division the three intermediate school 
districts have the following sizes and numbers of black students.

Black Total
Wayne 196,465 575,216
Oakland 9,118 236,845
Macomb 2,615 169,923

However, if Western Wayne County, excluding Detroit, Highland 
Park, Hamtramck, Grosse Pointe and Harper Woods is taken separately, 
it has the following pupil population:

Western Wayne 11,459 260,775
Since an overwhelming proportion of black students live in 

Detroit and Eastern Wayne County, division of these students between 
Western Wayne County and the two counties to the north may provide 
an initial basis for geographic division. In fact Woodward Avenue 
and the C. and 0. Railroad provide obvious and clear lines for such 
a division. There are eight high school constellations east of 
Woodward; seven south of the Pere Marquette Railroad; and by assigning 
Northern High School together with Highland Park to the are north of 
the C. and 0. Railroad, we have the following three major sectors:



•  •

“ 21' -

Detroit East Side and Macomb County
■ Black Total

Pershing 9,436 14,690
Kettering 16,339 17,866
Northeastern 9,399 10,496
Osborn 2,645 11,584
Denby 421 10,102
Finney 8,486 15,350
Southeastern 12,725 15,990
King 10 ,107 10,495

69,558 106,573
Hamtramck 905 3 ,044
Grosse Pointe 1 13,323
Harper Woods 0 1,981

Sub Total - 906 18,348
Macomb 2,615 169,923

73,079 294,844
24.8 percent black

Detroit Southwest and Wayne County
Murray
Western
Southwestern
Northwestern
Chadsey
Cody
Mackenzie

Wayne County-Western

7 ,042 9,564
5,337 11,728
4,981 11,183
14,771 14,876
2,053 5,998
1,666 15,534
20,272 21,773
56,122 90,656
11,459 260,775
67,581 351,431
19 2 percent black



22

Detroit Northwest and Oakland County

Northern 
Central 
Mumford 
Cooley 
Redford 
Ford

Highland Park 
Oakland

Initial Operational Responsibility

It is essential in the initial phase of operation that the 
challenge of integration is a matter of providing an enriched 
experience of ethnic and socioeconomic diversity to all students, 
whether black or white, and that the question cannot be treated only as 
one of how widely black students must be scattered in order to achieve 
a given percentage of racial mixture.

Approached from this standpoint the administrative responsibility 
and initiative for devising plans which will achieve this enriched ex­
perience must be extended to the limits of the metropolitan area.

In the Detroit situation there is administrative structure in 
the three intermediate school districts to which such responsibility 
may be directed. It may be assigned as a responsibility to the three 
intermediate districts to work out jointly or it may be assigned

Black Total
9,616 9,704

13 ,448 13,491
11,190 11,884
13,907 19,287

503 15 ,149
2,686 10,743
51,350 80,258
6 ,158 7 ,837
9 ,118 236,845
66,626 324,910
20.5 percent black



- 23' -

separately to the three districts by revising their jurisdiction 
to correspond to the division suggested above.

The responsibility of these districts to develop full integration 
plans for their whole areas may include limited discretion as to the 
timing and geographic extent of initial integration plans.

Representation to the amended intermediate school district 
governing bodies should be revised to include appropriate represen­
tation from the local school districts or portions of school districts 
which have been transferred.

Smaller Operational Units as an Ultimate Objective
Assignment of initial responsibility to the intermediate school 

districts is a means of providing a focus for decision making and 
action within the existing framework of governmental authority.
It may be a basis for continuity of operation within existing school 
districts until a more permanent basis can be developed over a period 
of three to five years.

Since both the question of integration and the question of a 
metropolitan financial structure for support of schools are involved, 
it may be well to provide for operational units smaller than these 
three intermediate school districts yet consolidating numbers of 
existing districts.



24

The three proposed intermediate districts would each approximate 
in size the school district of the City of Detroit.

The State consultants' plan suggests six districts for Detroit 
and its immediately contiguous area. The "Proposal for Employing 
Educational Boroughs in Designating Schools" suggests five boroughs 
of somewhat greater size seeking a similar scale of operation.

In fact, from an assumption of districts starting in the inner 
city and extending into the suburbs, the geography of Detroit permits 
from six to eight such districts elongated along radial or other 
principal thoroughfares or freeways.

With varying degrees of difficulty it is possible to subdivide 
each of the three intermediate districts outlined above into two or 
three regions or boroughs. It is quite possible to separate out 
the northern part of Oakland County as a borough around Pontiac, and 
a portion of the eastern section of Macomb County as a borough 
around Mt. Clemens.

The principal questions which must be resolved antecedent to 
such geographic division are the following:

1. What is the function and desired size of the borough?
2. Presumably the boroughs should be racially representative 

of the metropolitan area, but what is to be permitted as 
a range of tolerance?

3. Will there be any electoral or other reason for attempting
to keep such boroughs equal in size, such as voting districts?



25

Socioeconomic Status Balance
This proposed plan not only provides for balance in race, but 

also balance in socioeconomic status and achievement. These tables 
show the range in socioeconomic status and in achievement as measured 
by the January 1971 State Assessment Program for Grade 7. The scores 
given both under socioeconomic status and under composite achievement 
are standard scores. In a standard score the mean is 50 and the 
standard deviation is 10. This means that approximately two-thirds 
of all of the individual pupil scores fall between 4-0 and 60. For 
each district and for each Detroit region the mean pupil standard 
scores are given. Area averages are computed by weighting each 
district by size of total enrollment.

STANDARD SCORES FROM GRADE 7 STATE ASSESSMENT, JANUARY, 19 71
Oakland County Area

School District
Socio­

economic
Status

Composite
Achievement

Pontiac City 4 5.6 46.9
Novi Community 52.0 52.0
Holly Area 49.2 (est.) 49.2
Huron Valley 48.7 48.3
Lake Orion Community 51.8 51.8
Oxford Area Community 50 . 2 5 0.7
Rochester Community 54.8 53.9
Walled Lake Consolidated 50.0 49.8
Avondale 50.9 51.5
Berkley City 53 . 3 53.3
Birmingham 60.1 57 . 5
Bloomfield Hills 61.2 56.9



26

Oakland County Area (cont.)

School District
City of Troy 
Clarenceville 
Clawson City
Farmington Public Schools
Ferndale City
Hazel Park City
Lamphere Public Schools
Madison Heights
Oak Park City
Royal Oak City
Southfield Public Schools
West Bloomfield Township
Brandon Township
Clarkston Community
South Lyons Community
Waterford
Detroit Region 4
Detroit Region 5
Detroit Northern High School
Highland Park

Area Mean

Socio-
economic Composite
Status Achievement
52 . 5 52.5
49.2 50.8
52.6 (est. ) 52.6
57 . 6 53.7
51.2 51.3
45.6 49.5
52.0 49.1
45.9 49.9
54.2 54.2
52.7 51.1
57.4 54.1
57.1 53.3
51.0 51.9
51.2 50.5
51.3 49.1
51.4 49.5
49.1 49.0
46.3 43.5
40.1 (est.) 40.1
42.7 43.1
51 + 50 +

Macomb County Area
Mt. Clemens Community
Anchor Bay
Richmond Community
Romeo Community
Center Line
Chippewa Valley
Clintondale
East Detroit City
Fitzgerald
Fraser
L'Anse Creuse 
Lake Shore

47.1 48.3
50.0 50.1
5 0.1 50.3
53.1 50.6
50 . 0 51.2
52.4 5 2.4
48.2 50 . 5
48.9 52.3
49.2 50.6
51.1 51.3
49.5 49.9
51.4 50.4



27

Macomb County Area (cont.)

School District .
Socio­

economic
Status

Composite
Achievement

Lakeview 52.5 51.7
Roseville City 47.9 49.4
South Lake Schools 52.1 52.3
Utica Community 51.1 51.9Van Dyke Community 44.6 50.3
Warren Consolidated 52 . 5 53.1
Warren Woods 52.1 52.3
Armada Area 51.4 51.2
New Haven Community 47.2 47.0
Detroit Region 6 44.6 (est.) 44.6
Detroit Region 7 45.7 46.3Detroit Region 8 40.9 40.8
Detroit Northeastern High School 40.1 (est.) 40.1
Hamtramck 39.9 43.5
Grosse Pointe 58 . 5 56.1
Harper Woods 52.4 52.0

Area Mean 51 + 51 +

Wayne County Area
Plymouth Community 53 . 8 52.7
Huron 47.8 48.3
Northville 56.6 54.5
Romulus Community 44.9 46.5
Van Buren 47 .4 48.5
Allen Park 52.8 54.8
Cherry Hill 52 . 0 49.6
Crestwood 52.5 52.0
Dearborn City 52.8 53.7
Dearborn Heights District 7 47.8 49.8
Ecorse Public Schools 44.9 45.5Fairlane 55 . 5 54.7
Flat Rock Community 50 . 3 48.1
Garden City 50 . 0 50.9
Gibraltar 50.0 49.2
Grosse lie Township 58.4 54.7
Inkster City 42.2 41.1



2'8- -

Wayne County Area (cont.)

School District
■ . Socio­

economic 
Status

Composite
Achievement

Lincoln Park City 47.7 49.0
Livonia Public Schools 54.4 52.4
Melvindale Northern Allen 47.1 50.8
North Dearborn Heights 53 . 3 53.7
Redford Union 51.5 52.1
River Rouge City 45.3 47.9
Riverview Community 5 0.4 51.1South Redford 52.9 54.4
Southgate Community 48.8 50.7
Taylor 47.6 49.1
Trenton Public Schools 53 . 8 54.1
Wayne Community 48.9 49.6
Westwood Community 46.1 44.1Woodhaven 47.4 48.1
Wyandotte City 47.8 50.2
Detroit Region 2 41.1 42.1
Detroit Region 3 45.6 45.0
Detroit Murray High School 40.1 (est.) 40.1

Area Mean 49 + 49 +

Governance

A Metropolitan Desegregation Authority will be established to 
develop and enforce the metropolitan desegregation-integration plan. 
This Authority will set policies, objectives, guidelines, and target 
dates for desegregation. It also will review the operation of the 
plan and report to the State Board of Education and the community.

It is recommended that the Authority consist of two members 
appointed by the State Board of Education, one member each appointed 
by the three intermediate school district boards, and two members



- 29

appointed by the Detroit Board of Education.
The Authority shall assess financial needs and make appropriate 

recommendations to the State on levels of funding to support quality 
education, to equalize opportunity, and to meet requirements of the 
desegregation plan.

The governance of the three intermediate school districts will 
be reformulated to assure fair representation of the new areas. The 
intermediate school district is assigned responsibility for designing 
the logistics of pupil assignment and transportation, staff assign­
ment, and financial equalization. It may in time make recommen­
dations for district reorganization to the State.

The present local school districts including the Detroit central 
and regional boards would retain, at least for the present, their 
present functions in order to provide continuity of educational 
program. Each district must cooperate in the development and 
operation of the metropolitan desegregation-integration plan.

In addition, each local school would be required to have an 
organization, consisting of students, staff, and parents, with by-laws 
that provide for full participation of all parents, even though they 
may be living away from the immediate neighborhood of the school.
In many cases such a group already is functioning, such as the P.T.A. 
or other community groups.



30

IV.. ASSIGNMENTS
t ' ' .

Other Proposals
The State proposal III does not prescribe a pupil assignment 

plan but rather sets a time schedule for when such assignment shall 
take place and designates the State Board of Education as the respon­
sible agent for designing the plan. Further, the State proposal 
suggests that there are "three or more potential bases for student 
assignment, including (1) rearrangement of school feeder patterns,
(2) assignment on the basis of census tract location, and (3) alpha­
betical selection within existing school districts and constellations. 
The racial balance to be achieved within the Initial Operating Zone 
schools affected by the plan shall range from 45% white/55% black to
57% white/25% black and.... shall move toward reflecting generally

6

the racial balance of the surrounding community." All grades 
except K-3 are to be affected, certain schools are to be closed and 
new construction is emphasized.

The Borough Plan proposes to include virtually all of the 
metropolitan area students in the actions of its plan. This plan 
suggests two alternatives. They are: (1) grades 5-12 to be de­
segregated in September, 1972, or (2) grades 5-8 to be desegregated

State Board of Education, "Metropolitan School District 
Reorganization Plan," February 1, 1972.

6



• •
' , ' • « ‘

■ - •31 - ,

in September, 1972, with a delay of up to four years for the balance 
of grades 9-12. The borough plan does not suggest a particular 
device for achieving a racial mix; however, the areas, extent and 
minimum acceptable levels to be achieved are stipulated.

Other State plans submitted to the Federal Court have proposed 
specific devices for pupil assignment. A discussion of such 
devices is the subject of the following material.

Generally, various proposals focus on a particular portion of 
the school population. Many proposals exclude the kindergarten 
and the early grades. The reasons for such inclusion or exclusion 
involve a variety of justifications, the end result of which, of 
course, is that the number of students involved is limited.

Thus, grades 9-12 are primarily considered as the base for 
desegregaLion efforts. The borough plan indicates a preference for
an initial 9-8 effort. The argument is that this would provide a
base of youngsters with experience in a racially mixed situation 
and as a consequence a dampening down of hostility and aggression 
which tends to appear at the senior high school level. There is 
some merit in extending this first step into the 9th or 10th grade, 
whichever is the initial grade of the high school involved.

Some State plans have put forward specific mixing devices.
These are included in the following summary:



Two-way transportation
... pupils assigned by computer

(alphabetical or census tract basis)
... paired schools
. . . feeder school pattern rearrangement
One-way transportation
... black to white movement with

consequent enlargement of white 
area facilities

The magnet option
... voluntary assignment by pupil 

(involves, also, new schools 
in addition to existing structures 
with 50-50 ratios)

Detroit Position on Pupil Assignment
The Detroit Board of Education has considered the foregoing 

alternatives and takes the position that the following circumstances 
and criteria must exist in the pupil assignment plan to be approved:

1. The Metropolitan Desegregation Authority will devise the 
basic pupil participation plan. Intermediate School 
Districts will develop the logistics of the plan subject 
to the approval of the metropolitan authority.

2. There are three conditions under which children should be 
brought together in order to assure the most constructive 
interaction:
a) When children must travel considerable distances to 

school because they live in racial isolation, the 
plan for travel should be organized so that all children 
share in the experience of traveling, preferably on a 
basis under which attendance at a nearby school 
alternates with travel.



b) The experience of meeting children of diverse racial 
and ethnic background should start at as early an age 
as possible, and the plan should be organized so that 
the children should continue their acquaintance and 
interaction over a long period of their education.
We have particular misgivings over those child-mixing 
schemes which throw youth together for short periods 
of time during their adolescent years when emotions 
are volatile and tensions most brittle.

c) The progression through various schools should be 
organized in such a way that families are kept together 
as. much as possible, and parents can become involved in 
the life of the school and in interactions with each other.

3. Once having created and implemented the pupil assignment 
plan,^local schools may not provide grouping or other 
organizational patterns within the school which, in effect, 
resegregate students within the building or classroom structure.

There are various patterns of mixing or bringing children 
together under which these conditions can be met, but we suggest 
that they probably can be met most effectively within plans which 
pair or cluster elementary schools both for exchange of students, 
and to create new feeder patterns for the secondary schools.

Considerations for Staff Assignments
The creation of a Metropolitan Area Integration Plan requires 

that staff at all levels be integrated, as well as students.
An examination of the racial count of teachers in the tri­

county area indicates that there are few black teachers or admini­
strators in a district unless that district has a substantial



number of black students. Thus, most white students in the tri­
county area have been deprived of the experience of being instructed 
by black teachers or attending schools with black principals, 
department heads or counselors.

Each of the desegregation areas should carry out a shift in 
school staff assignment at the same time as pupil desegregation.
This shift in teachers, administrators, custodians and other staff 
should approximate the race ratio of the overall staff categories 
within the new desegregation districts.

Obvious problems include differences in pay schedules, different 
collective bargaining units and representatives, two retirement plans, 
and other matters.

Exchanges between districts and assignment of new personnel 
should be used until the Intermediate District works out devices 
for permanent solutions which will achieve racial balance for all 
staff assignments and still provide fair treatment for all staff.