Could Socioeconomic Integration work in Hamilton County Public Schools?

Chattanooga, TN (WDEF) – Have you ever heard of Socioeconomic Integration? Neither have most people, but that’s what dozens of locals in Chattanooga were discussing today, as a way to decrease the number of Hamilton County schools in poverty.

Dozens of locals filled The Church on Main to hear Richard Kahlenberg, senior fellow at the Century Foundation, discuss the new idea with city leaders.

"Hamilton County is trying to figure out ways to improve education for children," said Kahlenberg, "I’m here to talk about what some other communities have done to reduce to economic segregation in the schools."

For more than 20 years Kahlenberg has been considered the leader of the socioeconomic integration movement, which, simply put, means giving low-income students the opportunity to transfer to middle-class schools, while bringing middle-class students into lower-income schools to help achieve academic excellence for everyone.

"There’s research that suggests that lower income students who have a chance to go to economically mixed schools are about two years ahead of low income kids who are stuck in high poverty schools," said Kahlenberg.

Several school districts in areas like Washington D.C. and Detroit have already picked up the new idea, and experts say it’s doing well so far but only time will tell the ultimate outcome.

Kahlenberg said it gives communities the opportunities to break down barriers of race and class that have divided areas like Hamilton County in the past.