Coleman, James 1926-

COLEMAN, JAMES 1926-

Sociologist and government consultant

A Chemist Turns to Schools

Dr. James S. Coleman, a sociologist with a deep concern for a democratic, pluralistic society, had an early career as a chemical engineer with Eastman-Kodak Company in Rochester, New York, during the early 1950s. However, he became so fascinated with sociology and social problems that he decided to attend Columbia University, where he worked as a research associate with the Bureau of Applied Social Research while earning his doctorate. He first became involved in the study of schooling when, under the auspices of the United States Office of Education in 1957, he and his associates began a detailed sociological study of ten Illinois high schools. They examined both academic and social aspects of these schools, and from their research they published the research monograph, Social Climates in High Schools (1961), and two other academic books which were praised for their meticulous research and their objectivity.

Equality and Educational Opportunity

Under the provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the U.S. commissioner of education was instructed to conduct a study examining the extent to which racial minorities are deprived of equal educational opportunities in the nation's public schools. The commissioner chose Coleman and Ernest Q. Campbell of Vanderbilt University to design and conduct this $1.5 million study and to report the results to the president and Congress within two years. Involving some sixty thousand teachers and over six hundred thousand pupils throughout the United States, Coleman and Campbell surveyed educational opportunities available to Negroes, American Indians, Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Orientals, and disadvantaged whites. Issued in 1966, the final report, entitled Equality of Educational Opportunity, was widely known as the Coleman report.

Findings

The Coleman report indicated that de facto segregation was still widespread throughout the United States; that although predominantly nonwhite schools had somewhat poorer material resources and more crowded classes than white schools, this did not appear to be a major factor in determining academic performance of pupils; and that teachers in ghetto schools often came from deprived backgrounds and had less academic ability than teachers in more prosperous areas. According to the report, black students' dropout rates were almost twice as high as that of whites, and only about 4.6 percent of the nation's college students were black. Another significant finding was that non-white students in all-minority schools fell further behind their white contemporaries academically with each succeeding grade. Whereas a sixth-grade black pupil in a northeastern city was about 1.6 years behind white sixth graders, by the time he reached the twelfth grade he trailed by 3.3 years.

Influential Conclusions

The Coleman report pointed to several definite conclusions that influenced educational policy in the 1970s. For example, the report clearly suggested that increased expenditures for improved school facilities had virtually no effect on the academic achievements of pupils and that predominantly minority schools did not help children overcome the handicaps of a poor home environment. However, students from lower economic levels who were in schools with predominantly middle-class students made significant gains in educational motivation, while the middle-class students suffered no appreciable loss from the association. Coleman criticized tracking students according to ability and suggested that development of such attitudes as black pride may "have more effect on Negro achievement than any other single factor." In spring 1970 the Norfolk, Virginia, city schools announced school integration policies based "on the best social sciences data we have now available"—the Coleman report. The plan maintained a middle-class majority in each school while placing black pupils into those schools, thus maintaining an optimum educational setting as defined by Coleman's research.

Coleman and the Nixon Administration

In 1970 President Richard Nixon endorsed Coleman's conclusion that students' economic and social environments directly affect their academic achievements. Coleman acted as an adviser to Nixon in formulating a plan to give school districts in the South and North $1.5 billion during 1971 and 1972 to help alleviate the effects of racial segregation. Coleman fought to allocate the majority of the money to desegregation rather than to ineffective compensatory education programs for ghetto schools. He also criticized Nixon for stating that the administration would act only against de jure segregation and not against de facto segregation caused by housing patterns. Coleman said that racial segregation, no matter what its origin, had to be eliminated "not merely for some vague, generalized social purposes, but because desegregation is the most consistent mechanism for improving the quality of education of disadvantaged children."