Stewart compared achievement by race in a number of cities that he classified as progressive or conservative. The results didn’t surprise me, but they shocked Stewart. Conservative cities (as ranked by political scientists used as a reference for the study) consistently did a better job of closing student achievement gaps–sometimes, to zero–than progressive cities.In progressive cities, the gaps between blacks and Hispanics vs. whites ranged from 34 to 41 percent. In conservative cities, the same gaps ranged from 19 to 27 percent. See Stewart’s chart for more detail.
The Bacon’s Rebellion website takes a stab at explaining what may be causing the findings. It identifies three factors - (less) agency, (looser) discipline, and lower standards - which may be responsible for larger gaps in progressive cities. You will find Bacon’s explanations of each of these interesting.
