WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Philip Tegeler, executive director of the Policy & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC), today posted a blog at the Huffington Post discussing the benefits to white public school students from attending diverse classrooms.

"For decades, educators and sociologists have documented the disadvantages to minority children being taught in segregated classrooms, and the long term and short term educational benefits of integration for children of color," Mr. Tegeler writes. "But we have neglected the strong evidence that white students also benefit from school diversity."  

Mr. Tegeler cites a recent research paper by the National Coalition on School Diversity (NCSD) entitled, "How Non-Minority Students Also Benefit from Racially Diverse Schools." The paper "concludes that white students benefit from attending multicultural schools in a number of ways," he writes. "For instance, white students in diverse learning environments are exposed to complex classroom discussions and they also develop better critical thinking and problem-solving skills than their counterparts in racially homogeneous schools."

Read Mr. Tegeler's full blog at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-tegeler/diverse-classrooms-also-b_b_2403328.html  Please join the conversation! PRRAC, along with NCSD, are seeking to recharge the fight to integrate the nation's public schools that are as segregated now as they were during the 1960s.   

You can also follow Mr. Tegeler's organization on twitter at  https://twitter.com/PRRAC_DC , on Facebook  at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Poverty-and-Race-Research-Action-Council/480723658639202 and at www.prrac.org.

PRRAC, a civil rights policy organization based in Washington, D.C., connects advocates with social scientists working on race and poverty issues, and promotes a research-based advocacy strategy on structural inequality issues.  At the present time, PRRAC is pursuing work in the areas of housing, education, and health, focusing on the importance of "place" and the continuing consequences of historical patterns of housing segregation and development for low income families in the areas of health, education, employment, and incarceration.

(To schedule print or broadcast interviews with Mr. Tegeler, please contact Michael K. Frisby at mike@frisbyassociates.com or 202-625-4328; Kimberly Alleyne at kimberlynalleyne@yahoo.com or 703-855-9604.)

Contact:
Michael K. Frisby
202-625-4328

SOURCE Policy & Race Research Action Council