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Then, starting last fall, the district instituted a reform known as controlled school choice. It resembles other popular forms of school choice, such as vouchers and charter schools--only there's a twist. While Vicksburg parents took their pick of three schools closest to their home, the district used race as a consideration in making assignments, to achieve diversity in each school. After the numbers were crunched, 85% of parents got their first choice of school. Even more eye popping: the schools now boast near equal head counts of black and white students.
Still, many parents resisted. Balking at longer bus rides, some signed up their kids for private schools. One faction made a short-lived bid to build a charter school closer to their homes. But by midyear, many of those parents had transferred their children back--and they were joined by some parents who had been using private schools for years. A man who once backed the charter-school campaign won a school board seat. Those who had been in the system all along are touting the benefits of vigilant parenting. "The more you hang around the school, the more your kid's going to get preferential treatment," says Dennis Butler, father of a fourth-grader. "I mean the teachers actually dust off your kids when they see you coming."
So the students are more presentable, but will they be higher achievers? The district says that student attendance and behavior have both improved--and that drug use has dried up to such a degree that the district lost half its federal grant to combat substance abuse. More conclusive proof will come with test scores, due in late summer. Until then, Diana Brokaw is keeping a scorecard of her own. "The other day six parents showed up to chaperone a field trip," she proudly reports. "And two of them were dads."