Skip to content
The Civil Rights Project Proyecto Derechos Civiles
Research report
K-12 Education
Investing in Our Nation’s Future: Advancing Educational Opportunity for Underserved Students
Emma García and Henry M. Levin

Abstract

The United States is undergoing a profound demographic transformation, with individuals from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds becoming a growing majority among school-age youth, adults, and overall. This shift presents both a critical opportunity and an urgent need to address persistent educational inequities that shape aggregate national outcomes.

This report draws on human capital theory and benefit-cost analyses to examine the large public returns of advancing an equity-focused educational agenda that improves investments in historically underserved populations. The evidence shows that interventions, such as high-quality early childhood education, high school completion initiatives, and comprehensive school supports generate significant public benefits, with benefit-cost ratios ranging from $2 to over $12 for every dollar invested. Simulations suggest that narrowing racial/ethnic educational opportunity and outcome gaps could yield between $20 billion to over $70 billion annual additional net benefits to the general public.

The study argues for a national equity-centered education agenda as both a moral imperative and a strategic economic investment, essential to fostering a fairer and more prosperous future for an increasingly diverse country.

In compliance with the UC Open Access Policy, this report has been made available on eScholarship: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/29h9c9dn

Investing in Our Nation’s Future: Advancing Educational Opportunity for Underserved Students
Investing in Our Nation’s Future 12_3_2025
Download
Executive Summary_Investing in Our Nation’s Future 12_3_2025
Download
Related Press
New Study Affirms Economic and Social Benefits of Investment in Public Education
More about
A Civil Rights Agenda for the Next Quarter Century (US set)
Research report
K-12 Education
Investing in Our Nation’s Future: Advancing Educational Opportunity for Underserved Students
The study argues for a national equity-centered education agenda as both a moral imperative and a strategic economic investment, essential to fostering a fairer and more prosperous future for an increasingly diverse country.
Research report
Immigration Policy
U.S. Economic Vitality Depends on Immigration
Over the last decade, the United States has continued to face an aging of its population, which has been widely documented. The aging population is expected to create several problems for the U.S., especially for the future productivity of its labor markets. At this juncture, it is critical to understand the key dynamics driving the aging population, as well as to identify new sources of population growth and how to meet their needs. Public policies that can address this situation will best contribute to the well-being of U.S. society in the new era. The research presented here is based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau, National Bureau of Economic Research, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Research report
Integration and Diversity
Understanding Suburban School Segregation: Toward a Renewed Civil Rights Agenda
As shifting populations change suburban school enrollment, education policy trends formerly confined to urban districts have spread to suburban ones. Many suburban school districts have experienced growth in the charter school sector, as well as a rash of school closures. Suburban schools and districts reflect broader societal problems, paradigms, and possibilities. Yet, if our society is to advance equitable opportunity for all, children learning together in suburban schools must be part of the solution. In order to think clearly about what a renewed civil rights agenda entails given our complex and multiracial geography of inequality, we must understand the extent to which suburban school districts are segregated—and why. We also need to think deeply about policy responses to advance integration with equitable status for all children. This paper draws on federal enrollment data from the nation’s largest 25 metros from 2011-2020 to descriptively analyze suburban school enrollment and segregation at the school district-level, seeking to understand different district contexts and their relationship to student segregation.
Research report
Demographic Studies
American Indian and Alaska Native Populations: Envisioning the Future
This report presents population projections of the racially-identified American Indian and Alaska Native population from the present to 2050 using a traditional demographic method that has been modified to account for net response change – one of the most significant data-related challenges.
Research report
Demographic Studies
The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of the School-Age Population in the U.S.
This research projects the racial and ethnic composition of the U.S. population over the next 3 decades, and finds that it is rapidly changing in response to decades of sustained large-scale immigration.
Research report
Integration and Diversity
Gentrification and Schools: Challenges, Opportunities and Policy Options
The rapid gentrification occurring in major cities may have a significant impact on California and the distribution of wealth and opportunity for its families, similar to the vast suburbanization that occurred during the baby boom era. The White flight from central city neighborhoods has far-reaching consequences, particularly in regard to school segregation, which became an often-intractable problem. However, there is substantial and growing evidence of the enduring benefits for children who attend diverse schools. This study aims to explore whether the return of White and middle-class families to gentrified areas in Los Angeles, Oakland and San Diego has the potential to help desegregate the schools or if it merely rearranges the geography of segregation for students of color, reinforcing racial inequality.
Research report
Integration and Diversity
Racial Reckoning and the Role of Schooling: Exploring the Potential of Integrated Classrooms and Liberatory Pedagogies
Schools have long existed as a means of maintaining democracy in the United States and, given the centrality of race relations to the success of democracy, this paper suggests that schools can be called upon to address racism as well. As such, this paper looks to our rapidly diversifying nation and asks: “What would it take to move closer to meaningfully addressing the legacy of racism in the United States, and what role might schools play in this process?”
Research report
Demographic Studies
Discrimination in the 21st Century: How Civil Rights Policies Can Best Embrace the Growing Mixed-Race Population
This report catalogues the growth of the modern mixed-race population in the United States and highlights the many complications this population presents for the future of civil rights law and policy.
Research report
Multilingual Learners
Bilingual Education and America’s Future: Evidence and Pathways
This paper looks at the next 25 years of education and policy making regarding students classified as English learners (EL). Given the strong research evidence on the benefits of bilingual education and need to address barriers to opportunity experienced by English learners, this paper strengthens the case for federal, state and local education policy and action that looks toward the implementation of bilingual education as the standard service--rather than exception--for EL-classified students.
Research report
College Admissions
The Role of Standardized Tests in College Admissions
This paper summarizes: the history of college admissions testing in the United States; how the SAT and ACT are used today in admissions; admissions criteria and their use; the future of admissions tests and alternative approaches to admissions. It also provides thoughts on the definition of "merit" and the value of meritocracy in college admissions.
Report
About the Series: A Civil Rights Agenda for the Next Quarter Century
In commemoration of its 25th Anniversary, the CRP has launched two large sets of commissioned work. The first is a series on the potential for social change and equity policies in the nation. The second set of studies focuses on California, a vast state whose astonishing diversity foretells the future of the U.S. and whose profound inequality warns that there is much work to be done.
The Civil Rights Project
Proyecto Derechos Civiles

Our Work

Learn More

Stay Informed

Join our mailing list to receive updates on Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles research, publications, and events.

Join the Mailing List

Get in Touch

UCLA | Civil Rights Project
520 Portola Plaza
8370 Math Sciences, Box 951521
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1521