Affirmative Action

Research related to Affirmative Action

Percent Plans in College Admissions: A Comparative Analysis of Three States’ Experiences

Our public schools are becoming increasingly segregated by race and income and the segregated schools are, on average, strikingly inferior in many important ways, including the quality and experience of teachers and the level of competition from other students. Given these facts, it is clear that students of different races do not receive an equal chance for college.

Trends in Public School Segregation in the South, 1987-2000

Our analyses show that segregation has remained at very high levels in most Southern states and districts, and has even increased by large amounts in many others. There does appear to be an important trend toward resegregation, but that trend is not uniform across the South. We also find that some trends are masked from one measure of segregation, but revealed by others, stressing the importance of the use of multiple measures and the examination of local situations.

Who Should We Help? The Negative Social Consequences of Merit Scholarships

From a civil rights standpoint, shifting from need-based to "merit" aid means shifting funds from blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans to whites and Asians, from city and rural residents to suburban residents, from children from one-parent families to those who have two parents.

A Public Laboratory Dewey Barely Imagined: The Emerging Model of School Governance and Legal Reform

Public school reform raises the prospect of a broader redefinition of our very democracy.

Diversity Challenged: Evidence on the Impact of Affirmative Action

In the courts and in referenda campaigns, affirmative action in college admissions is under full-scale attack. Though it was designed to help resolve a variety of serious racial problems, affirmative action's survival may turn on just one question--whether or not the educational value of diversity is sufficiently compelling to justify consideration of race as a factor in deciding whom to admit to colleges and universities.