Integration and Diversity

Research in this section explores the impacts and benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in education, as well as resegregation trends and remedies in our nation's public schools.

New Faces, Old Patterns? Segregation in the Multiracial South

This report begins by showing the patterns of segregation and desegregation of various groups, regions and states by using data from 1968 until present day. It examines both the changes over the last decade (1991-2003) as well as those over a much longer period (1954-2003). In the context of growing diversity in our nation’s public schools, it is increasingly important to examine the gains brought about by school desegregation as well as the increasingly multiracial nature of segregation for the growing Latino population in the South and the reality of resegregation in many of the Southern and Border states for black and white students.

New Faces, Old Patterns? Segregation in the Multiracial South

If desegregation plans were still in effect we would expect that as the share of whites in a state declined, white students would tend to be in schools that, on average, had an increased share of black students. In several states, however, even though the percentage of white students has declined significantly, the level of white contact with blacks actually fell.

School Resegregation: Must the South Turn Back?

Released by the University of North Carolina Press, this book presents groundbreaking original research from scholars around the country on the causes, consequences and potential solutions to this trend in various areas in the South.

Why Segregation Matters: Poverty and Educational Inequality

The high level of poverty among children, together with many housing policies and practices which excludes poor people from most communities, mean that students in inner city schools face isolation not only from the white community but also from middle class schools. Minority children are far more likely than whites to grow up in persistent poverty. Since few whites have direct experience with concentrated poverty schools, it is very important to examine research about its effects.

Looking To The Future: Voluntary K-12 School Integration

With the history, statistics, and research as context, we then turn to the practical question of what you can do to promote integration in the schools in your own community. To give you a sense of how other school systems have effectively tackled the problem, we begin this part of the manual with short descriptions of various hypothetical integrative student assignment strategies. We then review and discuss the legal considerations at work when school districts elect to pursue these kinds of voluntary methods of achieving racial and ethnic diversity. Finally, we conclude with some suggestions for concrete steps that you can take to make a difference by encouraging the public schools in your community to promote racial integration and implement policies and practices that foster positive, integrated learning environments for all students.

Racial Segregation and Educational Outcomes in Metropolitan Boston

Boston’s disastrous failure to achieve peaceful desegregation of its schools three decades ago, particularly the mob violence at South Boston High School, and the transition of the Boston schools to overwhelmingly white enrollment, are commonly seen as areas why the region need not think about patterns of school segregation--nothing can be done about it. This thinking ignores the better experiences of many other cities and also the METCO program that is intact and still in high demand.

Does NCLB Provide Good Choices for Students in Low-Performing Schools?

We examine the number of students who requested transfers and were offered the opportunity to move to a different school; explore the actual schooling options available to students attending schools that were required to offer choice; and analyze the constraints districts faced in complying with the regulations governing the NCLB transfer option