The Century Foundation takes your data security and privacy seriously. That's why we want you to know that, when you visit our website, we use technologies like cookies to collect anonymized data so that we can better understand and serve our audience. For more information, see our full Privacy Policy. After decades in the political wilderness, school integration seems poised to make a serious comeback as an education reform strategy. Sixty-two years ago, Brown v.
Board of Education held that separate schools for black and white students are inherently unequal. Fifty years ago, the evidence in the congressionally authorized Coleman Report put a twist on Brown , suggesting that socioeconomic school integration could increase academic achievement more than any other school strategy.
But when racial school desegregation began to be seriously pursued in the early s, the implementation was often clumsy. Federal judges ordered school children to travel across town to attend schools to achieve racial balance, giving parents no say in the matter. Families rebelled. Simultaneously, an equally durable political consensus developed holding that nothing can be done to achieve it. Layered on top of political concerns was a new legal challenge. The Supreme Court, once a strong supporter of school desegregation, grew increasingly skeptical of government programs that use race in decision-making.
In a ruling, the Roberts Court struck down voluntary school desegregation efforts in Louisville and Seattle. To some, the decision seemed to spell the end to school desegregation. Today, however, school integrationβusing new, more legally and politically palatable approachesβis getting a second look as an educational reform strategy.
For one thing, policymakers and scholars across the political spectrum are beginning to realize that ignoring the social science research on the negative effects of concentrated school poverty is not working to close large achievement gaps between races and economic groups.
