Full Description
Leading scholars in the fields of history and law have assembled an enormous amount of empirical data on the outcomes of school desegregation and conclude that the policies of the past—mandatory reassignment and strict racial quotas—had too few benefits and too many costs to make them viable alternatives for the future. Chapter topics include the history of school desegregation, the development of the law, the desegregation effectiveness of remedies, ability grouping and classroom desegregation, racial disparities in school discipline, intergroup relations, the attitudes and opinions of adults in desegregated school districts, and the outlook for the future.
The authors conclude that one of the biggest successes of school desegregation is that there is almost universal acceptance of the principle that racial discrimination is immoral. But school desegregation has had some important failures as well, most importantly, the failure to improve the academic achievement of black students and race relations between black and white students in desegregated schools. There have also been some serious costs—white flight and protest voting—associated with forced busing and the use of strict racial quotas. The concluding chapter argues that the solution to racial disparities in achievement, and to racial separation, lies in compensatory education for low achieving, poor children and school choice programs that do not use racial criteria but provide financial assistance to low-income families.
Contents
Assessing the Promise of Brown by Christine Rossell, David Armor, and Herbert Walberg History of Desegregation by Jeffrey Raffel Legal Issues in School Desegregation by Alfred Lindseth The Effectiveness of Desegregation Plans by Christine Rossell School Desegregation and Demographic Change by William Clark Desegregation and Academic Achievement by David Armor Ability Grouping and Classroom Desegregation by Christine Rossell Racial Disparities in School Discipline by Charles Achilles Improving Intergroup Relations in the Schools by Walter Stephan Attitudes on Race and Desegregation by Christine Rossell and David Armor The Outlook for School Desegregation by Christine Rossell, David Armor, and Herbert Walberg
