Integrated schools are often either touted as a must to foster cross-cultural connections and greater racial understanding, or regarded as unnecessary social engineering in an increasingly diverse America. This article reports on a five-year study, released in March 2004, titled "How Desegregation Changed Us: The Effects of Racially Mixed Schools on Students and Society," which chronicles the experiences of 242 graduates of six public high schools with racially mixed student enrollments. The study concludes that public schools--on their own--could not realize the full potential of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 decision in "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka," which struck down separate schooling for white and black students. Counter to much of the prevailing political and policy debates of today, the graduates interviewed do value diversity in the classroom, said Amy Stuart Wells, the report's lead author and a professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. The report recommends that school quality and accountability measures be expanded to include other factors, including racial diversity. Although she does not envision a mandatory requirement, Ms. Wells said, federal incentives should be implemented to maintain and cultivate diversity in schools and communities.