Neighborhood schools engender the idea that schools can be integral community centers, with learning facilitated by the personal relationships developed among teachers, administrators, students, and parents. Neighborhood schools also have represented stigmatized segregated spaces located in communities with high poverty rates, low high school…

This article illustrates the transition from Bantu Education to social justice education in South Africa. I argue that education reform in post-apartheid South Africa has made important changes during this transition, although inequalities persist. Large disparities in resources between black township (still segregated) and formerly white (now…

On July 9, 1996, the Connecticut Supreme Court issued its landmark school desegregation decision, "Sheff v. O'Neill". More than a decade later, Hartford's schoolchildren are as segregated as they were when the case was first filed in 1989. Based on data from a statewide survey and data collected from two focus groups of white parents collected…

The subject of urban schools has received extensive scholarly and popular attention in recent years, and a wide variety of policies to address the problem of low educational achievement has been suggested. This article, based on an analysis of documents and reports, in-depth interviews, and a variety of secondary sources, examines the first…

The presence of the Little Rock Nine at Little Rock's Central High in September 1957 as a result of "Brown vs. the Board of Education" evoked anger, fear, and even panic among some parts of the white community, and many white women and girls responded with near hysteria. This article seeks to answer why. What was it about integration that provoked…

This multi-layered counterstory contextualizes the Michigan Law School and undergraduate affirmative action cases currently in the higher courts. Set within student intervenor arguments in the Michigan case, it evokes the spirit of Thurgood Marshall to replay history and arguments in the complex legal battles over affirmative action in higher…

Examines the literature on school choice and desegregation, reviewing the 1997 laws that constituted Connecticut's response to the 1996 state Supreme Court Sheff v. O'Neill desegregation ruling. Presents data on how the new policies have affected the attendance patterns of students belonging to different racial groups, concluding with a discussion…

Presents the historical context of Cape Town, South Africa, and its struggles against apartheid and apartheid education. It offers a case study of Allen Powell, a white teacher and administrator who worked to integrate Plumstead High School, an act that defied South African commonplace and the views of most white South Africans. Analyzes Powell's…

In this article, we discuss one of the central findings from our study of the long-term impact of school desegregation on adult graduates of racially mixed high schools: what graduates said about the impact of their schooling experiences on their current understandings about race, and on their lives in a racially diverse society. Of the 242…

The article incorporates a critical theoretical and methodological framework to study a large urban district's implementation of a court-ordered voluntary integration program through magnet school choice. Drawing on the interview data from parents and district staff, the author analyzes the data as they relate to the district's magnet school…

This article provides historical and legal context and resources for readers (and in many cases their students) about the threshold period when this country changed from a legally segregated society to one of greater freedom. The body of the article provides background for "Brown" and related stories, a primer on the structure of the legal system,…

The "Brown v. Board of Education" decision remains one of the most important legal decisions in history. Although there were local schemes used to avoid desegregating public schools after the decision, black students experienced declining segregation from the 1950s to the late 1980s. During the 1990s, however, a series of Supreme Court decisions…

May 17, 2004 marked the 50th anniversary of the most significant school segregation case: "Brown v. Board of Education" (1954). While the Brown decision eliminated the legal theory of "separate but equal," the success of the "Mendez et al. v. Westminster School District et al". (1946) case helped boost public sentiment against segregation, setting…

Fifty years after the "Brown v. Board of Education" decision outlawed de jure segregation in American schools, many school districts remain segregated. Despite numerous efforts aimed at desegregation, residential segregation--the primary barrier to significant school desegregation--remains entrenched throughout the United States. The Miami-Dade…

This article explores the history of school desegregation in Kansas City, Missouri. It examines the development of the school district's initial 1955 desegregation plan based on neighborhood schools, and the impact of that plan. Extensive analysis is devoted to the plan's shortcomings, particularly the provisions allowing students to transfer…