Closing achievement gaps--disparities in academic achievement between minority and white students, and between low-income and higher-income students--has long been an unrealized goal of U.S. education policy. It has now been 60 years since the Supreme Court declared "separate but equal" schools unconstitutional in "Brown v. Board of…

After decades in the political wilderness, school integration seems poised to make a serious comeback as an education reform strategy. A growing number of parents, university officials, and employers want elementary and secondary schools to better prepare students for the increasingly racially and ethnically diverse society and the global economy.…