Social scientists' assertions in 1954, that desegregation would improve minority student performance by freeing minority children from "pariah" status, and the hypothesis that interracial classroom contact would result in improved minority student achievement, are both unsupported by research. Effective school desegregation programs must…

This book presents proceedings and papers from a conference on racial and ethnic disparities in K-12 education and identifies key issues for policy and research. Part 1 summarizes the conference in six chapters: (1) "Introduction"; (2) "Education and the Changing Nation"; (3) "How People Learn"; (4) "Social…