This report explores the continued and intense interest in the nation's largest transfer of inner-city students to suburban high schools, that of the Boston (Massachusetts) metropolitan area. The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunities (METCO) was established by black educators and parents in 1963 to offer students the opportunity to…

This report analyzes a set of interlocking placement and labeling practices that heavily influence access to educational opportunities in the nation's largest urban school systems. The practices analyzed include high school admission, within-school tracking and grouping, and grade promotion and retention. Study conclusions and related…

Early one morning, September 8, 1965, Operation Exodus unfolded. Poor black parents, with much community support, initiated a school busing program whereby several hundred black children of all ages between five and 14 were to be bused from nearly all-black schools in the black community to predominantly or all-white schools in surrounding…

A study investigated the attitudes of bilingual (BL) and monolingual (ML) students at an urban high school with a large bilingual education program. The attitudes investigated included: (1) BL attitudes toward Americans; (2) how BLs think they are perceived by Americans; (3) ML attitudes toward BLs; (4) changes in BLs' attitudes toward Americans…

This book contains reports on ten school districts' responses to court ordered desegregation. The book begins with an historical background and a discussion of racial politics and community conflict. Following the introduction are the ten case studies, whose titles reveal the city and issues under examination: (1) "Boston, Massachusetts:…

This study of the reaction to forced busing in Boston (Massachusetts) that emerged in 1974 illustrates the persistence of race and class discrimination and the counterproductiveness of some imposed solutions. It is focused on white antibusing groups and the complexities of opposition to busing. Racism is essential to understanding the Boston…

The results of a 2-year study examining the ways that four major urban school systems (New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston) sort students into different schools, tracks, ability groups, and grade levels are summarized in this report. The study looked carefully at the effects of these sorting practices on low-income, minority, limited…

This study examines the ways in which parents and other community members, especially urban minorities and the poor, participate in decisions that bear on the education of their children. Information concerning the role and effectiveness of community organizations in Atlanta, Boston, and Los Angeles over a 15 month period is summarized. The…

In building a recent series of innovative community schools, Boston has created more diverse outdoor spaces than typically surround urban elementary schools. Being more complex both in program and design, the community schools have created complex patterns in use that were not anticipated. This research was commissioned to determine what has been…

"Managing School Districts for High Performance" brings together more than twenty case studies and other readings that offer a powerful and transformative approach to advancing and sustaining the work of school improvement. At the center of this work is the concept of organizational coherence: aligning organizational design, human…

This is a school desegregation case brought by black parents and their children who attend the Boston public schools. Plaintiffs seek for themselves and on behalf of their class, it is stated, declaratory and injunctive relief against the defendants for a myriad of acts that allegedly violate the constitutional rights of the plaintiff class.…

Explores in-group variation in minority educational achievement by studying why a disproportionately high number of young Khmer women drop out of school in the United States. An ethnographic study (over 125 interviews) in metropolitan Boston (Massachusetts) demonstrates the importance of understanding cultural and social-historical influences on…

The Boston Compact, signed in September 1982, is a formal agreement between the Boston School Department and members of the business community to collaborate in making new educational and employment opportunities available to the city's high school students. Co-signers agreed to the following: (1) assist in developing private sector initiatives in…

This report discusses the improvement initiatives in Boston (Massachusetts) middle schools triggered by the work of the Boston Compact to promote education-business collaborations to improve the public schools and provide better job and college-going opportunities for Boston students. Section 1 describes a study that was initiated to learn whether…

What goes on inside desegregated schools and how desegregation has affected children's education are two questions addressed in this publication. In an effort to focus upon these questions, eight recently integrated schools were examined by the author. They include public schools from the elementary to the high school level in both rural and urban…