Analyzes the lessons learned in urban education planning and governance that came out of Boston's three consecutive desegregation plans. Discusses how the community has profited from these plans as well as the implications the plans have for educational governance in Boston's public school system. (GR)

This paper presents a set of new ideas which support the value of school desegregation in the United States. First, school desegregation efforts have been almost universally effective, no matter what implementation strategy was employed. Even busing, although widely criticized, has been effective. Second, desegregation efforts have usually…