How can access to public elementary schools of variable quality be justly distributed within a school district? Two reasonable criteria are: (a) that children should have equal opportunity to attend high-quality schools, and (b) school assignment policies should foster an overall increase in the number of high-quality schools. This article…

Though once a leader in school integration, Massachusetts has regressed over the last two decades as its students of color have experienced intensifying school segregation. This report investigates trends in school segregation in Massachusetts by examining concentration, exposure, and evenness measures by both race and class. First, the report…

Using a theoretical lens of democratic education, this study critically analyzes pilot schools in the Boston Public School system, a school model gaining influence and imitation around the United States. Building on theories regarding the role of democracy in schools, and especially workplace democracy, this article juxtaposes these conceptions of…

A documentation of racism in Boston and New England schools from colonial times to the present, coupled with a plea for black people to continue their struggle against white supremacy and for educational equality. (EH)

An excerpt from Morgan et al., v. Hennigan et al., in U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, in which the court found that the Boston public schools were segregated as a result of purposeful actions of school board members who acted with intent to segregate the schools. (EH)

In the face of mounting evidence that schools are losing alarming numbers of young black men, a small band of educators gathered recently in Brookline, Massachusetts, to bolster one response to the crisis: creating public schools designed to serve African-American males. Haunted by the specter of a bleak future for millions of young men--and aware…