Nationwide, magnet programs enroll more than twice the number of students served by charter schools, making them the most popular form of school choice. Across the U.S., over 1.5 million U.S. children attend magnet schools. In Miami-Dade County Public Schools, over 42,000 students are enrolled in magnet programs. The bulk of this report focuses on…

The rapid growth of magnet schools in the 1980s introduced the first widely adopted form of public school choice in the United States. Magnet-based choice is supported as a way to expand school choice for parents, bring innovation through specialty schools and programs, and promote voluntary forms of racial integration. Some contend that this form…

The 50th anniversary of the "Brown v. Board of Education" decision provides a critical opportunity to reflect on "Brown's" importance, impact, and the lessons it provides on achieving racial desegregation and its relationship to the progressive inclusion of students with disabilities into public schools across the United…

A number of public school districts in the United States have adopted income-based integration policies--policies that use measures of family income or socioeconomic status--in determining school assignment. Some scholars and policymakers contend that such policies will also reduce racial segregation. In this article this assumption is explored by…

Integrated schools are often either touted as a must to foster cross-cultural connections and greater racial understanding, or regarded as unnecessary social engineering in an increasingly diverse America. This article reports on a five-year study, released in March 2004, titled "How Desegregation Changed Us: The Effects of Racially Mixed…

As Americans commemorate the 50th anniversary of the "Brown v the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" U.S. Supreme Court public school desegregation decision on (the Brown decision), the author was tempted to refer to it as a "celebration of the Golden Anniversary of the legal end to racial segregation in the public schools of the…