In this important volume, leading scholars take an honest look at the progress made since "Brown v. Board of Education." Critical and forward-looking chapters document the shifts over time on key aspects of education, including school segregation, achievement trends in relation to policies and practices, the diversity of the teaching…

Noncontiguous school attendance zone boundaries (AZBs) have a unique, relatively uncommon shape that assign two or more non-adjacent residential areas to the same school. Given their ability to shape school enrollments by taking advantage of residential sorting, noncontiguous AZBs have historically been linked to explicit efforts to both segregate…

Swedish compulsory schools are committed to work for equality and social cohesion. Increasing school segregation, however, challenges this commitment. Based on survey data from Swedish municipalities, this article maps and analyses local initiatives that counteract school segregation. We identify three main types of initiatives--reinforcement,…

This article describes the cultural characteristics of four elite African American high schools, initiated prior to Brown v. Board of Education, that produced outstanding graduates. Positive school culture characteristics examined were leadership, faculty, curriculum and instruction, student qualities, the environment, and internal and external…

The spatial, institutional and social configurations of school supply and demand are crucial aspects in understanding the various mechanisms of production and reproduction of socio-spatial inequalities in education. The same policy instruments may have different effects depending on the characteristics of local education markets and the dynamics…

Passed in 2001, the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) codified the use of educational accountability systems that rely on largely quantitative measures -- standardized tests, especially -- to assess student learning outcomes, rank order districts and schools according to these outcomes, and prescribe sanctions for schools and districts not…

It has been 50 years since magnet schools were first used to address segregation in public schools. The context of magnet schools has changed dramatically during this time, raising questions about the role of magnet schools in a modern context. This study utilized data from a large urban district with more than 100 magnet schools to assess…

The historical record reveals that in the final opinion of the landmark school segregation case "Cooper v. Aaron," the U.S. Supreme Court justices intentionally used the term "desegregation" rather than "integration" to soften the ire of those opposed to the "Brown v. Board of Education" decision. The…

This paper draws on research, knowledge, and practices from Indigenous spaces, discusses the role of Indigenous school leaders as agents for students' social integration through socialisation processes, and examines school principals' practices for promoting students' social integration into society (i.e. societal integration), taking into…

The article begins with South Africa as a false metaphor for racial progress, clarifying how the removal of apartheid policies ultimately justifies ongoing anti-Black structures that reinforce societal segregation. While educational sectors appropriate movements to decolonise racially disparate systems, minor educational reforms proliferate across…

On May 15, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division issued a fact sheet highlighting examples of the Division's recent work to protect students and combat segregation and race-based discrimination in schools. The Civil Rights Division has worked for decades to ensure equal educational opportunities for all of America's…

De facto school segregation, stemming from structural racism, has myriad consequences for children's development. Extant research documents the implications of segregated schools for children's academic resources and opportunities, but there is less attention on the social processes that unfold as a result of school segregation, particularly in…

May 17, 2024 marks the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court decision that ruled segregated schools were "inherently unequal." At the time, North Carolina was one of 17 states that enforced de jure segregation, that is, segregation by law. The state of North Carolina and the school districts within…

In the century following emancipation, Blackamericans developed robust and effective schools despite limited resources. Unfortunately, their successes and contributions to the education system are often overlooked. This interdisciplinary theoretical paper draws on historiographies of segregated school systems, examining the struggles of…

In 2012, Denver Public School District superintendent Tom Boasberg wrote to his employees about the state of their schools: "Yet there's a great deal of work ahead because our gaps still aren't closing at all. They remain strikingly and distressingly similar to the national data. Our schools still aren't the equalizing force that they need to…