The Civil Rights Project, Harvard University
When surveyed, an overwhelming majority of U.S. parents say that exposing their child to diversity is important. As a large influx of Hispanic and Asian immigrants (as well as other changes) make the United States increasingly diverse, one might expect that our schools would mirror this greater diversity. A new study by Gary Orfield and Nora Gordon from the Harvard Civil Rights Project, however, finds that schools across the country are resegregating at accelerating rates. The authors argue that these trends are cause for concern because segregated schools can offer vastly unequal educational opportunities; in particular, segregated minority schools are overwhelmingly likely to have to contend with the educational impacts of concentrated poverty. The authors name several causes for resegregation, including the reversal in policy over desegregation by the Supreme Court and lower courts over the past decade and the failure to develop a policy that addresses the realities of metropolitan communities. This study offers hard data on changing ethnic populations in schools in different regions of the United States, a legal and social history of segregation and desegregation, and policy recommendations for federal, state and city governments. To download or view a copy of this report, go to http://www.law.harvard.edu/civilrights/. For a free hard copy, call the Harvard Civil Rights Project at (617) 496-6367
