Nation’s Public Schools Have Become Resegregated, Study Finds
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.
Public schools are slipping back into racial segregation, according to a study by The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University. Released last month on the eve of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the nationwide analysis of enrollments from the 2000-2001 school year found a growing number of Black and Latino students attend schools where the majority of students are minorities. Similarly, White students are found increasingly likely to attend schools where most of their classmates also are White.
“Martin Luther King’s dream is being honored in theory and dishonored in the decisions and practices that are turning our schools back to segregation,” says Dr. Gary Orfield, co-director of The Civil Rights Project and a professor of education and social policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
