Examines the courts' role in desegregating American schools in the 40 years since "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" and discusses reasons why desegregation is still a desirable goal for public schools. Having recognized its limited power to end segregation during the 1970s, the U.S. Supreme Court is gradually relinquishing…

In a survey of 46 Memphis-area high-school teachers, 72 percent of respondents reported having disabled students in their classes, but most felt inadequately prepared to teach them. About 85 percent thought that including severely disabled kids in neighborhood schools would necessitate substantial teacher retraining. (Contains 12 references.) (MLH)

Intradistrict programs that allow parents to consider different neighborhood schools are desirable. However, choice programs that encourage a wide spectrum of specialty schools (mostly magnet, charter, and custom-designed schools) represent a serious threat to the core (democratic) purpose of public education. Neighborhood schools will be at the…