Based on analyses of 1,622 Hmong adolescents in a large urban school district, we illuminate a positive association between school different-race exposure and Hmong limited English proficient students' reading achievement. However, we also note a negative association of neighborhood different-race exposure with Hmong students from low…

This policy brief provides a review of the social science evidence on the housing-school nexus, highlighting the problem of reoccurring racial segregation and inequality absent strong, proactive federal or state integration policies. Three areas of research are covered: (a) the nature of the housing-school nexus; (b) the impact of school…

In this paper, the authors estimate the effect of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP, or the Milwaukee voucher program) on integration in public and private schools. Their first question is straightforward: Do the student bodies at private schools participating in MPCP have a racial composition that more closely or less closely resembles…

Background/Context: The United States is becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse, and increasingly racially isolated across race-ethnic boundaries. Researchers have argued that both diversity and racial isolation serve to undermine the social cohesion needed to bind American citizens to one another and to society at large. Focus of…

Background/Context: Perpetuation theory predicts that attending a racially segregated school paves the way for a lifetime of segregated experiences in neighborhoods, schools, and jobs. Research conducted in the 1970s and 1980s linked racial isolation in high schools with later racial isolation in many social settings among African-American…

"From the Courtroom to the Classroom" examines recent developments pertaining to school desegregation in the United States. As the editors note, it comes at a time marked by a "general downplaying of race and ethnicity as criteria for the allocation of public resources, as well as a weakening of the political forces that support…

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…

Proposes that the utilization of the "benign quota" or the "planned interracial community" practice, wisely and cautiously administered, may actually expedite the process of desegregation: "benign quota" calls for the use of an agreed upon percentage representation of blacks (or any other minority) and whites (or any other majority), it is stated…

Examines trends in residential segregation for Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians in 60 Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) between 1970 and 1980. Black-Anglo segregation remained high in the North, but decreased in some smaller Southern and Western SMSAs. Hispanic segregation was markedly below that of Blacks, but has increased. Asian…

This book originated with a concern for a crucial issue in planning; namely, what is the possibility of creating social policies to modify existing patterns of segregation in order to achieve social justice (however defined) in such institutions as housing or schools. Consequently, although this is an academic, ecological analysis of residential…

The movement of the black population from rural to urban areas increased the potential for integration by ending the isolation of blacks on farms in the rural South. But that isolation has been replaced by a new form of segregation. Black metropolitan growth has been concentrated in the central cities accommodated by the expansion of urban ghettos…

The papers included in this volume were originally prepared for the Social Science Panel brought together by the Division of Behavioral Sciences of the National Research Council at the request of the National Academy of Sciences--National Academy of Engineering's Advisory Committee to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The task of…

This study attempts to measure the degree of assimilation exhibited by various immigrant groups, as indicated by their residential patterns. Ecological models of assimilation hold that immigrants are highly segregated from the majority population upon arrival, but that segregation declines with time in a process of residential assimilation. The…

Examines the effect of socioeconomic status on segregation of Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians in 60 metropolitan areas in the United States. Compares indices of education, income, and occupation. Finds that integration is more difficult for Blacks than for Asians and Hispanics despite extensive civil rights legislation in recent decades. (KO)

An extensive survey was conducted in 1965 by a team of white and Negro interviewers in an application of ecological theory to a study of the support relationship between the community and its school system. Findings are based upon interview data from a probability sample of 931 respondents selected from the population of persons 21 years of age…