Little research examines the experiences and perspectives of Asian American parents who participate in K-12 desegregation efforts, such as magnet schools. Conceptually framed by research on Asian American racialization, this qualitative case study investigates 10 Asian American parents in metropolitan Hartford, Connecticut; and the motivations…

Over sixty years following Brown vs. Board of Education, racial and socioeconomic segregation and lack of equal access to educational opportunities persist. Across the country, voluntary desegregation busing programs aim to ameliorate these imbalances and disparities. A longstanding Massachusetts program, METCO, buses K-12 students of color from…

Background: Magnet schools emerged during the 1960s as part of an effort to desegregate schools across the United States. Their primary purpose is to provide appealing educational settings to induce voluntary desegregation through parental choices (George & Darling-Hammond, 2021). Some of these magnet schools operate at a regional level to…

The decades-long resistance to federally imposed school desegregation entered a new phase at the turn of the new century, when federal courts stopped pushing racial balance as a remedy for past segregation, adopting in its place a color-blind approach in judging local school districts' assignment plans. Using data that span 1998 to 2016 from North…

Since the Supreme Court's 2007 "Parents Involved" decision, school districts have been pursuing integration in more legally and politically charged environments. The retreat of the federal government in the racial integration of schools is well documented, but less understood is what local school districts are doing to fill that void.…

The Author conducted a policy analysis of the Voluntary Desegregation Policy in the Bakersfield City School District. The study was a quantitative analysis regarding compliance on reduction of high concentration of Black and Hispanic students and integrating them with students in highly concentrated White schools. The Voluntary Desegregation…

It was critical that the U.S. Supreme Court have the best empirical evidence available to help inform its decisions in "Fisher." The "amicus" brief filed by 444 researchers from 172 institutions in 42 states was the result of a collaborative effort among members of the social science, educational, and legal communities. In her role as counsel of…

The decision handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in "Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1" (2007) has forced school districts to begin thinking of new ways to integrate their schools without relying on race as the single factor in their assignment plans. While some school districts already have begun…

This article addresses important legal issues surrounding voluntary school integration plans and explores policy and practice implications of the "Seattle" and "Louisville" cases. School policy guidance for how school districts should create or change their voluntary integration policies is discussed. Further discussion reveals what some school…

In recent years, the responsibility for the desegregation of American public schools has transitioned from federal court mandates to school board programs and policies. There is widespread belief that this has resulted in the resegregation of schools across the country. One popular policy that is purported to provide the opportunity for voluntary…

This manual was written to help guide education stakeholders--including parents, students, school board members, community activists, administrators, policymakers and attorneys--in their efforts to promote racial diversity and avoid racial isolation in suburban school systems. Critical information on the current legal, political and policy issues…

Since 1966, the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) has operated in suburban communities in Massachusetts as a voluntary desegregation program. In interviews, nine white educators revealed their perspectives of the METCO program in their district and discussed their beliefs about the ways that race and whiteness intersected…

Approximately 50 years ago, "Brown v. Board of Education" was viewed by many as a turning point in American history that crystallized a national movement to eliminate state-enforced racially segregated public education. However, in recent years many parents, educators, and policy makers in education have begun to question whether…

This study analyzes public perceptions of Boston's magnet school program. Typically evaluated in terms of their impact on racial integration, magnet schools also were designed to improve the tarnished image of the Boston school system. While promoting voluntary integration at a handful of schools, the magnet program struggled to change the…

This article discusses the interpretations of the court's ruling in "Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District 1." The decision handed down June 28, the last day of the Supreme Court's term, does not prohibit school districts from voluntarily integrating schools as long as the school district meets certain legal…