Prefatory Note

Abstract

In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that segregated schools were inherently unequal in the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision. At that time, schools in the South were segregated by law, and those in many other districts were de facto segregated by either official policy or housing patterns (Clotfelter, 2004). In addition to physical segregation, the Supreme Court was also concerned about inequality in the resources provided to schools. The great hope of the Supreme Court’s decision was that addressing segregation would decrease both racial isolation and disparities in school quality thereby narrowing racial gaps in educational opportunities and outcomes.1 More than 50 years later, some progress has been made. Resources across schools are, in many respects, more equal, and average levels of educational attainment have increased. At the same time, change has been slow, and of late, arguably of the “wrong” direction. For example, while racial segregation in schools decreased through the late 1980s, it has increased, or at least not decreased, since then. The racial and ethnic composition of school children has also changed with growing numbers of Hispanic and Asian immigrants. Although the Brown decision overlooked other minorities, Mexican-American students also attended segregated schools at that time, a pattern that continues today (Clotfelter, 2004; Frankenberg and Lee, 2002). Importantly, large racial and ethnic gaps in academic achievement remain. Thus, race and ethnicity continue to loom large in our educational system.