The intent of Brown v. Board of Education was to dismantle the system of apartheid that had structured U.S. schools. The BroLwn decision supported a race-conscious vision that students of color would have access to high quality education equal to that of white students, and that integrated schooling would build cross-racial communication and respect needed for a multiracial democracy. But 40 years after Bro7wn, while students of color had made significant achievement gains as measured by high completion rates, some achievement tests, and college-going rates, huge challenges remained. Based on a detailed review of evidence of black progress in education since Browln, Garibaldi (1997) showed achievement gaps that were closing and those remaining to be closed; he emphasized that African American students need to be offered a rigorous curriculum and high academic expectations. Fifty years after Brown, the goals of equal access to high quality education, and of cross-racial communication and respect, are still compelling but elusive. Schools increasingly are segregated by both race and class; many people, especially people of color, are trapped in communities that are resource poor and job poor. At the policy level, No Child Left Behind has been offered as the latest solution. According to its executive summary, its stated intent is to: improve the performance of America's elementary and secondary schools while at the same time ensuring that no child is trapped in a failing school (U.S. Department of Education 2003a). Schools are now to be held accountable for student achievement by using standardized testing, parents are to be invited to transfer their children from failing schools, and schools that do not meet achievement targets ultimately are to be reconstituted or closed. School improvement plans are to be based on practices that have been validated through scientifically based research, which the federal government has defined largely as experimental research. No Child Left Behind uses race as one variable when judging schools on test score performance, but otherwise is silent about race and contexts. The assumption seems to be that requiring teachers to teach everyone to the same standards will address racism. In this regard, the new federal policy encourages a colorblind and context-blind approach to