This report provides an overview of school desegregation efforts in Boston, Massachusetts. Background information on the city and its school system is provided. Included are demographic statistics about the Boston area, a description of the major components of the educational structure at the local and State level, a review of the history of school desegregation in the city, and a summary of key findings in the 1974 Federal district court decision regarding racial imbalance in the Boston school system. The desegregation plan ordered by the district court is described and remaining problem areas are outlined. Also discussed are the authority and responsibility of various Federal agencies in school desegregation cases and the activities of these agencies in Boston. In addition, the structure of State and local enforcement agencies are examined and their involvement in desegregation-related assignments since September 1974 is described. Appended are charts showing the institutional hierarchy of Boston's educational and police systems, as well as a chronological outline of legal developments under Phase I of the city's school desegregation plan. (EB)