The widespread assumption in the United States today is that traditional urban public schools are failing. Market-based solutions, particularly charter schools, are seen as the way to improve urban education. How then can we understand a large urban district where educational actors have furthered a locally popular alternative vision? This article…

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education distributed $2,500,000 via a competitive grant program, the Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans, to 11 school districts. The grants and their local effects provide an opportunity to examine the new politics of diversity in public education. Participants cited a wide range of conceptions of…

Eight years ago, official resistance to desegregation of the public schools in South Carolina was still firm. Due to the pressure applied by the Federal Courts and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) Office of Civil Rights, more desegregation began to occur gradually during the years after 1966. In January 1970, the Greenville…

To understand the controversy over busing, it is necessary to understand the relationship between busing and the issues that are actually at the root of the controversy: desegregation and freedom of choice. Much of the political activity surrounding busing is a subtle transfer of attention away from the basic issue of desegregation. Other…