Orfield Report Praises Boston Transfer Program

By Caroline Hendrie

In a new report on a program that enables minority students from Boston to attend suburban schools, Harvard University researchers argue that such voluntary transfer programs are an important tool for helping bridge the nation's racial divide.

The report released late last month by desegregation researcher Gary Orfield is based on surveys of 2,400 Boston parents involved in the state-funded program, and a smaller sampling of city students attending three suburban high schools.

The surveys found that while both groups saw room for improvement, they generally viewed the 34-year-old program as a successful means of gaining access to a higher-caliber education. The parents gave high marks to the suburban teachers and said their children did not...