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The belief that latino youths in Chicago will be better served by small schools is growing.

By Mary Ann Zehr

Chicago

Challenges of diversity in Arlington, Va.'s public schools

In 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka , the South Lawndale neighborhood on Chicago's southwest side was home primarily to Polish and Czech immigrants.

In the decades since then, South Lawndale has undergone dramatic change. Eastern Europeans moved out, and people of Mexican descent settled in its two- story homes of brown brick. Known as Little Village, or La Villita, since the late 1960s, the neighborhood reflects demographic shifts that have changed the face of the nation in the 50 years since the historic court decision struck...