Desegregation

Law themed still life featuring Themis statue, judge gavel and scale of justice in a law library.
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Law & Courts State Judge Says 'Racially Isolated Districts Persist' in New Jersey
A state judge allows a narrowed claim to go forward that the state may be liable for pervasive racial isolation in its public schools.
Mark Walsh, October 17, 2023
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7 min read
Image of silhouette cutouts in a variety of colors and genders.
FotografiaBasica/iStock/Getty
School & District Management What the Research Says Researchers Used AI to Rezone School Districts. Here's What They Found
The experiment created more diverse schools, while cutting students' travel time.
Sarah D. Sparks, September 7, 2023
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3 min read
Kanya Redd, 15, explores an exhibit on segregation at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park Visitor's Center on April 18, 2023 in Atlanta. The new cultural exchange initiative is sponsored by Martha's Table, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit committed to expanding opportunity and economic mobility. Approximately 75% of the participants traveled by plane for the first time to get to Atlanta.
Kanya Redd, 15, explores an exhibit on segregation at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park Visitor's Center on April 18, 2023 in Atlanta. A new initiative is aiming to combine advocacy and legal strategies to increase school funding and support efforts to create more racially and socioeconomically balanced schools.
Nicole Craine/AP Images for Martha's Table
Education Funding Meet the New Group Promising to Tackle School Funding and Segregation Together
The group aims to boost litigation, research, and advocacy to support diverse, well-resourced public schools.
Mark Lieberman, June 19, 2023
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7 min read
Dennis K. Bordley, 6, right, one of the first two black children at a previously segregated all-white school, Caesar Rodney Elementary School in Camden-Wyoming, Del., strides along with hand in pocket on the way to first grade, Sept. 9, 1959.
Dennis K. Bordley, 6, right, one of the first two Black children at a previously segregated all-white school in Camden-Wyoming, Del., makes his way to 1st grade on Sept. 9, 1959. Public schools remain deeply segregated almost 70 years after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation.
Bill Ingraham/AP
Equity & Diversity Public Schools Are Still Segregated. But These Tools Can Help
Data show that racial and socioeconomic segregation persist, but districts may be able to seek federal help to address it.
Eesha Pendharkar, June 7, 2023
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4 min read
Harry Briggs stands in front of the Scott's Branch School in Summerton, S.C., May 8, 1979. In 1950, Briggs filed a school desegregation lawsuit, seeking equal schools and pay for teachers. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that separate but equal schools were unconstitutional.
Harry Briggs stands in front of the Scott's Branch School in Summerton, S.C., May 8, 1979. In 1950, Briggs filed a school desegregation lawsuit, seeking equal schools and pay for teachers. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that separate but equal schools were unconstitutional.
Lou Krasky/AP
Law & Courts Should 'Brown v. Board of Education' Be Renamed? The Debate, Explained
Descendants contend the companion case Briggs v. Elliott was unfairly bumped from the top of the historic decision.
Mark Walsh, June 5, 2023
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11 min read
Conceptual image of two circles of influence, with one much bigger than the other.
ajijchan/iStock/Getty and Laura Baker/EdWeek
School Choice & Charters Opinion White Parents Say They Want Diverse Schools, But Will They Send Their Kids?
Racial stereotypes and reluctance to be in a racial minority are part of the calculus of how white parents choose schools.
Kathleen Hayes & Cassandra Kaczocha, May 22, 2023
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5 min read
This May 8, 1964 file photo shows Linda Brown Smith standing in front of the Sumner School in Topeka, Kan. The refusal of the public school to admit Brown in 1951, then nine years old, because she is black, led to the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the "separate but equal" clause and mandated that schools nationwide must be desegregated.
This May 8, 1964 file photo shows Linda Brown Smith standing in front of the Sumner School in Topeka, Kan. The refusal of the public school to admit Brown in 1951, then nine years old, because she is black, led to the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the "separate but equal" clause and mandated that schools nationwide must be desegregated.
AP Photo
Equity & Diversity Educational Inequality: 4 Moments in History That Explain Where We Are Today
A new Columbia University report highlights how inequality was embedded in the creation of public education in the United States.
Ileana Najarro, March 20, 2023
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5 min read
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Illustration by Chris Whetzel for Education Week
Equity & Diversity The Ongoing Challenges, and Possible Solutions, to Improving Educational Equity
Schools across the country were facing major equity challenges before the pandemic, but its disruptions exacerbated them.
Eesha Pendharkar, January 26, 2023
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4 min read
The first black students to enroll at Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., leave the building and walk toward a waiting Army station wagon following their classes on Oct. 2, 1957. Monday, Sept. 25, 2017, marks the 60th anniversary of when nine black students enrolled at the Arkansas school. One of the nine students is obscured by another student in this photograph.
The first Black students to enroll at Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., leave the building and walk toward a waiting Army station wagon following their classes on Oct. 2, 1957. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Dec. 31, 2022, highlighted the history of the Little Rock crisis in his year-end report.
Ferd Kaufman/AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court to Highlight Little Rock, Desegregation History in Exhibit to Open Next Fall
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. highlights the brave role of a federal judge in Little Rock in 1957, and draws some parallels to today.
Mark Walsh, December 31, 2022
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3 min read
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Illustration by Chris Whetzel for Education Week
Equity & Diversity Schools Are Resegregating. There's a Push for the Supreme Court to Consider That
As the court weighs race-conscious college admissions policies, some say the needs of resegregating K-12 schools ought to be considered, too.
Mark Walsh, November 28, 2022
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8 min read
Evanston, IL - August 24: Teacher DarLisa Himrod poses for a portrait in her classroom for ages 3-5 at Joseph E. Hill Early Childhood Center on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022 in Evanston, Ill. Nimrod previously worked with ages 0-3 and completed a yearlong residency to receive her teaching certification.
After one of the most challenging years of her life, DarLisa Himrod landed a position as a certified preschool special education teacher at the Joseph E. Hill Early Childhood Center in Evanston, Ill.
Taylor Glascock for Education Week
Recruitment & Retention A New Teacher at 50: Inside the Struggle to Rebuild America's Black Teaching Workforce
A suburban Chicago school district was desperate to hire more teachers of color and root out racism. Enter DarLisa Himrod.
Benjamin Herold, October 11, 2022
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25 min read
Palm trees are visible around the water tower in Uvalde, Texas, on July 20, 2022.
Palm trees surround the water tower in Uvalde, Texas. The town is the site of one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.
Jordan Vonderhaar for Education Week
Equity & Diversity In Uvalde, Pain Where There Once Was Pride
Past and present residents of Uvalde, Texas, recount a deeper story of Robb Elementary—one that began years before the May 24 mass shooting.
Ileana Najarro, August 16, 2022
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12 min read
African American Girl holding book and reading in an elementary school lesson
Getty
Equity & Diversity An Expansive Look at School Segregation Shows It's Getting Worse
Most of the increases have come within the nation's 100 largest districts.
Eesha Pendharkar, June 3, 2022
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4 min read
May 26, 1866 – Harpers Weekly
May 26, 1866 – Harpers Weekly
Equity & Diversity Q&A Racist Bomb Threats and Post-Civil War School Burnings: A Scholar Connects the Dots
Hundreds of Black schools built during Reconstruction were burned, but racist violence against schools is hardly a historical footnote.
Mark Lieberman, March 9, 2022
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9 min read
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