Given the common practice of assigning students to
neighborhood schools, any serious hope of integrating
America’s public education system requires us to
consider not only educational policies and practices, but
also the demography of neighborhoods and the housing
policies that contribute to residential integration or segregation.
Most American students live in communities
that are dominated by families from one race and socioeconomic
status. Public schools typically reflect their relationship between integrated schooling and integrated
housing. The synergistic nature of this relationship
unfolds across the life course.