Public School Diversity and Affirmative Action Admissions

The struggle to integrate American public schools has not been as successful as many had hoped in the fifty plus years since Brown v. Board of Education. Judicial trends away from desegregation remedies combined with pronounced residential sorting have contributed to a public school system that continues to be ethnically and economically segregated. As the role of choice in American public schools has increased, so has the fear that segregation could become more pronounced. This has prompted some public school policy makers to consider race-based admission criteria in order to further student diversity. As a result, litigation surrounding affirmative action policies has crept from the realm of higher education into the public school sector. This book thoroughly examines the constitutional questions surrounding affirmative action admissions in education and offers practical policy suggestions to school administrators who are interested in legally fostering diversity within public choice schools.