Children of the dream Why school integration works

Rucker (Univ. of California, Berkeley) and Nazaryan, a journalist, have written an interesting book that investigates what has transpired in America's schools since the landmark Brown v. Board of Education court decision in the mid 1950s. Drawing on a combination of interviews with racially diverse adults who experienced the transition from segregated schools to integrated institutions, and on follow-up data from decades later, the authors argue conclusively that when children are educated in integrated settings, society benefits in multiple ways. These effects cannot always be measured by academic markers, as Rucker and Nazaryan routinely point out that "test scores do not tell the whole story." Academic measures, although important, become secondary to the long-term benefits realized by American society more broadly when all children are educated in well-funded, high-quality schools where each child has the potential to succeed based on ability and merit, rather than on the color of one's skin. This well-researched study's conclusions are bolstered by solid facts and figures from myriad reputable sources, making it an excellent book for scholars and professionals in the fields of education and social policy. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. --Jerry D. Neal, University of Central Missouri

A study of the importance of school integration to the improvement of prospects for black and Hispanic children.With the goal of inspiring action among parents, educators, and policymakers, Johnson (Public Policy/Univ. of California, Berkeley; co-author: Mother's Work and Children's Lives: Low-Income Families after Welfare Reform, 2010) draws on persuasive longitudinal studies to advocate a three-tiered strategy to counter racism and social inequality: integrated schools, school finance reform, and high-quality preschool. "If mediocre education is a malign force threatening the nation," he writes, then achieving integrated classrooms is nothing less than "a fight for our collective future that we can and must win." Himself a "third-generation benefactor" of school reform policies, he has a personal as well as professional stake in reversing segregation. He warns, however, that no single reform offers a silver bullet for improving education, and none should be assessed too quickly. "We implement some new whiz-bang reform," he writes, "let it run its course for a little while, but then become impatient because things haven't improved as much as we wanted them to." Johnson advises patience and a commitment to examining long-term impacts of such changes as equitable school funding and pre-kindergarten programs. Looking at data to determine children's later-life success, the author asserts that Head Start, for example, when funded adequately, leads to positive educational outcomes for low-income children; but outcomes are poor when funding is low. Similarly, he correlates children's access to health care as crucial when evaluating school reforms: "Healthier children," he asserts, "are better learners," underscoring "the interrelationship between early childhood investments in health and public school spending." Integration, of course, has been at the center of much debate, and Johnson recounts the violent reaction to Brown v. Board of Education, efforts by school districts to undermine integration once their legislative mandate was lifted, and white communities' creation of "charter districts" for their own residents. Racially and economically diverse neighborhoods, argues the author persuasively, are crucial to successful school reform.A cogent and cleareyed analysis of a persistent problem. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.