Most of the education reform community has sought ways to make “separate but equal” schooling work better, but is this really the best course for our students? This report by The Century Foundation’s Task Force on the Common School, chaired by former Connecticut governor and senator Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., recommends improving schools by promoting economic and racial integration through public school choice.

Divided We Fail includes six background papers:

  • “Trends in School Segregation” by David Rusk, independent consultant
  • “The Racial Dividend of Economic School Integration” by Duncan Chaplin, Urban Institute
  • “Busing to Achieve Student Learning: One Midwestern School District’s Drive to Create Socioeconomic Balance” by Richard Mial, La Crosse Tribune
  • “Wake County Schools: A Question of Balance,” by Todd Silberman, Raleigh News and Observer
  • “St. Louis: Desegregation and School Choice in the Land of Dred Scott,” by William Freivogel, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
  • “Controlled Choice in Cambridge,” by Edward Fiske, formerly of the New York Times