Choosing Integration describes how economic segregation leads to high levels of racial and ethnic inequality in Massachusetts and contrasts this serious structural issue with the significant benefits that all students realize when they attend schools that are fully integrated by race, ethnicity, and income.
The analysis, funded by Policy for Progress, shows Massachusetts has seen a steady increase in the number of schools with a diverse racial and ethnic mix. However, few of these diverse schools are economically integrated.
At a crossroads where the state has new policies and resources to mount a coordinated effort to increase integration, the authors show how policies in education, housing, and transportation could work in tandem to provide new opportunities for children from families with limited means to attend lower-poverty suburban schools. At the same time, they lay out a complementary framework to improve the quality of urban neighborhoods and schools to increase socioeconomic diversity in Boston and the Gateway Cities.