Report calls for education policies to promote diversity

The group’s report, With All Deliberate Speed, released Nov. 14 at New York University, notes that 51 years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, the United States has an unequal, two-tiered K-12 system, increasingly segregated by race and income.

“America in 2005 is not the America of 1954,” the report states, and “many of the appropriate actions taken to integrate our schools at that time may not be useful now. In 1954, our schools alone were asked to carry the full burden of integration. In 2005, any effort to reach across racial boundaries in school and out of school must be based on a new school-and-community compact.”

The consortium also believes that “achieving diversity in our public schools must not be pursued at the expense of providing high-quality teaching and learning opportunities for all children,” especially including those “who are of low income and racially isolated, whether they are white, black, Latino, or any other race or ethnic background.”

Among the commission’s recommendations:

• Diversity must be considered a key element in the definition of high-quality education in legislation and fiscal equity judicial cases.

• All students must have access to a high-quality education and have the opportunity for diverse learning experiences.