ABSTRACT

In the 50-year aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Brown v. Board ofEducation ofTopeka, Kansas, case, the United States is in many ways is more segregated racially, ideologically, and geographically than ever (Kozo11991 ;

Willis 1994; Jones 1997; Weiler 1998). As recently as 1999, research by Saprotio and Laureau clearly documented how European American families avoid schools that house populations that are more than 20 percent African American, despite the fact that these schools may be high performing, with excellent reputations and facilities. This research also revealed that European American parents prefer poor-performing White schools even if these schools have poorer children with lower test scores than African American schools.