district has been added that includes schools with enriched educational offerings, facilitated in part by pairing arrangements between individual schools and local colleges and universities. The recently announced Boston Compact, an alliance between the public education system and major area businesses, guarantees high school graduates jobs in exchange for continued improved performance on the part of the public schools. These added attractions including programs for bilingual and special needs students and an occupational resource center coexist with a program for the conservation of resources ordered by the court that has resulted in the closing of at least twenty-seven schools as enrollments have declined. The public school system in Boston has been significantly altered, according to the Boston Globe newspaper reporter, because of "a series of orders" issued by U.S. District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr. Despite the trauma and agony, some Bostonians have described court-ordered school desegregation in their city as contributing to "positive changes." It is possible that people in Boston and in other communities of the United States do not know about the positive changes associated with school desegregation and cannot appreciate them because the media have been slow to inform and deficient in their interpretation. Florence Levinsohn said that "television news," for example, "has gone for the violent." Notwithstanding that there has been "much more peaceful school desegregation than violent," reports of this have been missing in favor of a theme of "social discord," according to Levinsohn. Assessing blame is of limited value if efforts are not undertaken to reverse the situation by linking information about the positive outcomes of school desegregation to the plentiful supply of negative events reported. With the assistance of a grant from the Danforth Foundation, this study has accepted the challenge. It shares with the public detailed information about school desegregation plans that work--what their significant components are, how they work, and why. This report of workable desegregation plans and their analysis should be of particular benefit to educational administrators, planners, and analysts. School board members, city councilors, and state legislators will find these model plans of value as will members of community groups who wish to propose alternatives to official school desegregation policies. Attorneys will also find a review of the various desegregation strategies helpful in suggesting ways by which schools may comply with the constitutional requirement for a unitary system, with or without litigation. Several plans are described so that the reader may select one that is more suitable to the circumstances of his or her local community. The author is particularly grateful to Dr. John B. Ervin of the Danforth Foundation who recognized the need for a policy study like this one on model school desegregation plans. The author is also grateful to his consultants in Atlanta, Boston, Milwaukee, and Seattle who enhanced his -x- |