Integration works, poll says

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, April 28, 2004

WASHINGTON — Most Americans say school integration has improved education for black students and indicate they prefer schools with an ethnic and racial mix, a new poll reports.

Still, four in five oppose sending students out of their community to achieve racial balance.

Nearly three-fourths said integration of the nation’s schools has improved the quality of education for black students, though whites were more likely than blacks to hold that view, according to the poll conducted for The Associated Press by Ipsos-Public Affairs.

The public perception about improved education for black children comes at a time when black students continue to trail whites in performance on tests for reading and math.

Four in five parents of school-age children prefer schools with black, white and Hispanic students over ones with students of the same race or mostly from another race, the poll found.

By a 2-1 margin, whites said public schools are doing a good job of serving all children equally, regardless of race. Blacks were evenly split on that question.

People have grown more convinced over the past three decades that public school integration has increased the quality of education for black and white students.