The research is clear: diverse classrooms help students of all races and backgrounds do better in school and beyond. For students of color and students from low-income backgrounds, the effects are especially powerful for one simple reason: resources.

In an idealized vision of America, all schools would have equitable access to crucial school assets ranging from money and facilities to experienced educators and extracurriculars. We all know that’s not the reality of our country today.

Schools and districts with high numbers of students of color and students living in poverty are under-funded, over-reliant on novice teachers, and less likely to provide rigorous coursework. Across the country, many school district boundaries have been gerrymandered to reinforce patterns of segregation and inequality in resources.

Money matters. Facilities matter. Technology matters. Teachers matter.  College and career pathways matter. Proximity to power matters. Diversifying schools remains one of the only proven strategies to expand access to those resources. At a time when division and disunity threaten the fiber of our democracy, it’s also the best way to foster understanding and collaboration across racial, ethnic, cultural, and economic lines. 

This work has never been easy. We must avoid mistakes of the past, when the brunt of early integration efforts was borne by communities of color. But together we can.

​We can’t keep letting artificial school district and attendance boundaries separate students from opportunity—and from each other.