David Kirp’s opinion piece in the New York Times argues that (1) efforts to racially de-segregate America’s schools have been abandoned, perhaps since 1974, and (2) this is bad for education policy outcomes, because integrated schools have been associated with better outcomes for black students.

But I’m more interested in the premise–is it the case that America’s public schools are still racially segregated? Are they more or less segregated than in 1974? 1954?

As they sometimes do, the Times followed up on the post with a “Room for Debate” feature. The discussion is, as far as I can tell, is about Kirp’s claim (2) above, but the introductory paragraph has links to a couple articles about segregation in two cities, New York and Charlotte, N.C.