The nation's schools, which have become increasingly segregated in recent decades, are likely to become even more racially divided as a result of this week's Supreme Court decision curtailing the use of race in school integration plans, attorneys and educational experts said yesterday.

About 1,000 out of the 15,000 school systems in the country currently use race in some way to decide where children go to school, said Amy Stuart Wells, a professor of education at Columbia University's Teachers College. Many of those districts are expected to revamp or abandon those race-conscious policies because of the new ruling.

"We are going to see a major increase in racial segregation that will cause our children to be less prepared to live in our diverse society," she said.

This article appeared in the June 30, 2007 edition of the Washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/29/AR2007062902134.htm

Published Monday, Jul. 2, 2007