African-American student studying
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More than 60 years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared that segregated schools are unconstitutional, some American school districts are more racially and economically divided than ever.

According to the Guardian, the number of substandard schools for nonwhite students is a “slow-burning crisis” that political and educational leaders are declining to address.

UCLA professor Gary Orfield released a report on the stunning racial and economic disparities in the U.S. public school system in 2014 and he says that little has changed since then.

Orfield said that a “substantial majority” of black and Latino students are attending schools that are segregated by race and poverty. He believes that students who are wildly underserved are destined for a “downward spiral” after graduation in a society that increasingly requires college diplomas and advanced labor skills.

“If you get in a really poor-performing high school, you probably were in a weak elementary school,” Orfield told the Guardian.

“Let’s say your family’s poor, and then your chances of going to a really […]