Last year our nation celebrated the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education—and lamented the appalling lack of progress in delivering on the promise of equal educational opportunities for minority schoolchildren. In a perverse sense, we are closing in on the goal of equality, because the quality of American public schooling has been worsening for everyone. But for blacks and Hispanics, who are disproportionately represented among the poor, the situation is catastrophic....