[ Students at racially mixed high schools 25 years ago in Topeka and

Students at racially mixed high schools 25 years ago in Topeka and five other U.S. cities believe the experience made them less prejudiced, a new study reported Tuesday.

But those lessons didn't guarantee they would lead integrated lives as adults, said Amy Stuart Wells, a Columbia University sociology professor and co-author of the report on school desegregation from the perspective of students who lived through it.

"They thought that they were kind of at the forefront of major changes in the society that would trickle down into housing and other sectors of the society. That didn't happen," she said in an interview.

The study was based on interviews with 236 graduates of the class of 1980. Forty graduates of Topeka High School were in the study.

While a majority viewed school desegregation as worthwhile, Wells said most ended up in segregated neighborhoods. The "white flight" of families to schools with the highest test scores is undermining school diversity, she said.

Researchers at Columbia and the University of California at Los Angeles interviewed 136 whites, 79 blacks and 21 Latinos who attended high schools in Topeka; Austin, Texas; Englewood, N.J.; Pasadena, Calif.; Shaker Heights, Ohio; and Charlotte, N.C.

The report coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling.

Dale Cushinberry, principal of Highland Park High School in Topeka, said the value of daily interaction by a diverse student body shouldn't be underestimated.

"Martin Luther King said years ago that people fear each other because they don't know each other. They don't know each other because they haven't properly communicated," he said.

Authors of the study urged:

- Broadening definitions of school quality beyond test scores to include racial diversity as a measure of a "good" school. - Amending laws to make it easier to have racially diverse charter schools.

- Expanding federal and state support for districts trying to maintain desegregation with magnet schools and student transfer plans. - Supporting housing integration to diversify public schools.

Tim Carpenter can be reached at (785) 295-1158 or tim.carpenter@cjonline.com.

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