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Whether busing works to raise black pupils' test scores or drive whites out of town, a growing number of blacks and whites believe that the emphasis should now be on improving the schools. Says Wilson Riles, California's black superintendent of public instruction: "For 20 years we have been mesmerized with school integration. We have not given as much attention as we should to making the schools more effective."
Thomas Atkins, president of Boston's N.A.A.C.P., and many others who support busing agree. Many blacks and whites now believe that merely moving pupils from one school to another is not enough of an answer−particularly if the schools to which students are bused are not significantly better than the ones they left. Atkins says that "people are looking for different kinds of things to happen as a result of school desegregation." What do they want? Says Atkins: an improved curriculum, some choice in selecting teachers, better vocational courses and more accurate counseling.