As the state struggles to find funding for education - some researchers say our money would be best spent on improving diversity in the classroom.

That's the goal of the long-standing Sheff v. O'Neill lawsuit in Connecticut - which reached a settlement last year over the racial and ethnic isolation of Hartford school children. It's also the thrust of Susan Eaton's book - The Children in Room E4. Eaton is a former Hartford Courant reporter, who spent years examining these issues inside one of the nation's poorest - and worst-performing school districts. Now, she's a researcher at Harvard's institute for Race and Justice. Eaton says the Sheff case sets Connecticut on the right path toward ending segregation - which will in turn increase performance. But what happens to big plans based on research, when school districts are struggling to just meet basic needs in a recession.

Today, Where We Live, a talk with Susan Eaton about school diversity initiatives in tough economic times - and what she thinks the Obama administration should do to improve the quality of education in America.

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