The Effectiveness of School Desegregation Plans, 1968-1991

Abstract

A major debate in school desegregation policy is whether voluntary, market-based mechanisms (such as magnet schools) result in more school desegregation than command-and-control approaches (such as mandatory reassignment). Using data obtained from a national probability sample of 600 school districts, we explore the effects of different types of desegregation plans on White flight, racial imbalance, and interracial exposure from 1968 to 1991 Based on the results of multiple regression analyses, we find that (a) voluntary plans result in lower levels of White flight and higher levels of change in interracial exposure than mandatory-reassignment or controlled-choice plans (which fall between the two approaches) and (b) voluntary plans are not disadvantaged in comparison to mandatory-reassignment or controlled-choice plans in the achievement of racial balance. School desegregation, particularly the court-ordered forced busing that began in the 1970s, has easily been the most controversial issue in public education in this century. Although it no longer receives the national headlines that it did in the 1970s, school desegregation remains an issue that will not go away. Hundreds of school systems, particularly larger ones, maintain active desegregation policies, and many are still under court orders that are over 20 years old. Local controversy flares periodically over such issues as seeking an end to

School Segregation, Educational Attainment, and Crime: Evidence from the End of Busing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg *

“…In contrast, Lutz (2011) finds that the termination of court-ordered busing plans beginning in the early 1990s led to virtually no short-run change in the exposure index, and a 10-year change of about 3.5 percentage points. In CMS, the change in the exposure index from 2001-2 to 2008-9 was about 13 percentage points, which is similar in magnitude to the effect of court-ordered desegregation in the 1960s and 1970s (Rossell and Armor 1996;Guryan 2004).…”

“…First, the rezoning of CMS schools led to changes in segregation that were considerably larger than the average district in Lutz (2011). The seven-year change in the exposure index (a commonly used measure of segregation) was about 13 percentage points, which is nearly as large as the effect of court-ordered desegregation in the 1960s and 1970s (Rossell and Armor 1996;Guryan 2004). Second, studentlevel data from a single district coupled with a quasi-experimental research design allow us to explore how changes in school racial composition might affect students through different mechanisms such as school resources and peer effects (Reber 2010;Cascio et al 2010;Johnson 2011;Bifulco et al 2011;Imberman et al 2012).…”

Desegregation and Black Dropout Rates

“…Welch and Light (1987) and Rossell and Armor (1996) show that the implementation of desegregation plans led to an increase in the speed of migration of whites out of urban school districts. If there is a similar phenomenon among blacks, the previous estimates are compromised.…”

Public school choice and integration evidence from Durham, North Carolina

“…Several studies have shown that past efforts to desegregate schools generated "white flight" from U.S. central cities (Clotfelter, 1979;Coleman, Kelly & Moore, 1975;Rossell & Armor, 1996;Welch & Light, 1987). The ability of white parents to avoid school desegregation efforts by changing where they live differs substantially across the country due to differences in the relative size of central city school districts.…”