"Brown v. Board of Education" held that the educational systems of seventeen states that mandated segregated schools violated the Constitutional guarantee of equal protection. The decision helped set off the civil rights revolution. However, after so many years of backlash, schools of the South are dramatically less segregated than what…

Although it is clear that racial segregation is linked to academic achievement gaps, the mechanisms underlying this link have been debated since Coleman published his eponymous 1966 report. In this paper, I examine 16 distinct measures of segregation to determine which is most strongly associated with academic achievement gaps. I find very clear…

This article examines the historical relationship between political power and the pursuit of education and social equality from the Reconstruction era to the present. The chief argument is that education equality is historically linked to and even predicated on equal political power, specifically, equal access to the franchise and instruments of…

The fight for equal educational opportunity in New York has followed a pattern similar to other diverse or racially transforming states. From the 1950s to 1980s, the issue of school desegregation was an important issue. Local civil rights pressure, the courts, and legislation attempted to desegregate large urban school systems through both…

This report analyzes the data on changes in patterns of racial segregation and their education consequences over a quarter century, from l987 to 2012. It examines a major transition in the racial and ethnic composition of Connecticut and the changes in integration and segregation in the schools of the state and its urban communities and it…

North Carolina has a storied history of school integration efforts spanning several decades. In response to the "Brown" decision, North Carolina's strategy of delayed integration was more subtle than the overt defiance of other Southern states. Numerous North Carolina school districts were early leaders in employing strategies to…

Delaware's history with school desegregation is complicated and contradictory. The state both advanced and impeded the goals of "Brown v. Board of Education." After implementing desegregation plans that were ineffective by design, Delaware was ultimately placed under the first metropolitan, multi-district desegregation court order in the…

Though once a leader in school integration, Massachusetts has regressed over the last two decades as its students of color have experienced intensifying school segregation. This report investigates trends in school segregation in Massachusetts by examining concentration, exposure, and evenness measures by both race and class. First, the report…

The purpose of this report is to examine what effect the increase in the number of schools obtaining unitary status has had on the racial balance of schools that were previously under court order. Specifically, the report examines whether levels of integration tend to erode as consent decrees are lifted. To that end, the Commission collected data…

This article reports on the extensive qualitative and quantitative findings of a multi-method participatory study designed to assess urban and suburban youths' experiences of racial class justice or injustice in their schools and throughout the nation. Constructed as a letter to Zora Neale Hurston, who was immediately critical of the Brown…

This paper documents trends in school segregation in different geographical regions throughout the United States between 1968 and 1976. The avarage level of school segregation between whites and minorities (Asian, Hispanic, and Native Americans) declined from a level of 42 to 21 points (on a scale of 0 to 100). Most of this reduction was due to…

Data collected nationwide from 1968 to the 1980-81 school year form the basis of this report on changes in school racial composition in States, Metropolitan areas, and large cities. Trends in the percentages of Black, Hispanic, and White students are discussed by region. It is indicated that the greatest gains in desegregation of blacks have taken…

This paper reports the findings of a national study of the impact of school desegregation programs on white public school enrollment from 1968 to 1976. School districts studied were grouped according to region, metropolitan status, and source of pressure to desegregate. It was found that only central city districts that had been subjected to court…

The Monitoring Commisssion was created in 1976 by the U.S. District Court to: (1) audit the efforts of the Detroit, Michigan public school system as it implemented a court-ordered desegregation program, (2) inform the community; and (3) advise the court. This Commission Report on the assessment process and its findings has six major sections as…