ERIC Number: ED674494
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar-20
Pages: 50
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
The Impact of Increased Exposure of Diversity on Suburban Students' Outcomes: An Analysis of the METCO Voluntary Desegregation Program. Discussion Paper #2025.03
Elizabeth Setren
Blueprint Labs
Over sixty years following Brown vs. Board of Education, racial and socioeconomic segregation and lack of equal access to educational opportunities persist. Across the country, voluntary desegregation busing programs aim to ameliorate these imbalances and disparities. A longstanding Massachusetts program, METCO, buses K-12 students of color from Boston and Springfield, Massachusetts to 37 suburban districts that voluntarily enroll urban students. Supporters of the program argue that it prepares students to be active citizens in our multicultural society. Opponents question the value of the program and worry it may have a negative impact on suburban student outcomes. I estimate the causal effect of exposure to diversity through the METCO program by using two types of variation: difference-in-difference analysis of schools stopping and starting their METCO enrollment and two-stage least squares analysis of space availability for METCO students. Both methods rule out substantial test score, attendance, or suspension effects of having METCO peers. Classroom ability distribution and classroom suspension rates remain similar when METCO programs start and stop. There is no negative impact on college preparation, competitiveness, persistence, or graduation.
Descriptors: Suburban Schools, Student Attitudes, Diversity, Elementary Secondary Education, Busing, School Desegregation, Program Effectiveness, Urban Schools, Consciousness Raising, Academic Achievement, Student Behavior, Attendance, Suspension, Tests, Scores, Student Characteristics, Minority Group Students, White Students, Low Income Students, Students with Disabilities, English Learners, Immigrants, Parent Background, Educational Attainment
Blueprint Labs. 30 Wadsworth Street, Cambridge, MA 02142. e-mail: contact@mitblueprintlabs.org; Web site: https://blueprintlabs.mit.edu/
Related Records: ED672633
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Boston Foundation; Institute of Education Sciences (ED); Spencer Foundation; Russell Sage Foundation
Authoring Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Blueprint Labs; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Identifiers - Location: Massachusetts (Boston); Massachusetts
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305A200060
Department of Education Funded: Yes
Author Affiliations: N/A