The Returns to Relentless Effort Holes in the Social Safety Net

T famous Brown v. Board of Education court decision provided the legal foundation for ending racial segregation in U.S. public schools. Although school desegregation did decline substantially since that 1954 decision, recent changes in the law have released many school districts from court-ordered desegregation plans. Have past gains in racial and ethnic school integration remained intact despite such legal changes? Or are schools now drifting back to a more segregated regime? In new research by Sean F. Reardon, Elena Tej Grewal, Demetra Kalogrides, and Erica Greenberg, the main story is one of a drift back to a more segregated past. Examining 450 large school districts between the early 1990s and today, Reardon and his colleagues uncovered significant increases in White-Black segregation within districts that were released from their plans, as compared to those that remained under court-ordered desegregation plans. This backward drift was especially prominent in Southern school districts. These results reveal the powerful pro-segregation forces that remain at work even now. The new segregation levels may pale in comparison to what prevailed prior to the Brown decision, but it’s nonetheless clear that, absent continuing court oversight, the impulse toward segregation remains dominant.