White Flight and White Return in Norfolk: A Test of Predictions

Abstract

Predictions in 1981 that the flight of white students from the public schools in Norfolk, Virginia, would resegregate the public schools unless busing was stopped led the federal courts to order the end of busing in Grades K-5 in 1986. The authors' research shows that these predictions were incorrect. After 1982, white flight nearly stopped in Grades K-12 and reversed in Grades K-5. Since busing ended, the rate of return of white students to public schools has been about one-third of what was predicted, and parents' attitudes toward the public schools have not improved. Moreover, the segregation of black students in the elementary schools has greatly increased.