<scp>B</scp>rown Fades: The End of Court‐Ordered School Desegregation and the Resegregation of <scp>A</scp>merican Public Schools

TLDR

The study examines whether court‑ordered desegregation plans continue to reduce racial segregation after districts are released from court oversight. The authors analyze more than 200 medium‑ and large‑size districts that were released from desegregation court orders between 1991 and 2009. Racial segregation rose gradually after release, especially in the South, elementary grades, and districts with low pre‑release segregation, showing that court‑ordered plans are effective but their effects fade without ongoing oversight.

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we investigate whether the school desegregation produced by court‐ordered desegregation plans persists when school districts are released from court oversight. Over 200 medium‐sized and large districts were released from desegregation court orders from 1991 to 2009. We find that racial school segregation in these districts increased gradually following release from court order, relative to the trends in segregation in districts remaining under court order. These increases are more pronounced in the S outh, in elementary grades, and in districts where prerelease school segregation levels were low. These results suggest that court‐ordered desegregation plans are effective in reducing racial school segregation, but that their effects fade over time in the absence of continued court oversight.