School and Residential Segregation in Districts With Voluntary Integration Policies

• In Event: School and District Segregation: Persistent Challenges and New Possibilities

Abstract

Since the Supreme Court’s 2007 Parents Involved decision, school districts have been integrating in more legally and politically charged environments. The retreat of the federal government in the racial integration of schools is well documented, but less understood is what local school districts are doing to fill that void. This study documents the districts in the U.S. that are engaged in voluntary integration. Further, we measure the racial and income segregation in these districts at the school level from 2000 through 2015, examining the relationship between integration methods and levels of segregation. We also measure tract level segregation in these districts from 2000 and 2010 to better understand residential patterns of segregation within the districts and contextualize school-level trends.

Authors

• Jeremy Anderson, The Pennsylvania State University

• Kendra Taylor, The Pennsylvania State University

• Erica Frankenberg, The Pennsylvania State University