The Impact of School Desegregation Programs on White Public-School Enrollment, 1968-1976

Abstract

This article examines the findings of a national study of the impact of school desegregation programs on white public-school enrollment trends in school districts grouped according to region, metropolitan status, and source of pressure to desegregate. The analysis is based on a larger and more diverse sample of districts than was used in previous studies. It shows that the increased exposure of white pupils to black pupils (or interracial contact) substantially affects the demography of school systems and leads to reductions in white enrollment. Moreover, the adverse effect of increased interracial contact is not limited to school districts that have implemented desegregation programs, although these districts experience an accelerated rate of white enrollment decline. White enrollment losses appear to be short term, limited primarily to the year a desegregation program is implemented. An important implication of thesefindings is that white enrollment 'trends are sensitive not to the programmatic components of desegregation strategies but rather to the amount of change in interracial contact that such strategies bring about.

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