News Tip: Brown v. Board Gains Are Being Undone, Duke Professor Says

In the decades following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, racial isolation in the nation's schools declined markedly. But as federal courts have begun to step back from active desegregation efforts, many school districts are returning to assignment policies based on neighborhood schools, says a Duke University professor who has authored a new book that analyzes school integration efforts in the United States.

"The predictable result is an increasing number of racially isolated schools," said Charles Clotfelter, a public policy professor. Clotfelter's newly released book, "After Brown: The Rise and Retreat of School Desegregation" (Princeton University Press, 2004), is a comprehensive analysis of integration data from school districts nationwide.

In 1954, the bulk of segregated schools were located in the South. Today, the South has the least segregated schools in the country, Clotfelter said.

Assignment policies are only one factor in the re-emergence of segregation in the nation's schools, Clotfelter said.

"Whites have been reluctant to embrace racially mixed schools, and options for avoiding integrated schools have proliferated in the 50 years since the Brown decision," Clotfelter said. In predominantly black, non-metropolitan districts in the South, private schools became the escape mechanism of choice, though this option was not a major factor nationally.

In metropolitan areas, "white flight" wiped out a quarter of the integration gains achieved through desegregation. The city-suburban disparities grew fastest in the North and Midwest, where school districts tend to be small, numerous and homogeneous.

"Given this combination of forces, it is clear that the burden for maintaining and advancing the gains of Brown lies with local school districts," Clotfelter said.

_ _ _ _

Other Duke faculty available to comment on the Brown v. Board of Education decision include:

-- William 'Sandy' Darity, professor of public policy studies, African-American studies and economics. Holds joint faculty appointments at Duke and at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Author of "Persistent Disparity: Race and Economic Inequality in the United States Since 1945" (1998). (919) 613-7336; darity@email.unc.edu

-- Rev. Curtis Freeman, professor of theology, director of Baptist House. Can discuss the role of the church in post-Brown integration efforts. (919) 660-3401; cfreeman@div.duke.edu

-- Trina Jones, professor of law. Historical contexts of Brown v. Board; also has examined the connection between color and race and the legal basis for color claims; potential limitations of the diversity rationale as a means of ensuring access for historically oppressed groups. (919) 613-7177; tjones@law.duke.edu

-- Helen Ladd, professor of public policy studies and economics. Editor of "Holding Schools Accountable: Performance-Based Reform in Education" and co-author of "When Schools Compete: A Cautionary Tale," which draws lessons for the U.S. from New Zealand's experience with self-governing schools, parental choice and competition. From 1996-99, co-chaired a National Academy of Sciences Committee on Education Finance: Equity, Adequacy and Productivity. Can also talk about public school financing, school accountability and vouchers. (919) 613-7352; hladd@pps.duke.edu

-- Thomas Nechyba, professor and chair of economics. Researches public economics, with particular focus on primary and secondary education. Recent projects include the economics of school choice, how school finance policies affect local communities, private school vouchers and the effect of family and community resources on education outcomes. (919)-660-1815, nechyba@econ.duke.edu

-- Charles Payne, professor of history, sociology and African American studies. Specializes in urban education and educational policy, social change, and social inequality. Currently working on a book on what has been learned from the last decade of school reform. Author of "I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Movement." (919) 684-5764; cmpayne@duke.edu

-- Jacob L. Vigdor, assistant professor of public policy studies and economics. Areas of expertise include education policy and racial and ethnic segregation. Currently researching effects of peer influences on elementary student achievement, with Charles Clotfelter and Helen Ladd. (919) 613-7354; jvigdor@pps.duke.edu

A more detailed list of Duke's K-12 and higher education experts is available online at http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/ed_experts.html.