The most accepted theoretical model for explaining how school desegregation produces academic benefits for minority children assumes that (a) school desegregation generates intergroup and interracial contact which (b) enables the achievement related values possessed by white children to be transmitted to minority students, which in turn (c) facilitates the academic achievement of these students through the internalization of achievement related norms as a result of peer acceptance or in anticipation of it. However, recent studies of this process, called normative social influence, have failed to support the above assumptions. Another possible influence on some academic gains in desegregated classrooms may be due to informational social influence, through which minority students may adopt behaviors that facilitate achievement without changes in personality. School desegregation as it is typically implemented does not create circumstances in which normative social influence can affect academic performance. Where minority students do exhibit gains, they are more likely the result of informational social influence and/or improved facilities. Cooperative learning techniques have also been shown to produce academic and attitudinal benefits in desegregated settings. (RLV)