The rapid gentrification occurring in major cities may have a significant impact on California and the distribution of wealth and opportunity for its families, similar to the vast suburbanization that occurred during the baby boom era. The White flight from central city neighborhoods has far-reaching consequences, particularly in regard to school…

This report shows that the segregation of Black students has increased in almost every region of the nation, and that Black students in many of nation's largest school districts have little access to or interaction with White, Asian or middle-class students. The report documents substantial Black enrollment in suburban schools, but high levels of…

In gentrifying areas of New York City, this research finds that a small but growing segment of middle-class, mostly White families are choosing to enroll their children in their neighborhood public elementary schools, thus increasing the diversity in those schools. Because residential and school segregation across the nation have traditionally had…

The publication of this report marks the 65th anniversary of "Brown v. Board of Education," the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case declaring racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. In the immediate years after the "Brown" ruling, the effort to integrate schools faced many difficult challenges and progress was…

The South was the central focus of the "Brown v. Board of Education" decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954. The landmark ruling held that laws mandating segregation in the school systems of the eleven states of the Old Confederacy, along with D.C. and six other states, violated the U.S. Constitution. Intense opposition met the…

A major force in urban neighborhoods across the country, gentrification is also transforming the nation's capital. In 2011, Washington, DC reached a non-black majority for the first time in more than a half century, and since 2000, the city's white population has increased from just over a quarter to well over a third of the total population. This…

As the anniversary of "Brown v. Board of Education" decision arrives again without any major initiatives to mitigate spreading and deepening segregation in the nation's schools, the Civil Rights Project adds to a growing national discussion with a research brief drawn from a much broader study of school segregation to be published in…

This report analyzes the data on changes in patterns of racial segregation and their education consequences over a quarter century, from l987 to 2012. It examines a major transition in the racial and ethnic composition of Connecticut and the changes in integration and segregation in the schools of the state and its urban communities and it…

The fight for equal educational opportunity in New York has followed a pattern similar to other diverse or racially transforming states. From the 1950s to 1980s, the issue of school desegregation was an important issue. Local civil rights pressure, the courts, and legislation attempted to desegregate large urban school systems through both…

North Carolina has a storied history of school integration efforts spanning several decades. In response to the "Brown" decision, North Carolina's strategy of delayed integration was more subtle than the overt defiance of other Southern states. Numerous North Carolina school districts were early leaders in employing strategies to…

Delaware's history with school desegregation is complicated and contradictory. The state both advanced and impeded the goals of "Brown v. Board of Education." After implementing desegregation plans that were ineffective by design, Delaware was ultimately placed under the first metropolitan, multi-district desegregation court order in the…

Though once a leader in school integration, Massachusetts has regressed over the last two decades as its students of color have experienced intensifying school segregation. This report investigates trends in school segregation in Massachusetts by examining concentration, exposure, and evenness measures by both race and class. First, the report…

New Jersey has a curious status regarding school desegregation. It has had the nation's most venerable and strongest state law prohibiting racially segregated schooling and requiring racial balance in the schools whenever feasible. Yet, it simultaneously has had one of the worst records of racially imbalanced schools. Against the legal and…

Maryland, as one of 17 states that had de jure segregation, has an intense history of school segregation. Following the 1954 Brown decision, school districts across the state employed various methods to desegregate their schools, including mandatory busing in Prince George's County, magnet schools in Montgomery County, and a freedom of choice plan…

Virginia has a long and complicated history with school desegregation efforts. It is a state that can lay claim both to advancing the goals of "Brown v. Board of Education" and to impeding them. Over the years, this history has helped shape contemporary patterns of school segregation across Virginia and in her major metropolitan areas.…