College - Author 1

College of Liberal Arts

Department - Author 1

Political Science Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BA in Political Science

Date

6-2013

Primary Advisor

Elizabeth Lowham

Abstract/Summary

Brown v. Board of Education (1954) has been highly regarded as a landmark decision that set forth the promise of equality in education for all students. The goal of Brown still remains relevant in the field of education, but recent decisions in the 1990s have signaled what scholars claim to be the end of court-ordered desegregation. This study seeks to answer whether these policies are moving in the direction of Brown by testing the relationship between desegregation plans and educational performance. The findings in this study show that court-ordered desegregation plans are not statistically significant to educational attainment, but the findings show that racial composition, either in the form of percentage of minorities and the percentage of black enrollment, heavily influences the educational performance of a school district. The findings of this study support the decisions in the 1990s in the suggestion that desegregation plans may not be as relevant today as they were in the time of Brown. Nonetheless, the findings show that the racial composition of a school matters.

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