Key Takeaways

• Black students today face levels of segregation comparable to the 1960s and 1970s. Overall, Hispanic students are not as segregated as their black peers, but they have become increasingly segregated in recent decades and currently face high levels of segregation. Of particular concern is the recent spike in intense segregation, where greater than 90 percent of the students in a school are black or Hispanic.
• A large body of economic evidence confirms that desegregation boosts the educational and economic outcomes of low-income and minority students without negatively affecting those of more economically advantaged students.
• An array of research shows that desegregation can help reduce intergroup stereotypes and distrust for both white and minority students.
• Empirical studies demonstrate that desegregation is a powerful lever for providing pathways to economic opportunity for disadvantaged children and thereby increasing economic mobility.
• School integration powers economic growth by boosting human capital, innovation, and productivity, while strengthening the social trust and interpersonal relationships necessary for smoothly functioning markets.
• Policy reforms for jumpstarting integration include affordable housing and zoning changes to integrate neighborhoods, consolidated or redrawn school districts that include more diverse populations, open enrollment systems, “controlled choice” provisions that balance family preferences and equitable access, civil rights enforcement, and expansion of gifted education to all students.
• The most effective results will be achieved if school desegregation is implemented with reforms closing the massive inequities in funding across schools, upping the aggregate financial investment in our public school system, and expanding early childhood education to funnel public funds to the most critical stage of child development.