Modern Disintegration: A National Study of Racial Disparities in Test Scores and Property Values After Desegregation Plans End

This dissertation is composed of three papers examining the predictors and consequences of increasing school segregation following widespread release from court ordered desegregation orders. Paper one investigates factors shaping districts’ choices to pursue release from desegregation orders. This serves to provide context for papers two and three, and to outline whether there are systematic differences between school districts that were released from orders and those that were not. Paper two tests whether release from court ordered desegregation orders coincided with racially disparate changes in elementary and middle school test scores. Paper three presents an analysis of how property taxes – an indicator of housing values - responded to release from desegregation orders.