Introduction and Overview: The Role of Social Science in School Desegregation Efforts

  • Overview of the use of social science evidence in school desegregation.
  • Social science knowledge was used in the Brown decision and became an important consideration for remedying segregation, and for making educational policy.
  • The social science debate about causes and cures of school segregation (school v. family factors) played out in courts and in policy.
  • Reviews the case of St. Louis as an example of the social science debate in desegregation efforts.
  • The 1996 Craton Liddell v. Board of Education, St. Louis case will determine the status of the city’s desegregation plan and whether the school districts involved achieved unitary status.