When courts end mandatory school desegregation efforts, and those schools subsequently resegregate, what happens to the political outlook of white students from those schools when they reach adulthood?
that focused on school districts in six Southern states could provide some clues. It indicates that in such situations, those white students who entered high school right after their districts were dismissed from court-ordered desegregation plans were 3.8 percentage points more likely to align with the Democratic Party as adults in 2020 than their white peers who either graduated from those districts before those dismissals, or who were in districts that remained under those orders from 1990 to 2014.
Addressing school segregation and its effects on everything from education funding to students鈥� life outcomes is a key issue for many political leaders and others in the education world; the number of districts under court desegregation orders has declined in the last few decades, although exact and consistent information about those orders is .
The study doesn鈥檛 get into the details of why different districts had the court orders lifted. School districts can show they鈥檝e achieved desegregation in order to have court orders lifted, although there鈥檚 also some evidence that lax enforcement and oversight of such orders has led to a decline in their influence.
The way teachers as well as district leaders talk about race in the classroom has become a polarizing national political issue in recent months. And more broadly, even small shifts in partisanship in the states included in the study, like Florida and Georgia, can have immense political consequences.
In her working paper, which is undergoing peer review, Taylor Mattia, a Ph.D. candidate in politics at New York University, wrote that her findings corroborate a theory that white peoples鈥� increased exposure to other racial groups leads them to see a threat to their own identity, and to respond negatively to those other groups. 鈥淚n the context of educational settings, exposure alone may generate backlash,鈥� wrote Mattia, who鈥檚 also studied the effect of education spending on voter turnout and is an affiliated researcher at NYU鈥檚 Public Safety Lab.
Noting that the Democratic Party attracts more people of color than the Republican Party, Mattia also wrote in her paper that: 鈥淭hese findings [are] potentially troubling. They imply a higher likelihood of identification with the Democratic Party among whites due to increased social distance between whites and students of color.鈥�
However, a different theory holds that contact and interaction with different racial groups reduces negative stereotypes and leads to greater affinity and cooperation between people in those groups. And it鈥檚 important to note that other recent research about this general topic has resulted in findings substantively different than Mattia鈥檚.
For example, a study of white men who were bused to predominantly Black schools in Louisville, Ky., in the 1970s found that those men were four decades later.
And a study of Charlotte-Mecklenburg 69传媒 in North Carolina found a correlation between an increase in schools鈥� enrollment of students of color and a decrease in students鈥� subsequent likelihood of registering as Republicans, a correlation largely driven by as adults.
While court-ordered desegregation efforts have often played a big role in debates about diversity and race in education, those aren鈥檛 the only efforts by policymakers and educators to enhance things like the socioeconomic diversity of their schools. Some districts have voluntarily.
Recent polling data indicates that while parents from different racial and political backgrounds tend to say they鈥檇 prefer for their children to attend racially and economically integrated schools, their decisions about their children鈥檚 schooling .
A federal watchdog鈥檚 report from 2016 found that that the share of racially and economically isolated schools was on the rise, although claims that the report showed an increase in school segregation .
Links between teenagers鈥� experiences and their adult politics should be studied closely
In an interview about her study, 鈥淩esegregated 69传媒, Racial Attitudes, and Long-Run Partisanship: Evidence for White Backlash,鈥� Mattia noted that the research encompasses a much larger number of schools, districts, and students than the studies of Louisville and Charlotte-Mecklenburg mentioned above.
Mattia said she took an interest in the topic because many studies focus on parents鈥� influence on their children鈥檚 political outlook, but fewer look at schools鈥� impact on things like partisan affiliation.
鈥淚f I know that you鈥檙e a Democrat when you鈥檙e 25, there鈥檚 a really high chance you鈥檙e going to be a Democrat when you鈥檙e 50,鈥� Mattia said in an interview. 鈥淲e know that adolescent experiences are important to the formation of partisanship.鈥�
For her research, Mattia focused on public high schools in districts in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and sorted districts by whether court-ordered desegregation was kept in place or dismissed between 1990 and 2014; Mattia chose these states because of their relatively robust data on voters鈥� racial identity and partisan identification.
It鈥檚 not just safe to assume that numeric diversity will translate to positive outcomes.
Mattia also replicated previous research to show that dismissals of court desegregation led to actual resegregation by race in the high schools she studied. She then gathered data on individual students from schools鈥� presence on , a social-networking site, and linked that data to information about their race and partisan affiliation.
She also didn鈥檛 find a meaningful link between the dismissal of court-ordered integration in a district and a subsequent migration of white parents into that district.
The link between white students in resegregated schools and their future affiliation as Democrats was strongest among those who already attended predominantly white high schools when their districts鈥� court-ordered desegregation was dismissed. When Mattia looked at whether the dismissal of court-ordered desegregation had an affect on the adult partisan affiliation of Black and Latino students, she found none.
The idea that desegregation policies can provoke a threatened response is a real concern for schools and others, but it鈥檚 also on a complicated spectrum of reactions and not 鈥渋nsurmountable鈥� for such efforts, said Peter Piazza, a researcher at the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment, who studies school integration efforts.
If people focus too heavily on white students鈥� potential negative responses, Piazza said, 鈥淚鈥檇 be worried that people would say, 鈥榃ell, what鈥檚 the point of integration?鈥欌�� He also pointed to research showing benefits that when it comes to issues like engagement, safety, and civic participation.
In an Education Week story about schools named for segregationist politicians, Willie Bright, a Black member of the South Carolina community served by Strom Thurmond High School鈥攏amed for the long-time U.S. senator鈥攕aid that, 鈥淛ust because they go through the same door doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 integrated. The school鈥檚 just as segregated as it ever was.鈥�
Beyond school-level enrollment figures, issues like have also garnered attention.
Ultimately, Mattia said, schools should work to create opportunities for students of different races to forge friendships and (as she put it in her working paper) other 鈥渃lose, meaningful, and cooperative鈥� relationships in schools themselves.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of other research showing that, at least at the classroom level, there are actions that teachers and administrators and even school districts鈥� elected officials can take in order to ensure that racial diversity leads to more positive outcomes,鈥� Mattia said in the interview. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just safe to assume that numeric diversity will translate to positive outcomes.鈥�
