IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pubeco/v239y2024ics0047272724001737.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Race-blind admissions, school segregation, and student outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Cook, Jason

Abstract

In 2007, the Supreme Court declared race-conscious school admissions unconstitutional. This paper provides the first evaluation of a related federal mandate where the Columbus City School District was forced to adopt a race-blind lottery system for its magnet schools. I explore the impact of the dramatic increase in racial segregation resulting from the mandate. More segregated schools spend less per-pupil, enroll lower achieving students, employ lower value-added teachers, and perpetuate “White flight” out of the district. Ultimately, segregation arising from mandated race-blind admissions causes student achievement and college attendance rates to decline.

Suggested Citation

  • Cook, Jason, 2024. "Race-blind admissions, school segregation, and student outcomes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:239:y:2024:i:c:s0047272724001737
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105237
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272724001737
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105237?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eric A. Hanushek & John F. Kain & Steven G. Rivkin, 2009. "New Evidence about Brown v. Board of Education: The Complex Effects of School Racial Composition on Achievement," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(3), pages 349-383, July.
    2. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    3. Thurston Domina & Deven Carlson & James Carter & Matthew Lenard & Andrew McEachin & Rachel Perera, 2021. "The Kids on the Bus: The Academic Consequences of Diversity‐Driven School Reassignments," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(4), pages 1197-1229, September.
    4. Dee, Thomas & Lan, Xiaohuan, 2015. "The achievement and course-taking effects of magnet schools: Regression-discontinuity evidence from urban China," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 128-142.
    5. Atila Abdulkadiroğlu & Joshua D. Angrist & Yusuke Narita & Parag A. Pathak, 2017. "Research Design Meets Market Design: Using Centralized Assignment for Impact Evaluation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 85, pages 1373-1432, September.
    6. Ashesh Rambachan & Jonathan Roth, 2023. "A More Credible Approach to Parallel Trends," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(5), pages 2555-2591.
    7. Joshua D. Angrist & Kevin Lang, 2004. "Does School Integration Generate Peer Effects? Evidence from Boston's Metco Program," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1613-1634, December.
    8. Eric A. Hanushek & Steven G. Rivkin, 2009. "Harming the best: How schools affect the black-white achievement gap," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 366-393.
    9. Justine S. Hastings & Christopher A. Neilson & Seth D. Zimmerman, 2012. "The Effect of School Choice on Intrinsic Motivation and Academic Outcomes," Working Papers 2012-3, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    10. Atila Abdulkadiroğlu & Joshua Angrist & Parag Pathak, 2014. "The Elite Illusion: Achievement Effects at Boston and New York Exam Schools," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(1), pages 137-196, January.
    11. C de Chaisemartin & X D’HaultfŒuille, 2018. "Fuzzy Differences-in-Differences," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(2), pages 999-1028.
    12. Luca Paolo Merlino & Max Friedrich Steinhardt & Liam Wren-Lewis, 2019. "More than Just Friends? School Peers and Adult Interracial Relationships," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(3), pages 663-713.
    13. Charles T. Clotfelter & Jacob L. Vigdor & Helen F. Ladd, 2006. "Federal Oversight, Local Control, and the Specter of "Resegregation" in Southern Schools," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 8(2), pages 347-389.
    14. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2014. "Measuring the Impacts of Teachers II: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2633-2679, September.
    15. Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham & Isaac Sorkin & Henry Swift, 2020. "Bartik Instruments: What, When, Why, and How," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(8), pages 2586-2624, August.
    16. Nathaniel Baum-Snow & Byron F. Lutz, 2011. "School Desegregation, School Choice, and Changes in Residential Location Patterns by Race," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(7), pages 3019-3046, December.
    17. Jonathan Guryan, 2004. "Desegregation and Black Dropout Rates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 919-943, September.
    18. Julie Berry Cullen & Brian A. Jacob, 2007. "Is Gaining Access to Selective Elementary Schools Gaining Ground? Evidence from Randomized Lotteries," NBER Chapters, in: The Problems of Disadvantaged Youth: An Economic Perspective, pages 43-84, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Sarah J. Reber, 2005. "Court Ordered Desegregation: Successes and Failures Integrating American Schools since Brown versus Board of Education," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(3).
    20. Sean F. Reardon & Elena Tej Grewal & Demetra Kalogrides & Erica Greenberg, 2012. "Brown Fades: The End of Court‐Ordered School Desegregation and the Resegregation of American Public Schools," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 876-904, September.
    21. Stephen B. Billings & Jonah Rockoff, 2014. "School Segregation, Educational Attainment, and Crime: Evidence from the End of Busing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(1), pages 435-476.
    22. Julie Berry Cullen & Brian A Jacob & Steven Levitt, 2006. "The Effect of School Choice on Participants: Evidence from Randomized Lotteries," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(5), pages 1191-1230, September.
    23. de Chaisemartin, Clement & D'Haultfoeuille, Xavier, 2014. "Fuzzy Changes-in Changes," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 184, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    24. John Engberg & Dennis Epple & Jason Imbrogno & Holger Sieg & Ron Zimmer, 2014. "Evaluating Education Programs That Have Lotteried Admission and Selective Attrition," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(1), pages 27-63.
    25. Will Dobbie & Roland G. Fryer Jr., 2014. "The Impact of Attending a School with High-Achieving Peers: Evidence from the New York City Exam Schools," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 58-75, July.
    26. Elizabeth Setren, 2024. "Busing to Opportunity? The Impacts of the METCO Voluntary School Desegregation Program on Urban Students of Color," CESifo Working Paper Series 11320, CESifo.
    27. C. Kirabo Jackson, 2009. "Student Demographics, Teacher Sorting, and Teacher Quality: Evidence from the End of School Desegregation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 213-256, April.
    28. Glenn Ellison & Parag A. Pathak, 2021. "The Efficiency of Race-Neutral Alternatives to Race-Based Affirmative Action: Evidence from Chicago's Exam Schools," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(3), pages 943-975, March.
    29. Caroline Hoxby, 2000. "Peer Effects in the Classroom: Learning from Gender and Race Variation," NBER Working Papers 7867, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    30. Bergman, Peter, 2018. "The Risks and Benefits of School Integration for Participating Students: Evidence from a Randomized Desegregation Program," IZA Discussion Papers 11602, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    31. Elizabeth Setren, 2024. "Busing to Opportunity? The Impacts of the METCO Voluntary School Desegregation Program on Urban Students of Color," NBER Working Papers 32864, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    32. Byron Lutz, 2011. "The End of Court-Ordered Desegregation," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 130-168, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cook, Jason B., 2018. "Race-Blind Admissions, School Segregation, and Student Outcomes: Evidence from Race-Blind Magnet School Lotteries," IZA Discussion Papers 11909, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Macartney, Hugh & Singleton, John D., 2018. "School boards and student segregation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 165-182.
    3. Figlio, D. & Karbownik, K. & Salvanes, K.G., 2016. "Education Research and Administrative Data," Handbook of the Economics of Education,, Elsevier.
    4. Jeffrey T. Denning & Richard Murphy & Felix Weinhardt, 2023. "Class Rank and Long-Run Outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1426-1441, November.
    5. Merlino, Luca Paolo & Steinhardt, Max Friedrich & Wren-Lewis, Liam, 2024. "The long run impact of childhood interracial contact on residential segregation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    6. Merlino, Luca & Steinhardt, Max & Wren-Lewis, Liam, 2022. "The long run impact of childhood interracial contact on residential segregation," SocArXiv hyau2_v1, Center for Open Science.
    7. Peter Hinrichs, 2024. "An Empirical Analysis of Racial Segregation in Higher Education," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 19(2), pages 218-251, Spring.
    8. Garrett Anstreicher & Jason Fletcher & Owen Thompson, 2022. "The Long Run Impacts of Court-Ordered Desegregation," NBER Working Papers 29926, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Richard Murphy & Felix Weinhardt, 2020. "Top of the Class: The Importance of Ordinal Rank," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(6), pages 2777-2826.
    10. Bergman, Peter, 2018. "The Risks and Benefits of School Integration for Participating Students: Evidence from a Randomized Desegregation Program," IZA Discussion Papers 11602, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Atila Abdulkadiroğlu & Joshua Angrist & Parag Pathak, 2014. "The Elite Illusion: Achievement Effects at Boston and New York Exam Schools," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(1), pages 137-196, January.
    12. Stephen B. Billings & Jonah Rockoff, 2014. "School Segregation, Educational Attainment, and Crime: Evidence from the End of Busing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(1), pages 435-476.
    13. Ritika Sethi, 2022. "Can Desegregation Close the Racial Gap in High School Coursework?," Papers 2208.12321, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2023.
    14. Jeffrey M. Weinstein, 2016. "The Impact Of School Racial Compositions On Neighborhood Racial Compositions: Evidence From School Redistricting," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(3), pages 1365-1382, July.
    15. Menghan Shen, 2018. "The association between the end of court-ordered school desegregation and preterm births among Black women," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-12, August.
    16. Angrist, Joshua D. & Pathak, Parag A. & Zarate, Roman A., 2023. "Choice and consequence: Assessing mismatch at Chicago exam schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    17. Robert Bifulco & Jason Fletcher & Stephen Ross, 2008. "The Effect of Classmate Characteristics on Individual Outcomes: Evidence from the Add Health," Working papers 2008-21, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2009.
    18. Ahmet Alkan & Sinan Sarpça & Sinan Sarpca, 2023. "Effects of High-Achieving Peers: Findings from a National High School Assignment System," CESifo Working Paper Series 10794, CESifo.
    19. Polipciuc, Maria & Cörvers, Frank & Montizaan, Raymond, 2023. "Peers’ race in adolescence and voting behavior," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    20. Peter Leopold S. Bergman, 2016. "The Effects of School Integration: Evidence from a Randomized Desegregation Program," CESifo Working Paper Series 6119, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Race-blind school admissions; Admissions lotteries; School segregation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J48 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Particular Labor Markets; Public Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:239:y:2024:i:c:s0047272724001737. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.