|Effects of Racial School Segregation on the Black-White
Achievement Gap| This project will investigate the effects of
racial school segregation on black-white achievement gaps over a
10-year period (1996-2007). Unlike much previous research on
segregation, the focus of this study is on estimating the causal
effect of within-district segregation patterns on within-
district racial achievement gaps, rather than on measuring
associations between school racial composition and student
achievement. The project is motivated by the persistence of both
the black-white achievement gap and black-white school
segregation patterns. Given evidence that black-white
disparities in academic outcomes narrowed somewhat in the 1970s
as a result of school desegregation, this proposal seeks to
determine whether current achievement gaps might be reduced by
renewed efforts to reduce racial segregation patterns among
schools. That racial school segregation may lead to racial
disparities in school outcomes is, on its face, plausible.