Outcomes of School Desegregation: Findings from Longitudinal Research

Abstract

This report, derived from the report Trent submitted to the court in the Liddell case and his testimony on March 19, 1996, looks at some important noncognitive outcomes of school desegregation. It is based on his analyses of national survey data including the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972-Employer Survey, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Labor Force Participation-1979 cohort, and the National Survey of 1980 High School Sophomores and Seniors. Trent points out that these national longitudinal survey data show that desegregated schooling has a positive, statistically significant benefit for Black students' later earnings and occupational attainment. The National Survey of 1980 High School Sophomores and Seniors, commonly known as the High School and Beyond, or HSB, study, is based on a national longitudinal probability sample of over 58,000 individuals who were high school sophomores and seniors in 1980. The survey sample was designed to oversample schools with high minority populations, thus producing sufficient numbers of Black and Hispanic students to do certain analyses. The HSB obtained extensive information on students' educational and employment experiences, family information, self-concept, locus of control, orientation toward work, and demographic characteristics. It also obtained data on high school characteristics and location. Both the 1980 senior and sophomore samples were surveyed in 1980, 1982, 1984, and 1986. In the base-year survey conducted during spring 1980, over 30,000 sophomores completed questionnaires administered in 1,015 public and private high schools across the country. The first follow-up survey was conducted in 1982, obtaining data from 25,000 enrolled high school students and over 4,000 who had left high school. In 1984, the second follow-up study obtained data from more than 10,000 students who had remained in high school and more than 3,000 who had left their original school before graduation. The third follow-up survey was conducted in 1986 and included over 13,000 students from the 1980 senior class. Sponsored by the U.S. departments of Labor and Defense, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Labor Force Participation (NLS-Y) is a national survey of 12,686 young persons throughout the United States. My analyses used data from the base year of the survey, which began in 1979, through 1985. The study's base-year and subsequent followup surveys consist of three independent probability samples. There are two civilian samples: (a) a cross-sectional sample designed to yield the appropriate representation of various racial, ethnic, and income groups in the 14-to-21-year-old age cohort; and (b) a supplemental sample designed to oversample Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged non-Black, non-Hispanic youth. The third sample is a clustered probability sample of the 17-to-21-year-old age cohort in the military, stratified by branch of service and geographical location. Women were oversampled in the military sample. This threesample design provides an especially rich base of data on Blacks (2,923), Hispanics (1,924, for which specific ethnic groups are identifiable such as Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Cuban), and Whites (6,721). The NLS-Y questionnaire pinpoints respondents' education, job training, and work experiences. Its education items include questions about each respondent's schools, such as their racial/ ethnic composition and the provision of bilingual and/or English-as-a-second-language services and programs. There are also abundant items on job characteristics, work history, and income. Periodically, NLS-Y survey items have asked about respondents' attitudes and opinions, the results of which were available in 1985, six years following the base year. The National Longitudinal Survey of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-72)Employer Survey (NLS-ES) is a probability sample of 4,078 employers of young adult workers who had participated in the earlier national longitudinal study. …