Busing to Opportunity? The Short and Long-Run Impacts of a Voluntary School Desegregation Program

Over 65 years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, racial and socioeconomic segregation and the lack of equal access to educational opportunities persist. Voluntary desegregation busing problems aim to alleviate these disparities. The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) is a model desegregation program founded in 1996 in Massachusetts. Economist Elizabeth Setren will examine the impact of METCO on students’ academic outcomes by comparing outcomes among students admitted to METCO and similar students who applied and were not admitted. Setren will investigate the following questions: 1) What are the effects of the program on students’ academic, behavioral, college, employment, earnings, neighborhood choice and housing, civic engagement, marriage, and fertility outcomes? 2) How do the effects vary by demographic subgroups, neighborhood characteristics, and by school district attended? 3) What factors explain the effects?