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Historically, political and social forces have strategically converged to directly influence the formulation and implementation of education policies that seek to equalize educational opportunities for members of minority groups. Such has been the case with school desegregation efforts. Since the 1954 Brown Decision, powerful interest groups have sought and secured the assistance of the courts in providing legal support in abandoning desegregation initiatives. Unfortunately, fifty years after Brown, legal scholars and social scientists continue to debate the merits of school desegregation mandates. As the debate intensifies, desegregation policies continue to be scrutinized and quietly dismantled. As we watch, the public schools resegregate, it is obvious that the promises of Brown have not been fulfilled. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the achievement gap between resegregated and desegregated schools in the city of Norfolk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1990s many school districts abandoned school desegregation initiatives and quietly resegregated the public schools. In 1986, the city of Norfolk ended mandated busing for desegregation and returned to neighborhood schools. This shift resulted in the creation of 11 schools that were more than 95 percent African American. After 17 years of resegregation, the achievement gap between resegregated schools and desegregated schools continues to exist.. The purpose of this paper is to examine the trends in the achievement gap between resegregated and desegregated schools in the Norfolk Public schools District. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]