Eroding Integration: 21st Century Segregation Trends in U.S. Public and Charter Schools and Implications for the Enduring Promise of Brown

Drawing on Boddie’s adaptive discrimination framework, this article analyzes changes in demographic trends from 2002–2021. Our findings reveal a continuation of several longstanding trends, including increased racial/ethnic diversity in public school enrollment; deepening racial isolation within districts; persistent, high isolation for Black students; high but declining isolation for white students; growing isolation for Hispanic and Asian students; and substantial variation across regions. The growth of charter school enrollment and segregation since 2002 is striking, with substantial increases in many urban areas. Seventy years after Brown v. Board of Education, these trends reveal the continued effects of adaptive discrimination via privatization.