It has been just over twenty years since the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision was handed down by the Supreme Court. During this period, educators, and in particular, school administrators have found themselves in a unique position between two masters—the public that supports public education through taxes, and the orders of the courts they are legally required to follow. Therefore, school administrators, functioning as social engineers, have devised various practices to provide a smooth transition from segregated to desegregated school systems. This study was designed to determine the practices used by selected school districts to cope with this change and to determine the effectiveness of these practices as perceived by central-staff administrators. Selected large city school districts with enrollments of 30,000 students and above, located in the six southern states under the jurisdiction of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, were selected for this study. These districts, of which there were thirty-four, also had to be under a federal court desegregation order to be included. The survey data reveal that the most effective desegregation practice for students is the provision of alternative schools and programs to assist students unable to cope with the regular school environment. Training administrators in conflict management was perceived to be the most effective practice for administrators, followed closely by training in the shared decision-making process. For teachers, the recruitment of minorities and using teacher aides were perceived to be the most effective practices.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.