THE WHITE PLAINS RACIAL BALANCE PLAN.

WHITE PLAINS'S SCHOOL RACIAL BALANCE PLAN, IMPLEMENTED IN 1964 IN A CITY DISTRICT OF 8700 PUPILS, 17 PERCENT OF WHOM ARE NEGRO, IS STATISTICALLY ANALYZED AND EVALUATED IN THIS REPORT. TO ASSESS CHILDREN'S ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES FROM WHITE FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS WHO WERE IN THE THIRD GRADE OF THE INTEGRATED RECEIVING SCHOOLS IN 1964 (NEIGHBORHOOD GROUP) WERE COMPARED WITH SCORES FROM WHITE CHILDREN WHO WERE IN THIRD GRADE IN 1960, BEFORE THEIR SCHOOLS WERE INTEGRATED (CONTROL GROUP). THE NEIGHBORHOOD GROUP IN MANY RESPECTS SCORED AT A HIGHER ACHIEVEMENT LEVEL THEN DID THE CONTROL GROUP. ANOTHER TEST SCORE COMPARISON REVEALED THAT INNER CITY NEGRO CHILDREN WHO WERE IN THE FIRST GRADE IN 1964 ARE ACHIEVING SLIGHTLY BETTER IN THIRD GRADE, AFTER THREE YEARS OF INTEGRATION, THAN ARE NEGRO PUPILS WHO SPENT FIRST AND SECOND GRADES IN A SEGREGATED SCHOOL. EVALUATION OF THE BUSING PROGRAM INDICATES THAT THERE HAS BEEN NO EXODUS OF WHITE PUPILS FROM THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. APPROXIMATELY ONE-HALF OF ALL PARENTS WHO RESPONDED TO A QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE RACIAL BALANCE PLAN REPORTED HAVING OBSERVED POSITIVE EFFECTS RESULTING FROM INTEGRATION. FOURTEEN PERCENT OF THE RESPONDENTS REPORTED ONLY NEGATIVE EFFECTS. SLIGHTLY OVER FIVE PERCENT OF ALL PARENTS ASKED THAT THE BUSING BE DISCONTINUED. OF THE 201 TEACHERS (OUT OF A POSSIBLE 416) WHO RESPONDED TO THE TEACHER OPINION QUESTIONNAIRE, 31.4 PERCENT REPORTED ONLY POSITIVE EFFECTS OF INTEGRATION, 45.2 PERCENT REPORTED BOTH NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE, AND 12.4 REPORTED ONLY NEGATIVE. (LB)