Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 contain the case studies of the five
communities selected for analytical and comparative purposes. The
case studies for Dayton, Hartford, Rochester, Trenton, and Wilming-
ton define the sequence of desegregation events; key issues and
periods of time have been determined. The existence of critical
incidents, such as court challenges and citizen action or reaction, has
been established.

In each case study, the investigation of legal issues includes a
review of court cases and decisions. To ascertain political actions,
newspaper coverage has been augmented by interviews with active
participants in each of the areas under study. Administrative efforts
have been revealed through interviews and the study of planning
documents, implementation reports, and evaluations. Reports and
interviews with leaders of citizen groups elicited community response.
All interviews were open ended. The interview schedule for Dayton,
Rochester, Trenton, and Wilmington appears in Appendix A; because
Hartford is at an earlier phase of desegregation activity, a separate
interview schedule was prepared and appears in Appendix B.

Chapter 7 selects and discusses the most important factors in the
desegregation efforts in the five case study cities and determines why
those factors are the most significant. Dayton is instructive in
demonstrating the advantages of strong, charismatic leadership; its
highest level school administrators have worked in the system for
long periods of time and have fostered a level of trust that is crucial
when changes frightening to much of the population are to be
implemented. The study of Rochester establishes the importance of
community participation and the benefits of strong educational
components, such as the World of Inquiry School, in the deseg-
regation plan; there is a strong history of community involvement in
this metropolis and a sense of civic pride that has resulted in its
being one of the very few cities in the nation to initiate desegregation
efforts without the prodding of a court action. Trenton serves as a
warning of the difficulty of achieving progress when communication
between state and city is strained; although representatives of both
the city and the state sought and continue to seek desegregation and
improvement to the educational experience of Trenton schoolchildren,
lack of trust has totally frustrated that effort. Wilmington
demonstrates that when a mandatory, regional desegregation plan is
implemented, it is more likely to succeed if the district is made too
large for "white flight" to be easily accomplished. Once even initially
unenthusiastic parents gave the new districts a chance, the
overwhelming majority realized that their children's education was
not negatively affected and the population remained relatively stable.

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