In May 1974, a five member study team from Teachers College, Columbia University spent four and one-half days in Birmingham, Alabama, for the purpose of (1) collecting information that describes the desegregation process as it evolved, (2) interviewing principals, administrators, teachers, students and community leaders relative to their impressions of the desegregation move and its impact, and (3) observing random classrooms, hallways, cafeterias, and playgrounds of 12 selected schools. Birmingham City School District was selected to participate in this study because it was identified from a collection of resource data as a district that developed and implemented a conflict-free (the current plan) and effective plan. The major purpose of the overall project was to identify districts that have been effective and successful in their attempts at desegregation and to describe the processes that led to their effectiveness and/or success. The Birmingham sample included schools (1) with an almost equal distribution of black and white students, (2) those having both a 60 percent black and white population, (3) those having almost an 80 percent black and white enrollment, and, (4) those that had all black students and several having an almost all white student body. A total of 12 schools were sampled from the more than 90 that serve the young people of Birmingham. (Author/JM)