Beginning with the 1971-72 school term, the public schools of Lynchburg, Virginia, were racially balanced. In the elementary and junior high schools, this was achieved by busing; in the high schools it was achieved by having all ninth and tenth grade students attend the same school, and by having all eleventh and twelfth graders attend the same school. The two races involved were blacks and whites, making up approximately one-third and two-thirds of the school population, respectively. Early in 1972, a study of racial attitudes of Lynchburg school children was made in order to provide a base-line measurement at the time racial balance was instituted. In the spring of 1976, the 1972 study was replicated in order to find out what was happening to racial attitudes under racial balance. It was found that racial attitudes between the races were more favorable, that social distance between the races had decreased slightly, and that there was greater racial self-acceptance and a more favorable own race evaluation by both races in 1976. These findings gave limited support to the "structural normative theory" or prejudice and to the "equal status contact" theory. They also suggested that racial attitudes were more likely to become more favorable in racially balanced schools under certain conditions. (Author/JM)