For decades, American schools have strived to integrate and equalize educational opportunities in an ever-changing, multiracial society. But a new report by UCLA’s Civil Rights Project analyzing segregation trends in the nation’s public schools shows “persistent and serious increases in segregation by race and poverty,” especially in the South and West where students of color now comprise the majority of public school enrollment.
The September 2012 report, “E Pluribus… Separation: Deepening Double Segregation for More Students,” and two smaller regional reports, “The Western States: Profound Diversity but Severe Segregation for Latino Students,” and “Southern Slippage: Growing School Segregation in the Most Desegregated Region of the Country,” indicate that the average black or Latino student now attends school with a substantial majority of children in poverty. Double the level in schools of whites and Asians, in fact, some 15 percent of black students and 14 percent of Latino students attend “apartheid schools” where whites make up 1 percent of the enrollment; half of the black students in Chicago and one-third in New York attend apartheid schools.
According to the report, “Segregation is directly linked to severe problems, such as high dropout rates, lack of experienced teachers, and fewer resources.” There is also evidence that de-segregated schools are linked to specific benefits, including prejudice reduction, increased civic engagement, and more complex thinking and better learning in general.
Latino students attend more intensely segregated and impoverished schools than they have for generations, a trend that is increasing across the country and is most dramatic in the West. The typical Latino student region attends a school where less than a quarter of their classmates are white; nearly two-thirds are other Latinos; and two-thirds are poor. California, New York, and Texas - states most recently impacted by immigration trends - are among the most segregated states for Latino students.
And in spite of declining residential segregation and large-scale movement to the suburbs for black families, “school segregation for black students remains very high and is increasing most severely in the South, which led the nation in school integration after the l960s desegregation struggles took effect.” According to the report, advances began to reverse after a 1991 Supreme Court decision made it easier for school districts and courts to dismantle school desegregation plans. Nationwide, the typical black student is now in a school where almost two out of every three classmates (64 percent) are low-income, nearly double the level in schools of the typical white or Asian student (37 percent and 39 percent, respectively). New York, Illinois, and Michigan top the list of the most segregated states for black students. The report also notes that charter schools are “the most segregated sector of schools for African American students.”
The Civil Rights Project noted that neither political party has yet to discuss this aspect of unequal education during the current presidential race.
“These trends threaten the nation’s success as a multiracial society,” commented Professor Gary Orfield, Civil Rights Project co-director. “We are disappointed to have heard nothing in the campaign about this issue from neither President Obama, who is the product of excellent integrated schools and colleges, nor from Governor Romney, whose father gave up his job in the Nixon Cabinet because of his fight for fair housing, which directly impacts school make-up.”
The Civil Rights Project report suggests a number of ways to reverse the trends toward deepening re-segregation. Such as “giving priority in competing for funds to pro-integration policies; changing the operation of choice plans and charter policies so that they foster rather than undermine integration; supporting diverse communities facing re-segregation with housing and education policies; helping communities undergoing racial change to create voluntary desegregation plans, and training for administrators and teachers’ to achieve successful and lasting integration.”
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Comments
Location, location, location
This reminds me of when my mother told me the story about what could have been my schooling if I had stayed in the city of Hayward where I was born. Her and my father were discussing schools for me way before I was born and my mom refused to let me attend the predominantly Hispanic school that was nearby only because she herself as a teacher had done her research. My parents both being Latino had agreed that I would go to a private school where education and teachers would be more beneficial. In the end the divorced and I ended up attending elementary and middle school in Millbrae. Looking back there was diversity yet the Asian population was prevalent.
Now with all the budget cuts the option to send a child to private school is not as possible as it was in the early 90s, financially.
ALSO what is currently being used to let children in to public schools is the school boundary lines. To go to a certain school you have to live within the right borders. Now the map that shows the borders is available to all to view, but not all parents can afford to move to the green zone for the better school or blue zone for the other good school.
Location has become everything for families. The possibility of living in a poor community while having your child attend the nice public school is very slim. Poor housing locations coincide with the least pick of schools honestly. It is a terrible set back into segregation because it just reaffirms that you cannot go to the nicer school since you don't have the money.
Same education!
This is really frustrating to me! A good school and a great education is something a child should get no matter where he/she comes from. I went to private schools until my junior year of high school, my parents decided to move to a mall town in the central valley where the closest private school was like 40 minutes away. So off to public school we went and I loved it! Yeah, there were some differences but in general I think it is a great high school. I have had a good educational experience, therefore I feel like everyone should too. For me my education was a way to learn about my self and create a future that I would want to develop in the incoming years.
All schools should have the same benefits, the same AP courses, and the same level of education that is the only way our future generations will do better than we are doing right now!
public
After reading this article, it made me think about these two little girls that I babysit. They attend Coast Christian a private elementary school [the school recently changed its name to Valor: Christian Academy]. I feel the elementary school did this to make them seem more prestigious and credible. However I don’t understand why they did this when we have a perfect public school just a few blocks a way, which is the one I attended when I was a kid. I also looked through their yearbook and noticed that many of the children were international, some from Korea, China and Africa. This really surprised me because when I was growing up I never had students from different parts of the world in my class. I feel the parents are putting their children in private school so they can have access to a better education and hopefully become successful later in life. I do understand that the two little girls I babysit are becoming more aware of different cultures and ways of doing things, but I also feel that it’s a little unfair in the sense that not everybody has the money to spend on private elementary schools.
Does it Look ‘White’ Enough?
This segment hit close to home with me because I grew up in a very interesting situation, very closely related to the segregated instances explained in the article, but with a slight spin. I am from a North County city in San Diego that is segregated based on specific areas within the city; like many areas and cities in San Diego, but I happen to grow up in a “border-line” neighborhood. Every school year, my brothers and I had to file a school district affiliation report, where we had to choose which elementary, middle, and high school we would be attending based on our location. The border we lived on was a very definite line that separated a majority of Hispanic and low income families, with predominantly white and wealthy families. The elementary school we attended was very multicultural with people from all classes of income, but was located on the “white side” of town. At the time, the middle school to attend, or the “go-to” school, had been located in the same area for over 50 years. The area around the school had become known as the “Hispanic” side of town and local school boards began to raise questions about the overall quality and security of students attending the middle school. I remember my mother telling me after one of the meetings that most of the concerned parents were the wealthy, white parents and that they even reached a decision to build another school on the opposite side of town. As I entered my eighth-grade year, the new school was put up and I watched a majority of my white friends move to the brand new campus with the school year already underway. I believe that we’re becoming more segregated because more and more towns, like mine, are associating quality of schooling with the appearance of a clean, wealthy campus and that isn’t always the case because you can have a great school that’s been around for a while and possibly needs a few dollars to upgrade. Instead, parents are so paranoid that they are willing to go to the extreme of building an entirely new school instead of upgrading an already great school that had an upstanding reputation.