Changes in Segregation by Race and Class: The Implications for Schools

• In Event: Choosing Homes, Choosing Schools: Mechanisms in the Reproduction of Educational Inequality

Abstract

This paper reviews recent trends in segregation by race and class, both of which contribute to concentration of poverty and educational isolation. Whatever the underlying causes, segregation by race and class has important implications for equality of educational opportunity. Most schools in the United States have explicit geographic attendance zones, therefore a segregated housing map produces segregated schools. Segregation within schools is further magnified through selection into private schools, magnet schools, and charter schools with themes that appeal differentially to various racial and ethnic groups (Saporito 2003). By contributing to lower educational attainment of the children of low-income families, segregation by race and class helps to perpetuate poverty across generations.

This paper uses census tract data from the decennial U.S. Census data for 1990 and 2000, and the American Communities Survey (ACS) five-year data files released in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Segregation is measured using the Index of Dissimilarity applied to racial groups, economic classifications, and student status. Simulations are performed to assess the contribution of racial segregation to economic segregation and vice versa. The concentration of poverty is assessed by the percent of the poor residing in census tracts with poverty rates of 40 percent or higher (Jargowsky 1997). Only secondary data was used in this study, so IRB approval is not applicable.

The results indicate that segregation between blacks and whites has declined since 1990, albeit very slowly and the level remains very high by any standard. In contrast, the segregation of Hispanics and Asians from whites, while lower than black/white segregation, is increasing.
Segregation of the poor from the non-poor is also increasing among whites, blacks and Asians.
Racial segregation by itself contributes about a third of the total economic segregation, though the amount varies across metropolitan areas. In contrast, economic segregation contributes little, less than 10 percent in most cases, to racial segregation. When minority groups with high poverty rates are segregated from whites, and when those groups themselves are segregated by income, the result is neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. Since the 2000 census, however, the number of persons residing in neighborhoods where the poverty rate is 40 percent or more surged 55 percent to 11.2 million persons. Because of racial differences in the distribution of families with children, children enrolled in school are substantially more segregated by race than adults.

These trends have troubling implications for access to educational resources. Residential segregation by race and class, segregation of school children, and differences in actual and perceived school quality form a self-reinforcing viscous cycle that leads to vast disparities in the availability of quality education (Kozol 1991). These disparities reduce social mobility and exacerbate inequality, and are therefore a major impediment to the possibility of equality of opportunity.

Author

• Paul A. Jargowsky, Rutgers University - Camden