Racial and Income Segregation at Multiple Geographic Scales in Large U.S. School Districts

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

Residential segregation within school districts is rarely studied, largely because census units do not align with school district boundaries. However, with the use of GIS, it is possible to estimate census geographies’ populations within school district boundaries, and estimate residential segregation within school districts. By linking together several data sources, including the School Attendance Boundary Survey (SABS) and census block and block group data, I study residential segregation in the largest school districts in the U.S. from 1990 to 2010 at multiple geographic scales.

Although spatial proximity alone does not determine integration, spatial proximity can create or impede conditions that lead to integration. I explore racial and income groups’ spatial segregation within school districts in order to better understand conditions in school districts that may create or impede conditions supportive of integration. From 1990 to 2010 in large school districts, macro segregation, or segregation occurring across large distances has been declining, with micro patterns of segregation relatively on the rise. Black-white segregation occurs at larger scales than Asian-white and Hispanic-white segregation, indicating that black and white residents not only experience a higher magnitude of segregation within districts, but are also more spatially segregated within school districts. In some school districts, the racial composition of a neighborhood is very similar to the racial composition extending several kilometers from that neighborhood (Figure 1). In such a school district, proximity to other racial groups is distant, and I argue that education policies aimed at integration must address the lack of spatial proximity in the residential context. Racial change occurs over short distances in other school districts, where proximity among different racial groups is near (Figure 2). In school districts where racial groups are more proximate residentially, education policies to promote school integration must address small scale patterns of segregation.

I also explore the segregation of elementary school attendance zones, a geographic scale at which segregation is rarely studied, yet a policy tool over which school districts have relative autonomy. Slightly over half of racial residential segregation in large school districts in 2010 was due to residents living in neighborhoods in different elementary school attendance zones (Table 1). Or in other words, attendance boundaries account for half of the racial residential segregation of school districts. This means that for the population, attendance zones account for a substantial proportion of school district residential segregation. School attendance zone boundaries play the greatest role in the segregation of black and white residents, both relatively and absolutely. That a large proportion of the total population is segregated by school attendance zones highlights the importance of these boundaries in residential choices. It also highlights an opportunity for large school districts to design and adjust school attendance zone boundaries in a race-conscious way in order to lessen segregative impacts of these boundaries.

Author

• Kendra Taylor, The Pennsylvania State University