Posted on March 26, 2014

Report: NY Schools Are Most Racially Segregated

Karen Matthews, AP, March 26, 2014

New York state has the most segregated public schools in the nation, with many black and Latino students attending schools with virtually no white classmates, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California at Los Angeles looks at enrollment trends from 1989 to 2010.

In New York City, the largest school system in the U.S. with 1.1 million pupils, the study notes that many of the charter schools created over the last dozen years are among the least diverse of all, with less than 1 percent white enrollment at 73 percent of charter schools.

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He and his fellow researchers say segregation has the effect of concentrating black and Latino students in schools with high ratios of poor students compared with the statewide average. Black and Latino students who attend schools that are integrated by race and income level perform significantly better than their peers in segregated schools, the authors note.

The study suggests that New York’s segregation is largely due to housing patterns, because housing and school segregation are correlated, but that it could be mitigated through policies intended to promote diversity.

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One way to measure segregation is the exposure of students to classmates from other racial groups. About half of New York state’s public school students are white, but during the 2009-10 school year the average black student in New York went to a school where 17.7 percent of the students are white.

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A report on nationwide trends in segregation is planned to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education ruling on May 17. {snip}

The report released Wednesday noted that about half of New York state’s public school students were from low-income families in 2010 but the typical black or Latino student attended a school where close to 70 percent of classmates were low-income. The typical white student went to a school where just 30 percent of classmates were low-income.

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New York City Department of Education spokesman Devon Puglia did not address the findings of the report, but said, “We believe in diverse classrooms in which students interact and grow through personal relationships with those of different backgrounds.” The district is roughly 40 percent Hispanic, 30 percent black, 15 percent white and 15 percent Asian.

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