Metropolitan Public School District Segregation by Race and Income, 2000–2011

Abstract

Background Recent work has documented declining public school racial/ethnic segregation, as students have become more evenly distributed across schools and districts since the turn of the century. However, we know little about how declines in school racial/ethnic segregation have affected students of different levels of economic resources. While some evidence suggests that class may be supplanting race as the defining force in structuring residential segregation, it is unclear whether this trend toward spatial assimilation is mirrored in schools. Objective In this study, we provide initial evidence linking racial/ethnic and socioeconomic segregation in schools. First, we disaggregate patterns and trends in metropolitan segregation by student race/ethnicity and household income to examine how changes in racial/ethnic segregation are experienced by students of different income levels. Second, drawing on theories of spatial assimilation and place stratification, we examine the relative importance of race/ethnicity vis-à-vis income in structuring patterns of segregation. Research Design We use unique data on the joint distribution of student race/ethnicity and family income from the National Center of Education Statistics’ Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (NCES EDGE) system. For each U.S. metropolitan area, we calculate measures of between-district segregation from 2000 to 2011. We compute measures of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic segregation using the dual-group index of dissimilarity and the rank-order information theory index. We focus on two key comparisons: the segregation between non-White and white students in the same income quintile, and the segregation between non-White students in each income quintile and all White students. Findings We find that recent declines in racial/ethnic segregation were unevenly distributed across the income distribution. For example, while Black students of all income levels experienced declines in segregation from Whites, decreases were particularly pronounced for affluent Blacks. In addition, poor White students became more segregated from non-White students of all income levels. We also document shifts in the contributions of race/ethnicity and income to segregation: While income is increasingly implicated in Black–White and Hispanic–White segregation, Asian–White segregation is increasingly attributable to race/ethnicity. Conclusions Findings highlight the complexity of student experiences of segregation by race/ethnicity and income. Focusing exclusively on declines in racial/ethnic segregation or increases in income segregation may lead scholars to neglect phenomena such as the worsening segregation of poor White students, or improving segregation among affluent non-Whites. In addition, while racial/ethnic segregation remains high, segregation between non-Whites and Whites is increasingly attributable to income differences between racial/ethnic groups (i.e., spatial assimilation), with the exception of Asian students.