An analysis of student enrollment in public schools by the Pew Hispanic Center finds that white students have become less isolated from minority students in schools since the mid-1990s. At the same time, African-American and Hispanic students have become slightly more isolated from white students. The report’s conclusions are based on a study of student enrollment data from the 1993-94 to the 2005-06 school years.
The report explains the two seemingly contradictory trends by showing that the share of students who are Hispanic has grown tremendously while the percentage of white students in schools has dropped. While Hispanic and black children are increasingly concentrated in schools whose students are primarily minority, because of the growth in the number of minority students, white students have more exposure to them in the schools they attend as well, the report says.
“The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of U.S. Public Schools” is available from the Pew Hispanic Center.
