Schools

Axios -   During the past decade, the nation's 25 largest suburban areas saw a doubling of the number of districts that are 90%-100% nonwhite, according to a UCLA Civil Rights Project report.  30% of the nation's entire public school enrollment is in those largest 25 suburban areas.  In 10 years, those suburban schools saw a steep drop of about 850,000 white students — and an increase of more than 1 million new Latino students.  More

Vox - Why is history reversing itself? Residential segregation, which researchers have historically identified as the root cause, isn’t the chief driver, according to the new study. The increased segregation also isn’t due to shifting demographics nationwide, as the country becomes less white. In most of the large districts that the researchers examined, housing segregation and racial economic inequality declined. Instead, they cited two policy choices America has made: increasing school choice options and ending court oversight of integration efforts.“When we switched from a commitment to integration and equity to school choice, it’s not terribly surprising that we see rising school segregation,” said Ann Owens, a professor of sociology and public policy at USC and one of the report’s authors. “We’ve abdicated our responsibility to integration, and unfettered choice does not magically lead to integration.”

And now, the steady increase means that Black and Hispanic students are more likely to be concentrated in higher-poverty schools with fewer resources, a trend that worsens academic and life outcomes.

Vox -