U.S. public school students often go to schools where at least half of their peers are the same race or ethnicity

U.S. public school students tend to go to schools where most of the student body shares their racial or ethnic background. Even though this trend has changed somewhat over the last two decades, it remains especially true for White students, a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Department of Education data shows.

In the 2018-19 school year, the most recent year for which data is available, 79% of White elementary and secondary public school students went to schools where at least half of their peers were also White. In that year, more than half of Hispanic students (56%) and 42% of Black students also attended schools where half the students or more shared their race or ethnicity. This includes those who attend traditional public schools and public charter schools. These differences by race and ethnicity do not reflect the demographics of public schools in the country as a whole: White students comprise 47% of students (this has declined from 65% in 1995), while 27% are Hispanic and 15% are Black. Other racial and ethnic groups make up relatively smaller shares of students, and they are much more likely to go to a school where the majority of their peers are a different race or ethnicity than they are. For Asian Americans – who make up around 5% of all public school students – 86% attend a school where fewer than half of their classmates are Asian, and more than a third (36%) attend a school where fewer than 10% are Asian American. Among Pacific Islanders and American Indians or Alaska Natives, who each account for 1% or fewer of all U.S. students, these shares are even higher. Read more...

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