By Katherine Leal Unmuth
Latino Ed Beat
Latino students in California attend the most segregated schools in the nation, according to a new report by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. The most segregated schools are in the Los Angeles area.
The study is entitled, “Segregating California’s Future: Inequality and its Alternative 60 Years after Brown v. Board of Education.” In 1970, Latino students attended schools that were 54 percent white. Today, they attend schools that are 84 percent nonwhite.
Of course, it should be noted that the majority of students enrolled in the state’s public schools are Latino.
At the same time, due to the diversity of the state white students have increasingly attended integrated schools with significant nonwhite and poor student populations. They also often attend the most affluent schools along with Asian students. The most integrated students are in Sacramento and Fresno, where the study notes that residential segregation is much lower.
The segregation is also economic. Latino students on average attend schools enroll students who are 75 percent low-income. The report also refers to “triple segregation,” in which students are set apart by their limited English ability, in addition to being low-income and Latino.
“The playing field in California is profoundly uneven,” co-author Gary Orfield said in a press release.
