A Portrait of Segregation in New York City’s Schools
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Wolran Kim
October 2012
The gap between Whites and Blacks has remained largely unchanged. African American families are susceptible to the problems associated with a low-income group that also faces discrimination and prejudice. Housing and schooling in many areas remains segregated, despite growing numbers of Blacks in suburban areas. African Americans have made significant progress in many areas, but they have not kept pace with White Americans in many sectors. African Americans have advanced in formal schooling to a remarkable degree, although in most areas residential patterns are left many public schools predominantly Black or White.
According to article, a portrait of segregation in New York City’s schools published on May 11, 2012, in The New York Times, “The landmark decision that outlawed segregation, Brown v. Board of Education was handed down 58 years ago this week. In its wake, school systems undertook desegregation efforts that peaked in the 1980s. Since then, schools across the country have been going through a process of de facto segregation. In New York, efforts over the years to reduce the segregation of schools have had little effect.” De facto segregation is the result of residential patterns.
Chicago, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, Houston, Los Angeles’s public schools are the most segregated in the country. Black isolation in schools has persisted even as residential segregation has declined. The rate of typical black resident’s neighborhood is dropped from 62% in 1970s to 57% in 2010s. The rate of typical black student’s school is increased from 54% to 55% in the same period. Also a half the city’s 1,600-plus schools are over 90 percent black and Hispanic.
The most segregated public schools in the city include Asian-dominated schools in Chinatown, heavily Hispanic schools in Washington Heights and Corona, and one white school in Manhattan Beach. But the greatest segregation is in black neighborhoods. Diversity Index Map shows the most segregated schools and census block groups in 2010, based on diversity index, a calculation of the probability that any two people in a school or neighborhood are a different race/ethnicity.
In the New York City, forty years ago, whites were the most segregated racial group, but dwindling numbers and the influx of Asian immigrants have reduced their isolation in city schools. Only one of the 100 most segregated schools is white. Two-thirds of the city’s most segregated public schools are black, concentrated in deeply isolated black neighborhoods in central Brooklyn and southeast Queens. The center of Queens has become one of the city’s most diverse areas, and its public schools are among the most integrated in the city. Just 5 of 126 charter schools are in this integrated group in the city. The most segregated public schools in the city include Asian-dominated schools in Chinatown, heavily Hispanic schools in Washington Heights and Corona, and one white school in Manhattan Beach. But the greatest segregation is in black neighborhoods.
Race is socially constructed, but that does not mean that being Black does not have consequences and being White carries privileges. Even if absolute deprivation has been softened, a significant gap still remains between African Americans and the dominant group. The gap in educational attainment between Blacks and Whites has always has been present. According to a source, male and female’s percentages of people 25 years an older (from Bureau of the Census 2005a, 147; 2007d, Text book, p.199) is 82% and 83% for Black compared to 90% and 91% for White. This illustrates progress in reducing this gap in recent years, and the gap remains substantial, with nearly twice the proportion of Whites holding a college degree as Blacks in 2007.
The gap of quality and quantity of education between Black and White is connected with school segregation. It has been more than 50 years since the U.S. Supreme Court issued that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, and the courts ordered Southern school districts to end racial separation. But as attention turned to larger school districts, especially in the North, the challenge was to have integrated schools even though the neighborhoods were segregated. The laws have effectively ended initiatives to overcome residential segregation, once again creating racial isolation in the schools. Apartheid schools (all-Black schools) and tracking (separating by test scores) are other terms that do not guarantee integration and equal schooling environment.
======================================================
Wolran Kim
October 2012
The gap between Whites and Blacks has remained largely unchanged. African American families are susceptible to the problems associated with a low-income group that also faces discrimination and prejudice. Housing and schooling in many areas remains segregated, despite growing numbers of Blacks in suburban areas. African Americans have made significant progress in many areas, but they have not kept pace with White Americans in many sectors. African Americans have advanced in formal schooling to a remarkable degree, although in most areas residential patterns are left many public schools predominantly Black or White.
According to article, a portrait of segregation in New York City’s schools published on May 11, 2012, in The New York Times, “The landmark decision that outlawed segregation, Brown v. Board of Education was handed down 58 years ago this week. In its wake, school systems undertook desegregation efforts that peaked in the 1980s. Since then, schools across the country have been going through a process of de facto segregation. In New York, efforts over the years to reduce the segregation of schools have had little effect.” De facto segregation is the result of residential patterns.
Chicago, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, Houston, Los Angeles’s public schools are the most segregated in the country. Black isolation in schools has persisted even as residential segregation has declined. The rate of typical black resident’s neighborhood is dropped from 62% in 1970s to 57% in 2010s. The rate of typical black student’s school is increased from 54% to 55% in the same period. Also a half the city’s 1,600-plus schools are over 90 percent black and Hispanic.
The most segregated public schools in the city include Asian-dominated schools in Chinatown, heavily Hispanic schools in Washington Heights and Corona, and one white school in Manhattan Beach. But the greatest segregation is in black neighborhoods. Diversity Index Map shows the most segregated schools and census block groups in 2010, based on diversity index, a calculation of the probability that any two people in a school or neighborhood are a different race/ethnicity.
In the New York City, forty years ago, whites were the most segregated racial group, but dwindling numbers and the influx of Asian immigrants have reduced their isolation in city schools. Only one of the 100 most segregated schools is white. Two-thirds of the city’s most segregated public schools are black, concentrated in deeply isolated black neighborhoods in central Brooklyn and southeast Queens. The center of Queens has become one of the city’s most diverse areas, and its public schools are among the most integrated in the city. Just 5 of 126 charter schools are in this integrated group in the city. The most segregated public schools in the city include Asian-dominated schools in Chinatown, heavily Hispanic schools in Washington Heights and Corona, and one white school in Manhattan Beach. But the greatest segregation is in black neighborhoods.
Race is socially constructed, but that does not mean that being Black does not have consequences and being White carries privileges. Even if absolute deprivation has been softened, a significant gap still remains between African Americans and the dominant group. The gap in educational attainment between Blacks and Whites has always has been present. According to a source, male and female’s percentages of people 25 years an older (from Bureau of the Census 2005a, 147; 2007d, Text book, p.199) is 82% and 83% for Black compared to 90% and 91% for White. This illustrates progress in reducing this gap in recent years, and the gap remains substantial, with nearly twice the proportion of Whites holding a college degree as Blacks in 2007.
The gap of quality and quantity of education between Black and White is connected with school segregation. It has been more than 50 years since the U.S. Supreme Court issued that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, and the courts ordered Southern school districts to end racial separation. But as attention turned to larger school districts, especially in the North, the challenge was to have integrated schools even though the neighborhoods were segregated. The laws have effectively ended initiatives to overcome residential segregation, once again creating racial isolation in the schools. Apartheid schools (all-Black schools) and tracking (separating by test scores) are other terms that do not guarantee integration and equal schooling environment.
