1 in 3 U.S. students attended a racially segregated public school in 2020-21, watchdog says

Share

Explore Our Galleries

A man stands in front of the Djingareyber mosque on February 4, 2016 in Timbuktu, central Mali. 
Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu on February 4 celebrated the recovery of its historic mausoleums, destroyed during an Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012 and rebuilt thanks to UN cultural agency UNESCO.
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SEBASTIEN RIEUSSEC / AFP / SÉBASTIEN RIEUSSEC
African Peoples Before Captivity
Shackles from Slave Ship Henrietta Marie
Kidnapped: The Middle Passage
Enslaved family picking cotton
Nearly Three Centuries Of Enslavement
Image of the first black members of Congress
Reconstruction: A Brief Glimpse of Freedom
The Lynching of Laura Nelson_May_1911 200x200
One Hundred Years of Jim Crow
Civil Rights protest in Alabama
I Am Somebody! The Struggle for Justice
Black Lives Matter movement
NOW: Free At Last?
#15-Beitler photo best TF reduced size
Memorial to the Victims of Lynching
hands raised black background
The Freedom-Lovers’ Roll Call Wall
Frozen custard in Milwaukee's Bronzeville
Special Exhibits
Dr. James Cameron
Portraiture of Resistance

Breaking News!

Today's news and culture by Black and other reporters in the Black and mainstream media.

Ways to Support ABHM?

By Zachary Schermele, NBC News

Percent of Schools That Are Predominantly (75% or more) Same-Race/Ethnicity, by Region, in School Year 2020-21

Nearly 19 million students in the U.S., or more than a third, attended a public school in the 2020-21 school year where at least 75% of students were of the same race or ethnicity, according to a report released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office.

The 45-page analysis looked at years’ worth of data from the Department of Education. It provides a stark assessment of the state of racial and socioeconomic equity for K-12 students. 

Although the diversity of the total student population has increased in recent years, inequity persists, the report says. 

“Ensuring equal access to educational opportunity — a key component of the Department of Education’s mission — remains a persistent challenge,” Jackie Nowicki, lead author and the director of K-12 education at the GAO, said in the report. 

The new data also shows that 14% of students — about 7 million — attended schools where at least 90% of their peers were all of one race or ethnicity. Of the students attending schools where at least three-fourths of their peers were of their own racial or ethnic background, nearly half were white — compared to 31% Hispanic, 23% Black, 19% American Indian/Alaska Native, and 4% Asian students. 

Find out more about this report.

Racial segregation in education has recently been the subject of federal investigations in Alabama.

Get more breaking Black news.

Comments Are Welcome

Note: We moderate submissions in order to create a space for meaningful dialogue, a space where museum visitors – adults and youth –– can exchange informed, thoughtful, and relevant comments that add value to our exhibits.

Racial slurs, personal attacks, obscenity, profanity, and SHOUTING do not meet the above standard. Such comments are posted in the exhibit Hateful Speech. Commercial promotions, impersonations, and incoherent comments likewise fail to meet our goals, so will not be posted. Submissions longer than 120 words will be shortened.

See our full Comments Policy here.

Leave a Comment