Resegregation in U.S. Public Schools or White Decline?

A Closer Look at Trends in the 1990s

Abstract

There have been conflicting reports about changes in school segregation in the United States, with some suggesting that segregation is as intense now as in 1968. Data presented here show that the degree to which minority students are distributed differently than non-Hispanic white students across public elementary schools declined substantially between 1968 and 1990, and remained about the same level through 2000. At the same time, white students are becoming a smaller share of total enrollment, and this has two consequences. First, whites are increasingly exposed to racial and ethnic diversity in the schools that they attend. Second, minority students have fewer whites in their schools, even when they attend majority-white schools. These changes are important, but they do not constitute resegregation of public schools.