Diverse Issues in Higher Education, October 18, 2017
Can socioeconomic status (SES) desegregation policies combat rising school segregation across the United States? A new policy briefing from the National Coalition on School Diversity suggests that schools will see better results from using policies that take both race and socioeconomic status into account.
The number of both racially and economically segregated schools is growing, as a 2016 report from the Government Accountability Office attests. Between 2000 and 2014, the number of schools predominantly attended by low-income Black or Latino students jumped from 9 to 16 percent.
“Policies that incorporate race along with socioeconomic status seem to be the most effective in maintaining racial diversity,” said Dr. Erica Frankenberg, associate professor of education at the Penn State College of Education and author of the brief.