Economic Integration Improves while Racial Segregation Worsens in Elementary Schools

Poor students of all races are more likely to attend elementary school with middle-class peers, according to a new study published in Educational Researcher. In 1998, the average poor child had a 40 percent chance of attending school with a middle-income classmate, compared to 50 percent in 2010. However, the study found that Latino children – who make up more than one quarter of the country’s elementary school students – are less likely to attend elementary school with white peers, largely due to isolation in large urban school districts.