School Segregation*

An Education measure

The University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute Model of Health

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Measures marked with an asterisk (*) are not included in summary calculations for Population Health and Well-being or Community Conditions.

About

The extent to which students within different race and ethnicity groups are unevenly distributed across schools when compared with the racial and ethnic composition of the local population. The index ranges from 0 to 1 with lower values representing a school composition that approximates race and ethnicity distributions in the student populations within the county, and higher values representing more segregation. The 2025 Annual Data Release used data from 2023-2024 for this measure.

The Brown v. Board of Education United States Supreme Court case declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional in 1954. Progress toward desegregation was slow and opposed by many individuals, organizations, and government officials.1 For example, in the late 1950s Native students of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians were permitted to ride buses to previously all-white schools in Alabama, but only if the Native students had skin deemed light enough.2 Desegregation of schools peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, in the Board of Education of Oklahoma City v. Dowell decision, the Supreme Court ruled that desegregation efforts may be dissolved. As a result of such legal rulings and government policies and decisions that support segregated living and school enrollment, contact between racial groups in public schools has declined.3 Approximately 37% of Black students in the U.S. enrolled in majority white schools in 1988, but in 2018, the percentage declined to 19%.3 For Hispanic students, school segregation has steadily increased with population shifts and Hispanic students now face higher levels of segregation nationally than Black students.3

The Brown decision deemed the doctrine of “separate but equal” unconstitutional and acknowledged that equality in segregation is not possible. This ruling is supported by recent statistics showing that Black and Hispanic students are most likely to experience intense segregation in school and also most likely to be concentrated in under-resourced, high-poverty schools with less experienced and credentialed teachers and higher teacher turnover.3-5 In rural areas white and Native students can face high levels of segregation and similar barriers to success, including increased poverty.6

School segregation strongly reflects residential segregation; however, the policies that drive school and residential segregation are under the jurisdictions of separate decision-making bodies, creating multiple avenues for progress. School segregation is more highly associated with achievement gaps than residential segregation, which suggests that school segregation may affect additional pathways to student achievement beyond those explained by residential segregation (e.g., teacher retention and credentials, school resources, breadth of curriculum, and advanced course offerings).4

Schools where the majority of students have minoritized racial or ethnic identities can be culturally affirming by centering ways of being for students who may otherwise find themselves on the margins; however, demonstrated relationships between economic segregation, racial segregation, and fewer academic opportunities mean that students in these settings may still experience inequitable outcomes.7 Studies show that racial/ethnic segregation in schools is negatively associated with achievement, college success, long-term employment, and income for students of color. School segregation leads to racial gaps in the identification of students who would benefit from special education, perpetuating racial gaps into adulthood.8

In addition to negatively impacting opportunities for students in schools experiencing disinvestment, school segregation can hinder the development of diverse perspectives. In the U.S., social networks continue to be homogeneous - for example, the majority of white adults in the U.S. have entirely white social networks.9 While not without challenges, studies have found that students in diverse, well-resourced schools have more opportunities to gain civic benefits, including skills in working collaboratively across lines of difference, development of equitable and inclusive habits, and experience in aggregating wisdom.10

Find strategies to address School Segregation*

The University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute Model of Health

Use the model to explore the measures of how long and how well we live and what shapes these trends. Select a measure in the diagram or browse the list of all measures.

Measures marked with an asterisk (*) are not included in summary calculations for Population Health and Well-being or Community Conditions.

Data and methods

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2023

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