Latinos in Southern California Schools More Segregated Now Than in 1970, Report Says

Published March 21, 2011

A report released Friday says that Hispanic students have been segregated in Southern California schools not only for their ethnic origin but also because of factors like poverty and language.

"This research shows that throughout Southern California, the opportunity gaps between schools with varying racial concentrations are staggering," said John Kuscera, a co-author of "Divided We Fail: Segregation and Inequality in the Southland's Schools."

The report says that while in 1970 the average Latino student in metro Los Angeles attended a school that was 45 percent white, in 2008 the Hispanic student in the region attended a school where only 6 percent of students were white.

"Today, more than two out of five Latino students and nearly one-third of all black students in the region enroll in intensely segregated learning environments - schools where 90 percent to 100 percent of students are from underrepresented minority backgrounds," according to the report from the The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA.

Conversely, only 5 percent of Asian students in Southern California attend extremely segregated schools.

The CRP study is the first to analyze patterns of registration and segregation, results of university enrollment and disparities of educational opportunities across the region.

To that end, information was used from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties.

The report says that in middle or high schools where more than 80 percent of the students are Hispanics, black or native Americans, practically all the students live below the federal poverty line.

Though white students make up 25 percent of the total in the Southland area, most of them attend schools where close to 50 percent of the students are white, "a figure that highlights persistent patterns of white isolation across the region."

With regard to community college and university entrance, the research shows that only 22 percent of students from schools with minority populations of 90 percent or greater get into institutes of higher learning the next fall after they graduate from high school, in comparison with 43 percent of students from white- or Asian-majority high schools.

"There is almost no public discussion of segregation in Southern California though the differences in schools and neighborhoods one or two freeway exits apart are often shocking," CRP Co-director Gary Orfield said.

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