- The difference between the percentage of children who are White in schools and their corresponding attendance boundaries is 5 percentage points at the elementary school level and 6 percentage points at the middle and high school levels. This difference is due to White children attending schools of choice (i.e., private, magnet, and charter schools) at higher rates than non-White children.
- Where we would expect schools to contain nearly equal proportions of White and non-White students is precisely where white children are the most underrepresented in schools relative to their neighborhoods.
- As students move into higher school levels, and as school boundaries become more racially balanced, the discrepancy between the percentage of white children in catchment areas and the schools that serve them will grow.
- At the elementary school level, the results indicate that 18 of the 22 school districts have schools that are more segregated than their corresponding catchment areas.
- As with elementary schools the majority of districts (18 of 21) have dissimilarity scores that are higher in schools than their corresponding boundaries, and only one of these districts (San Diego City) has considerably lower levels of segregation in schools than their catchment areas.
- Results indicate clearly that the availability of non-neighborhood schools exacerbates segregation within school districts because the distribution of White and non-White students within them is even less than in school catchment areas.
- Increased school segregation results from two processes: first, White children exit integrated neighborhood-based public schools at a greater rate than non-White children; second, White and non-White children are redistributed in private, charter, and magnet schools more unevenly than they are distributed across residential areas (as defined by school catchment areas), further contributing to racial segregation in schools.