Race and School Quality Since Brown vs. Board of Education

  • Black and White students attend schools with roughly the same student-teacher ratio.
  • Hispanics attend schools with a ten percent higher student-teacher ratio than the average White student.
  • Black students are less likely to use computers in school than White students. This racial gap remains even when accounting for family income.
  • Hispanics are similarly disadvantaged with respect to computer usage in school.
  • Segregated education is increasing for Black and Hispanic students.
  • The analysis of HBSA data show that Blacks attending a school with a higher proportion of Black students is related to fewer years of schooling, a less integrated workplace, attending a less integrated college, and lower wages.
  • The October CPS data show that minority workers are less likely to use the computer at work. This racial gap exists across all education levels.
  • Boozer et. al. also find that lower computer use by Black workers may be responsible for as much as one third of the increase in the Black-White wage gap between 1976 and 1990.
  • The authors conclude that differences in education are not the primary cause for the increased wage gap.
  • Structural factors (decline in unionization, decline in real minimum wage, and industrial shifts) are more likely explanations.