The southern part of the United States is often profiled as having large problems with segregation in schools. Data from The Civil Rights Project for 2011 and 2012 show that there is a segregation problem in the south but not in all southern states.
The south is defined by the Civil Rights Project as the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Data on the south shows that from 2001-2012 there was an increase of 3.2 percentage points of black students in a 90- 100% minority schools. This is a negative because the more black students that are in a 90-100% minority school is an indicator of segregation. In addition, the south saw a 1.6 percentage point increase in Latino students in 90-100% minority schools from 2001-2012. Once again this indicates that minority students are being sectioned off into particular schools and that segregation is still prevalent. This could lead to the assumption that all the schools in the south are increasing their segregation. However, this would be a faulty assumption and unfair to some of the southern states who are working hard to integrate. Of the 11 states in the south, six states are in the top 20 “Most Integrated States for Black Students”.
Most Integrated States for Black Students 2011-2012 Source Here
In addition, five states from the south are in the top 20 ” Most integrated States for Latino Students”. These classifications were given by The Civil Rights Project and comes from the same data used to show that the south had an increase in black and latino students in 90-100% minority schools. Understanding this break down is very important to understanding where energy should be focused to remedy segregation.
Segregation should not be examined by region; instead, it should be viewed at the state level. It would be unfair to label the south as a whole as having a problem with segregation when data shows that half of the southern states are doing a better job than a majority of other states at integrating black and latino students. In addition, all the states in regions that are doing well in regards to integration should not be praised. Even though the midwest ( Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin) saw a decrease from 2001-2012 of 3.6 percentage points of black students in a 90- 100% minority schools, it has a lot of work to do. Five of the midwest states are in the top 20 ” Most Segregates States for Black Students”. The first step to solving segregation is to identify where it is taking place. One cannot simply focus on the regions that show there is a segregation problem. Data shows that some of those states are doing well. In addition, one cannot ignore regions that are succeeding because some of those states are the worst when it comes to segregation.
Post By: Michael Stone