Dena Levitz, The Examiner
2008-04-24 07:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

A new report shows that of 234 public schools in D.C., 208 have student populations that are at least 90 percent black, and seven have student bodies that are 90 percent white, figures that confirm a continuing racial divide.

“The racial homogeneity ... of the schools is just striking,” the report states.

Researchers from the Brookings Institution, Urban Institute and the 21st Century School Fund collected and analyzed the data on D.C.’s traditional and charter public schools. State Superintendent Deborah Gist’s office released the results this week.

The study is the first installment of a three-part analysis that school officials requested in order to delineate enrollment patterns and the overall student makeup. They plan to factor that information into school closing and consolidation decisions.

Race emerges from the statistics as a central theme, frequently playing a role in families’ school choice decisions and influencing the educational experiences of students.

Black families are much more likely to send their children to D.C. public schools, doing so 90 percent of the time. Blacks make up 80 percent of the school population.

Whites make up 13 percent of the District’s school-age residents yet only account for 5 percent of the public school student body.

David Garrison, one of the study’s authors, said that as white students get older, they increasingly leave the city’s public system for private schools.

“It’s been happening for decades,” he said.

“Between elementary and middle school is usually the first dropping-off point, and then before high school.”

The net effect is that many schools resemble the racially segmented neighborhoods in which they reside, creating an atmosphere that’s far from diverse, according to the report.

Particularly for black students, their exposure to other races becomes incredibly limited.

“The average black student attends a school that is predominantly black. ... More specifically 90 percent of schoolmates are also black,” the researchers said. “In contrast the average white student attends a school that is more diverse, with white, black, Latino and other students.”

dlevitz@dcexaminer.com