Giving Compass' Take:

• This article at Chalkbeat goes over a study on how all schools, but specifically private schools, in America contribute to segregation. 

• How segregated are the schools in your area? How can funders work to decrease school segregation?

• Learn how local governments reinforce segregation in America. 


Private schools play a disproportionate role in segregating American schoolchildren by race, according to an analysis released Friday.

While 11% of students attend private schools, those schools account for 15% of racial segregation, according to the research, which uses a novel approach to measure school segregation in every U.S. county.

The study illustrates how private schools play a small but notable role in the country’s school segregation, though they often go unmentioned in discussions of the issue.

“Private schools tend to contribute more to segregation than similar charter or traditional public schools,” write researchers Tomas Monarrez, Brian Kisida, and Matt Chingos for the Urban Institute, a D.C.-based think tank. “This presents a dilemma, as private schools are subject to less scrutiny and oversight.”

The relationship is the opposite for district schools. While 81% of students attend those schools, they account for 76% of racial segregation. Still, that means that substantially reducing school segregation requires changes in district schools.

Read the full article about private schools and segregation by Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat.