Income segregation refers to the separation of people based on their income levels. It means that people from different income groups tend to live in different neighborhoods or areas, often leading to inequality and limited opportunities for those with lower incomes.
Full definition
When the families with means isolate themselves in wealthy districts, low - income children are left behind and
income segregation between school districts increases.
«Neighborhood and school poverty are big drivers of low - income kids» poor educational outcomes, so
rising income segregation perpetuates inequality and may reduce poor kids» mobility.»
With soaring inequality impacting the majority of Americans and our communities and with our collective abandonment of integrated, mixed - income housing contributing to the highest levels
of income segregation in the post-War period, why do we need to test every child in every grade in every year to learn that the trends which have negatively impacted almost all Americans and their communities have also impacted our schools?
Income segregation among black and Latino families is now much higher than among white families, which means that low - income communities of color suffer more than ever from a double segregation by race and class.
In fact, the Smithfield report finds that,
although income segregation rose from 1991 to 1993, it was still lower than in 1990, the final year of zoning.
Do we need annual testing to tell us that
income segregation means that constituencies with political power have no personal stakes in the outcomes for disenfranchised constituencies?
However, the cumulative impact of white and middle class populations leaving cities in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s led directly to re-segregation of our communities and schools, and the trends since 1980 have been towards greater and
greater income segregation.
And, as documented by Owens, Reardon and Jencks (2016)
income segregation within the largest school districts increased by 40 percent between 1990 and 2012.
She found that, among families with children,
neighborhood income segregation is driven by increased income inequality in combination with a previously overlooked factor: school district options.
«If schools play an important role in residential segregation, then breaking that link and making it less important and sort of alleviating parents» concerns about where their kids are going to attend school would
reduce income segregation,» Owens said.
Income segregation between neighborhoods rose 20 percent from 1990 to 2010, and income segregation between neighborhoods was nearly twice as high among households that have children compared to those without.
A reasonable hypothesis would be that differing educational opportunities for Black students between these districts follow from these differences in the intensity of racial and
income segregation.
The programs are an effort to eliminate problems like low student performance, low parental engagement and difficulties recruiting quality teachers that are typical of «high poverty» schools (defined as schools where 76 percent or more of students qualify for free or reduced price lunches), and come at a time when, overall,
income segregation is worsening as most families with means fight to keep their children out of low - performing schools.