Racial Change in Suburbia: America’s Diversifying Elementary Districts and their Effect on School Segregation

We
examine residential demographic change using a novel dataset derived from a
geographic technique that leverages satellite imagery with 2000 and 2020 census
data. We then analyze the effects of demographic change on student isolation
and dissimilarity in elementary school districts. Our findings indicate that
most elementary districts have changed, but the changes are uneven. The number
of districts with severe white isolation declined, particularly in suburban
locales. Meanwhile, districts with severe student of color isolation increased,
particularly in urban locales. These changes indicate that increasing diversity
for white students has coincided with greater isolation for students of color.
These findings should prompt scholars to reconsider their conceptualization of
suburban school districts.