In America, race and poverty are intertwined, doubly
disadvantaging black students
The known connection between race/ethnicity and poverty in the United States appears in
data on the composition of schools attended by for black children. Figure C shows that a
black child faces a very high probability of ending up in a school where a majority of her
peers are both poor and students of color. While less than 1 in 10 white students (8.4%)
attend high-poverty schools with a high share of students of color, six in 10 black students
(60.0%) do.
In contrast, about a fourth of white students (23.5%) attend schools where most of their
peers are white and not poor, while only 3.1 percent of black children attend such
schools.
When black children have the opportunity to attend the same schools that white children
routinely attend, black children perform markedly better on standardized math tests,
which we use here as a measure of education performance.
Black children are highly likely to be in high-poverty
schools with a high share of students of color, but white
children are not
Share of black and white eighth-graders attending low-poverty mostly white
schools and and high-poverty schools with high shares of students of color,
2017
White
Black
3.1%
8.4%
Low-poverty and mostly white
High-poverty and mostly students of color
23.5%
60.0%
Notes: Schools with a high concentration of students of color are those in which 51-100% of students
are black, Hispanic, Asian, or American Indian. Mostly white schools are those in which more than 75%
of students are white. High-poverty schools are schools in which 51-100% of students are eligible for
free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL). Low-poverty schools are those in which up to 25% are FRPL-
eligible.
Source: Author's analysis of microdata from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
Economie Policy Institute
2. Explain the connection between race/ethnicity and poverty. Explain how it
relates/impacts education