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1   Chapter 1   Setting the Context Kimberly Goyette T o place the chapters in this book in conversation with research done thus far, in this introduction I discuss four bodies of work that have mostly been done separately, often without a more thorough exploration of their connections. The first literature is on residential segregation , about which a vast amount has been written, but very little of the research has considered the role of schools in the process. Residential Segregation Although black-white segregation inAmerican metropolitan areas remains quite pervasive, declines in such segregation have nonetheless been substantial over the past few decades (Iceland, Weinberg, and Steinmetz 2002). For example, the black-white dissimilarity score averaged across all U.S. metropolitan areas declined from 0.73 in 1980 to 0.64 in 2000. The 0.64 figure can be interpreted as indicating that about 64 percent of blacks or whites would have to move for all neighborhoods in a metropolitan area to have an equal proportion of blacks and whites. The rule of thumb is that dissimilarity scores above 0.60 are considered quite high in absolute terms. Hispanic-white and Asian-white segregation levels tend to be more modest, though they did not decline in the same fashion as black-white segregation in recent decades. For example, Hispanic-white dissimilarity remained about the same at 0.50, as did Asian-white dissimilarity at about 0.41 between 1980 and 2000 (Iceland, Weinberg, and Steinmetz 2002). From 2000 to 2010, segregation indices for some groups declined. By 2010, the black-white dissimilarity index for all areas of the country had declined to 0.59, and Hispanic-white segregation was 0.48. The segregation of Asians and whites remained almost the same at 0.41 (Logan and Stults 2011). 2    Choosing Homes, Choosing Schools Dissimilarity indices generally give us an idea of how disproportionately groups are distributed in particular areas, but researchers of residential segregation also use measures of diversity and isolation to capture groups’ experiences with those of other races. According to the 2010 census , whites live in neighborhoods with about 75 percent other whites, 8 percent blacks, 11 percent Hispanics, and 5 percent Asians. Blacks, though, live in neighborhoods that are about 45 percent black, 35 percent white, 15 percent Hispanic, and 4 percent Asian. Hispanics live in neighborhoods with 46 percent Hispanics, 35 percent whites, 11 percent blacks, and 7 percent Asians. Asians live in neighborhoods with 22 percent other Asians, 49 percent whites, 9 percent blacks, and 19 percent Hispanics (Logan and Stults 2011). Isolation refers to the percentage of other minorities in the neighborhood. For blacks, isolation ranges from a high of 81 percent in the Detroit metropolitan area to about 9 percent in less segregated cities such as Phoenix in 2010. Comparable percentages for Hispanics range from 96 percent in Laredo, Texas, to 12 percent in Minneapolis, and, for Asians, from 76 percent in Honolulu and as low as 6 percent in Tampa (Logan and Stults 2011). Generally, explanations for residential segregation focus on either the structural constraints to housing choices or on individual preferences. Spatial assimilation explanations suggest that differences in socioeconomic status (SES) among racial and ethnic minority groups, and in acculturation among recent immigrants, shape patterns of segregation (Charles 2003). Whites are better able to afford neighborhoods with higher quality services and more amenities than are blacks, Hispanics, and Asians (Clark 2007). Research does show that income and education matter for segregation. Higher income families are segregated from lower ones, and though segregation by income is less stark than by race, it has grown over the last four decades (Fischer et al. 2004; Iceland, Sharpe, and Steinmetz 2005; Reardon and Bischoff 2011; White 1987). The spatial assimilation model may be important in explaining some amount of residential segregation because of the continued disparities in SES across racial and ethnic groups. Blacks and Hispanics in particular lag behind whites in terms of incomes, occupational status, and education (Harrison and Bennett 1995). Segregation by income may also be important to understand because, as Sean Reardon and Kendra Bischoff (2011) point out, growth in the segregation of higher income families from other types of families leads to neighborhoods of concentrated wealth with particularly good services and amenities, like schools. Discriminatory policies and practices in the housing market against blacks in particular, but Hispanics and Asians as well, have contributed to patterns of racial residential segregation (Ross and Turner 2005; Turner and Ross 2003; Turner et al...

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