This document analyzes school segregation trends in the Richmond, Virginia metro area from 1987-2010. It finds that while the region's student enrollment has become more racially diverse over time, high proportions of Black students continue to attend highly segregated and high-poverty schools. School segregation has been increasing within districts, and remains high between districts. Segregation overlaps with concentrated poverty, with most students in intensely segregated minority schools qualifying for free/reduced lunch.

1. Contemporary Patterns of School
Segregation in the Richmond
Metro Area
Genevieve Siegel-Hawley
Virginia Commonwealth University

3. William Fox, then and now
35%
65%
1987
White Black
43%
54%
3%
1992
White Black
Other
62%
30%
4%
3% 1%
2010
White Black Latino
Asian Other

4. Big takeaways
1. Region’s enrollment has become
multiracial
2. High proportions of black (and
increasingly Latino) students continue to
attend schools that are segregated by
both race and poverty
3. School segregation rising within
districts, even as segregation between
districts remains high

5. Enrollment by Race, Richmond-
Petersburg
60%
37%
2% 1%
1989-1990
51%
37%
3%
6%
3%
2010-2011
White
Black
Asian
Latino
Two or More

6. Black Students in Segregated Minority
Schools, Richmond-Petersburg
37.5
48.3
35.6
11.4
6.1
8.0
1989-1990 1999-2000 2010-2011
90-100% Minority School 99-100% Minority School

7. Latino Students in Segregated Minority
Schools, Richmond-Petersburg
4.9
13.5 13.5
1.4
0.3 0.5
1989-1990 1999-2000 2010-2011
90-100% Minority School 99-100% Minority School

8. School racial isolation overlaps with
concentrated poverty
• In 2010, 75% of students in the region’s
intensely segregated minority schools
qualified for free and reduced priced lunch.
• Fully 85% of students did so in apartheid
school settings.

9. FENCES BETWEEN AND WITHIN
SCHOOL DIVISIONS

10. “We deal here with the right of all of our
children, whatever their race, to an equal start in life
and to an equal opportunity to reach their full potential
as citizens. Those children who have been denied that
right in the past deserve better than to see fences
thrown up to deny them that right in the future.”
--Justice Thurgood Marshall, Milliken, 1974

11. Within vs. Between District Segregation
72%
28%
1989
Between Districts
Within Districts
54%
46%
2010

12. WITHINDISTRICTS

13. Black-White School Dissimilarity
Index, Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield
0.46 0.49
0.59
0.52
0.59 0.61
0.37 0.38 0.38
1992 1999 2008
Richmond City Henrico County Chesterfield County

14. Percentage of White Henrico 9-12th graders residing in
original, proposed and final high school attendance boundaries
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
100.0
Deep Run Freeman Godwin Glen Allen Henrico Hermitage Highland
Springs
Tucker Varina
Original Option A Option C Option D FinalSource: ACS, 2006-2010

15. BETWEEN DISTRICTS
Richmond, Chesterfield and Henrico, 1992-2008

16. Urban/Suburban Enrollment by
Race, Richmond-Petersburg, 1989-
2010
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
White Black Asian Latino White Black Asian Latino
Urban Schools Suburban Schools
1989-1990
1999-2000
2010-2011

21. According to the Brookings Institution, the Richmond
region reports 5 of the top 20 fastest growing exurbs in
terms of the white population. New
Kent, Louisa, Caroline, Goochland and Powhatan
counties were included on the list.

22. A REGIONAL COMPARISON

23. 0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
1990 2000 2010
White-Black/Black-White
Richmond Metro
Schools
Block
Groups
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
1990 2000 2010
White-Black/Black-White
DissimilarityIndex
Louisville-Jefferson County
School and residential segregation
Source: NCES’ CCD, 1992-1993, 1999-2000, 2008-2009; U.S. Census SF3, 1990, 2000, 2010