I should start by saying I'm referring to large urban school districts here. One of their hallmarks is that a minority of the residents of the district have ever used them.
Take Chicago, the example I know best. If you look at census data for Chicago you get a different demographic pattern than you do if you look at CPS data.
e.g. Chicago census 2010 demographics:
White 45%
Black 32.9%
Latino 28.9%
Asian: 5.5%
Mixed 2.7%
Native .5%
Chicago Public School demographics:
African American 41.6%
Latino 44.1%
White 8.8%
Asian Pacific Islander 3.4%
Native .4%
Poverty from the 2010 census:
20.9% are defined by the census as living in poverty.
Poverty CPS:
87% from low income households.
Note these two stats may be disparate for reasons having to do with what is being calculated and what methodology is used. CPS uses free/reduced lunch qualification which includes those at 130% (free) up to 185% (reduced) of the poverty level.
Now there are differences in ages, percent with children etc. that will explain some of these statistics, but not nearly enough.
And this causes disengagement problems:
more after the squiggle
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