Poor black children are much more likely to attend high-poverty schools than poor white children: Share of poor students, by race, attending schools with a given concentration of poverty*, 2013

Low-poverty schools Lower-poverty schools High-poverty schools
Black children 5.0% 13.9% 81.1%
White children 11.8% 34.7% 53.5% 

Poor students are defined as those who are eligible for free lunch programs.

*High-poverty schools are those in which 51–100% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Lower-poverty schools are those in which 26–50% are eligible, and low-poverty schools are those in which up to 25% are eligible.

Data are drawn from the National Assessment of Educational Progress microdata for eight-grade math students in 2013, taken to be representative of all students. Minor differences could be found if other samples for other grades or subjects were used.

Source: Based on “Five key trends in U.S. student performance: Progress by blacks and Hispanics, the takeoff of Asians, the stall of non-English speakers, the persistence of socioeconomic gaps, and the damaging effect of highly segregated schools” by Martin Carnoy and Emma García (2017).

View the underlying data on epi.org.