statistics of state

In California and across the US, public school enrollment, particularly in the K–12 grades, has altered recently. The concept of racial integration in the classrooms and other social contexts has gained more support from schools and parents of school-age children from the millennial generation. Ethnic inclusivity and the dismantling of socioeconomic barriers are two aspects of desegregation.

Schools that accept students in the 12th grade from a variety of racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds have seen significant benefits for the students as well as the school’s reputation. Improved cognitive abilities for pupils who attend class without regard to their race or ethnicity is among the obvious advantages. Such pupils have superior critical thinking power and the ability to solve problems in the society. The students also get an opportunity to equip themselves with the soft skills that are essential in relating with colleagues and friends in a society that is rapidly becoming diverse. Furthermore, classroom diversity has also enabled students to challenge deeply held beliefs and prejudices that they had against people from other race, social status, and ethnicity (Wells, 2016).

In California, there have been concerted efforts from K-12 educators, state and local policy makers as well as researchers to improve the statistics of schools admitting interracially balanced students as a way of breaching the gap of educated pupils between the whites, African Americans, Latino and the Asian Americans. In the recent past, a significant number of the racially marginalized perceived groups have secured admission into schools that are racially balanced schools. The level of integration and acceptance cannot be over emphasized. The following is the statistics of the students from such groups as Latino, Asian Americans, African Americans and those from the Socioeconomically disadvantaged that have secured admission into public schools and managed to reach the K-12 grade.

The table below shows the distribution of students in California based on their ethnic background for the year 2015/2016

Ethnicity

students

Percentage (%)

African Americans

361752

5.81

Native Americans

34704

0.56

Asians

551229

8.85

Filipino

156166

2.51

Latino

3360562

53.97

Pacific Islander

30436

0.49

The above data shows a significant increase in the number of the number of the minority ethnic groups who have enrolled in public schools and are sharing classes with people from diverse social and racial origins (DOE, 2012).

Credible educationists and educational policymakers fully concur that there is a broad range of social and personal disparities whenever students from diverse social and ethnic backgrounds attend different schools. A study of slightly more than 4300 12th grade students in 26 middle schools found in urban areas in the north and south of California. The study took into account the varying nature of the social strata and different ethnicity. Virtually, all the students who were part of the survey were from working class and middle-income families. Most of them came from the ethnic groups that include Asian Americans, African Americans, Latino and the whites. In all the schools, no single racial or ethnic identity constituted more than half of all the students (Juvonen, 2006). The numbers seemed to balance. That shows that ethnic and racial minorities are getting accepted into public schools just like other students.

Reference

Wells, A. S., Fox, L., & Cordova-Cobo, D. (2016). How racially diverse schools and classrooms can benefit all students. The Education Digest, 82(1), 17.

DOE, C. California Department of Education (2012). Fingertip Facts on Education in California. CalEdFacts.

Juvonen, J., Nishina, A., & Graham, S. (2006). Ethnic diversity and perceptions of safety in urban middle schools. Psychological Science, 17(5), 393-400.