1990		2000
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Economic and class size disparities between schools
There are great variations in the class composition of schools, as revealed in the percentage of students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches (currently, under $32,000 income for a family of four). The following indices describe the degree of segregation of 'poor' children in this sense from 'non-poor' children (an Index of Dissimilarity); the extent to which poor children are in schools with other poor children and non-poor children with other non-poor children (these are like exposure indices); and the percent poor in the school that the average group member of various races attends (these are also exposure indices).There is also variation in class size as experienced by members of each group (measured as the ratio of students to teachers in the entire school)
In 1999-2000, the segregation of the non-poor from poor children is 48.2(dissimilarity index). The average non-poor child is in a school that is 33.9% non-poor. The average poor child's school is 86.9% poor. The following bar chart shows that children from different races went to schools with different levels of poverty and with different levels of student teacher ratio.

% poor in the school of the average group member
Non Hispanic White:	0.8
Non Hispanic Black:	0.8
Hispanic:	0.8
Asian:	0.9

Student-teacher ratio in the school of the average group member
Non Hispanic White:	19.7
	17.7
Non Hispanic Black:	19.8
	19
Hispanic :	19.9
	18.4
Asian :	21
	19

Index of Dissimilarity(D)
The dissimilarity index (D) measures whether one particular group is distributed across schools in the metropolitan area in the same way as another group. A high value indicates that the two groups tend to attend different schools. D ranges from 0 to 100. A value of 60 (or above) is considered very high. It means that 60% (or more) of the members of one group would need to switch elementary schools in order for the two groups to be equally distributed. Values of 40 or 50 are usually considered a moderate level of segregation, and values of 30 or below are considered to be fairly low.
White with Black:	68.2
	76.2
White with Hispanic:	53.9
	52.3
White with Asian:	70.5
	79.3
Black with White:	68.2
	76.2
Black with Hispanic:	87.9
	93.4
Black with Asian:	73.9
	79.8
Hispanic with White:	53.9
	52.3
Hispanic with Black:	87.9
	93.4
Hispanic with Asian:	88.6
	90
Asian with White:	70.5
	79.3
Asian with Black:	73.9
	79.8
Asian with Hispanic:	88.6
	90

Exposure Index
Another measure of school segregation is a class of exposure indices (p*) that refer to the racial/ethnic composition of the elementary school attended by the average member of a given group. For example, the average Hispanic might attend elementary schools that are 40% Hispanic, 40% non-Hispanic white,15% black, and 5% Asian. (Note that these various indices must add up to 100%.) These are presented below in two categories: exposure of the group to itself (which is called the Index of Isolation) and exposure ofthe group to other groups.
Isolation Indices
The isolation index is the percentage of same-group population the the elementary schools where the average member of a racial/ethnic group attends. It has a lower bound of zero (for a very small group that is quite dispersed) to 100 (meaning that group members are entirely isolated from other groups). It should be kept in mind that this Index is affected by the size of the group -- it is almost inevitably smaller for smaller groups, and it is likely to rise over time if the group becomes larger.
White with White:	34.8%
	28.4%
Black with Black:	91.9%
	96%
Hispanic with Hispanic:	30.3%
	51.9%
Asian with Asian:	7.9%
	11.8%
Exposure to other groups
Indices of exposure to other groups also range from 0 to 100, where a larger value means that the average group member attends elementary school with a higher percentage of children from the other group. These indices depend partly on the overall size of the other group in the region.
White with Black:	53.6%
	47.3%
White with Hispanic:	9.4%
	22.4%
White with Asian:	1.2%
	1.2%
Black with White:	6.2%
	2.1%
Black with Hispanic:	0.9%
	1%
Black with Asian:	0.7%
	0.9%
Hispanic with White:	36%
	23%
Hispanic with Black:	31.1%
	22.8%
Hispanic with Asian:	0.8%
	1%
Asian with White:	14.2%
	4.8%
Asian with Black:	75.2%
	79.4%
Asian with Hispanic:	2.5%
	3.8%

Click here to compare with the school population in the metropolitan area.