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Racial Demographics

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Results and Discussion – My data analysis of racial demographics in the school district shows that the area is uniquely isolated – surrounded by communities that don’t look similar. At Palos Verdes Peninsula High, there are two primary ethnic groups that attend school – white students and Asian students. Combined, they make up over 75% of the high school population, while white students represent the largest overall at just over 40%. The third largest ethnic group represented is Hispanic or Latino students, of which there are only 262. This equals about one-tenth of the high school. The district overall has even higher percentages of white students, totaling almost 48%. Only 12% of the district’s students identify as either Hispanic or …show more content…

Times Data Desk, 2017). We can compare this data neighboring Long Beach just a few miles to the east of the peninsula. The median income there is $50,985 – about 40% of the Rancho Palos Verdes median. Similarly to the racial makeup within its schools, the percentages of Asian and white people are high for the county overall, in relation to others nearby (L.A. Times Data Desk, 2017). Historically, the United States has directly tied its public education system to income because “a substantial portion of school funding is raised through local tax revenue” (Owens, Reardon, & Jencks, 2016, p. 1161). Some states can help offset discrepancies, but others are completely dependent on the value of local property and income levels. Thus we find situations like Rancho Palos Verdes, where wealth is necessary to afford homes and the cost of living, and nearby Long Beach, where families are far more likely to be able to live within their means. Often, affluent counties claim that affordable housing “brings no net benefits to the community” and hurts property values (Mueller, 2007, p. 1). The benefits, however, are often overlooked and can be particularly impactful in educational spaces – without which would be severely lacking in an income-segregated system. Richards (2014) finds that “attendance zone boundaries” reinforce racial disparities in schools and can be manipulated by local officials in ways that disenfranchise or “zone out” certain students in favor of others to

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