School System Composition: Enrollment By Race/Ethnicity, 2014
(How to read this chart: The bars are color coded to a specific race or ethnicity. The longer the bar, the greater the SHARE of that race or ethnicity’s enrollment. For example, in 2014, about 15 percent of Atlanta Public School’s total enrollment was White, as indicated by the blue bar.)
Total Change in Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity, 2000-2014
As the 2014-2015 school year comes to a close, we thought it would be a good time to revisit the dramatic changes in the racial and ethnic compositions of local school systems. Naturally, these trends mirror general population trends, but, in many cases, the changes experienced in local school districts are even more dramatic than the overall population trends. In short, most school districts have seen large decreases in the share of White students enrolled, while experiencing concomitant increases in Asian, Black and Hispanic enrollment shares. See the chart below:
School System Composition Change: Percentage-Point Change in Enrollment, by Race/Ethnicity, 2000-2014
(How to read this chart: The bars are color coded to a specific race or ethnicity. The bars stretching to the left of the chart indicate a loss in the SHARE of a particular race or ethnicity. See below for more explanation.)
Gwinnett, Henry, and Rockdale have seen some of the more dramatic shifts in racial/ethnic makeup.
Rockdale’s share of White students has decreased 51 percentage-points since 2000, when it’s student body composition was 68 percent White.Today, White students comprise only 17 percent of total enrollment.
Henry is similar to Rockdale in that Henry’s share of White students has decreased 41 percentage-points since 2000, when it’s student body composition was 76 percent White. Today, White students comprise only 35 percent of total enrollment. .
Gwinnett’s share of Hispanic enrollment has jumped from around 10 percent in 2000 to almost 28 percent today, an increase of 18 percentage points.
In fact, ALL districts have had an increase in Hispanic enrollment between 2000 and 2014. In Marietta Schools, theONLY race or ethnicity to experience an increase in enrollment share was Hispanic.
Finally, in Forsyth Schools, the Asian share of enrollment has grown more than any other race or ethnicity.
Interestingly, the only two school districts that are bucking the overall trend are Atlanta Public Schools and the City Schools of Decatur. Both systems have experienced a decline in the share of Black enrollment while seeing an increase in the share of White enrollment.
Total Enrollment 2000, 2010, 2014
(How to read this chart: The bars are color coded to a specific year, with the blue bar representing enrollment as of 2000, the orange bar representing growth between 2000-2010, and the gray bar representing growth between 2010 and 2014. Thus, the three colors combined represent total enrollment as of October, 2014.)
Finally, in looking at just total enrollment, the chart above shows that Gwinnett Schools are, by far, the largest school system in the region, with an enrollment just over 172,000 students as of October, 2014. And despite sluggish population growth brought about by the Great Recession, most districts have seen a spike in total enrollment between 2000 to 2014, with Gwinnett, Fulton, Henry, and Cherokee districts increasing the most (combining the orange and gray bars will get you the enrollment growth since 2000). In Atlanta Public Schools, even though overall enrollment is down since 2000, enrollment has increased since 2010, something that the above chart doesn’t capture well.