The percentage of racial/ethnic minority students enrolled in the nation’s public schools increased between 1972 and 2005, primarily due to growth in Hispanic enrollments.

The shifting racial and ethnic composition of enrollment in U.S. public schools is one aspect of change in the composition of school enrollment. This indicator looks at the changes that occurred in the racial and ethnic distribution of public school students in kindergarten through 12th grade between 1972 and 2005.

Forty-two percent of public school students were considered to be part of a racial or ethnic minority group in 2005, an increase from 22 percent of students in 1972 (see table 5-1). In comparison, the percentage of public school students who were White decreased from 78 to 58 percent. The minority increase largely reflected the growth in the proportion of students who were Hispanic. In 2005, Hispanic students represented 20 percent of public school enrollment, up from 6 percent in 1972. The proportion of public school students who were Hispanic increased more than the proportion of students who were Black or who were members of other minority groups. For example, in 2005, Black students made up 16 percent of public school enrollment compared with 15 percent in 1972. Hispanic enrollment measurably surpassed Black enrollment for the first time in 2002. Together, Asian (4 percent), Pacific Islander (0.2 percent), and American Indian/Alaska Native (0.7 percent) students and students of more than one race (3 percent) made up 7 percent of public school enrollment in 2005, compared with 1 percent combined in 1972.

The distribution of minority students in public schools differed by region, though minority enrollment generally grew in all regions between 1972 and 2005 (see table 5-2). Throughout this period, the South and West had larger minority enrollments than the Northeast and Midwest, and the Midwest had the smallest minority enrollment of any region. In the West, beginning in 2003, minority enrollment exceeded White enrollment. In 2005, minority students accounted for 54 percent of public school enrollment in the West, compared with 46 percent for White students. In 2005, as in most years since 1972, the number of Hispanic students exceeded the number of Black students in the West. In the South and Midwest, however, Black enrollment continued to exceed that of Hispanics. In 2005, students of more than one race were a larger percentage of total public school enrollment in the West than in any other region.