Let us take a look at the distribution of students by race/ethnicity in the district. There are some significant relationships that have come to light between the percentage distribution by race/ethnicity, and the level of poverty.

We had the aggregrated school data from the district along with the Free Reduced Price Lunch (FRPL) data from the same. The FRPL data was used as a proxy for poverty. Students from a household with an income up to 185 percent of the poverty threshold are eligible for free or reduced price lunch. Schools that are over 75% FRPL are defined as "high poverty" by NCES. These schools were flagged and the student demographics, namely race distribution, was analyzed for them.

Let us take a look at the race distribution in the district first. # Race/Ethnicity in the District

It might appear to be a pretty diverse distribution.

But first, let us look at the percentage of high poverty schools in the district, as defined above.

High Poverty Schools in the District

Next, let us look at the race distribution of students in these high poverty schools.

Race/Ethnicity in High Poverty Schools

We can see that there is a clear pattern here. In high poverty schools, almost 50% of the population is African American, meanwhile almost 50% of the population in low poverty schools (not poor) is white.

This radar chart shows the same.

Comparision of Race/Ethnicity by Poverty Level

There is a disproportionately higher population of white students in not-poor schools. There is linear relationship between the white population of students and the poverty level, with a correlation coefficient of -0.97. This might be a direct indicator of the fact that white individuals have more access to economic resources and opportunities, and are therefore less likely to live in areas with high poverty rates. Conversely, people of color might be facing systemic barriers that make it harder for them to escape poverty and access resources education in rich schools.