Using detailed administrative data for public schools, we document racial and ethnic segregation at the classroom level in North Carolina, a state that has experienced a sharp increase in Hispanic enrollment. We decompose classroom-level segregation in counties into within-school and between-school components. We find that the within-school component accounted for a sizable share of total segregation in middle schools and high schools. Recognizing its importance could temper the praise for school assignment policies that reduce racial disparities between schools but allow large disparities within them. More generally, we observe between the two components a complementary relationship, with one component tending to be large when the other one is small. Comparing the degree of segregation for the state’s two largest racial/ethnic minority groups, we find that white/Hispanic segregation was more severe than white/black segregation, particularly within schools. Finally, we examine enrollment patterns by course and show that school segregation brings with it differences by race and ethnicity in the courses that students take, with white students more likely to be enrolled in advanced classes.

通过使用公立学校的详细行政数据，我们记录了北卡罗来纳州教室一级的种族和种族隔离现象，该州的拉美裔入学人数急剧增加。我们将各县之间的课堂隔离分解为学校内部和学校之间的组成部分。我们发现，学校内部部分在中学和高中的总体隔离中占相当大的份额。认识到其重要性可以减轻对学校分配政策的赞誉，该政策减少了学校之间的种族差异，但允许学校内部的巨大差异。更笼统地说，我们观察到两个组件之间存在互补关系，一个组件在另一个组件较小时趋向于大。比较该州两个最大的种族/族裔群体的隔离程度，我们发现白人/西班牙人的隔离比白人/黑人的隔离更严重，尤其是在学校内部。最后，我们按课程检查了入学模式，并表明学校隔离在学生参加的课程中因种族和种族而产生了差异，白人学生更可能参加高级课程。