For the first time, US public schools are projected this northern autumn to have more minority students than non-Hispanic whites, a shift fuelled by growth in the number of Hispanic children.
The changing demographics of American education are apparent inside Jane Cornell's summer school classroom in Pennsylvania's wealthiest county, where giggling students mostly come from homes where Spanish is the primary language. The sign outside the classroom reads "Welcome" and "Bienvenidos".
Non-Hispanic white students are still expected to be the largest racial group in the public schools this year at 49.8 per cent. But according to the National Centre for Education Statistics, minority students, when added together, will now make up the majority with 50.3 per cent. Public schools are a separate system from private or charter schools.
About one-quarter of the minority students are Hispanic, 15 per cent are black, 5 per cent are Asian and Pacific Islanders and there are smaller groups of biracial and Native Americans students.
The shift brings new academic realities, such as the need for more English language instruction, and cultural ones, such as changing school lunch menus to reflect students' tastes. But it also brings up some societal questions that often fall to school systems to address, including issues of immigration, poverty, diversity and inequity.
