Data: Private School Enrollment by Race and Ethnicity 2015-16

For families looking at private schools, here are two sources of detailed information on enrollment by race and by grade. The 2013 version of this post is here.

Enrollment by Race and Ethnicity

The Private School Universe Survey (PSS), conducted every 2 years by the US Department of Education, asks schools for information on enrollment by race and grade. The table below shows the trends in enrollment by race/ethnicity for schools with over 50 students.

Private School Enrollment by Race and Ethnicity, 2015-16

SCHOOL	Source and Year	White	Asian	Latino	African American	Two or more races
SF SCHOOL*	website 2015-16	49%	51% students of color
	PSS 2013-14	45%	20%	7%	9%	18%
	website 2011	43%	29%	14%	15%	-
SF FRIENDS	website 2015-16	50%	50% students of color
	PSS 2013-14	56%	9%	4%	3%	28%
	PSS 2011-12	63%	7%	5%	1%	23%
CHILDREN'S DAY*	website 2015-16	51%	49% students of color
	PSS 2013-14	54%	8%	8%	2%	27%
	PSS 2011-12	54%	9%	14%	1%	22%
SYNERGY	website 2015-16	53%	47% students of color
	PSS 2013-14	48%	5%	7%	6%	33%
	PSS 2011-12	42%	34%	12%	4%	8%
PRESIDIO HILL*	website 2015-16	54%	9%	8%	3%	21%
	PSS 2013-14	52%	11%	7%	3%	27%
	PSS 2011-12	67%	5%	9%	4%	14%
LIVE OAK	website 2015-16	57%	43% students of color
	PSS 2013-14	68%	2%	3%	3%	22%
	PSS 2011-12	71%	4%	4%	3%	18%
HAMLIN	website 2015-16	60%	40% families of color
	PSS 2013-14	64%	10%	3%	5%	18%
	PSS 2011-12	61%	10%	1%	3%	24%
CATHEDRAL	website 2015-16	62%	38% students of color
	PSS 2013-14	66%	7%	3%	8%	16%
	PSS 2011-12	76%	9%	4%	6%	5%
SF DAY	website 2015-16	65%	35% students of color
	PSS 2013-14	59%	11%	3%	4%	22%
	PSS 2011-12**	63%	8%	3%	4%	23%
ADDA CLEVENGER	website 2015-16	info on race/ethnicity not given
	PSS 2013-14	66%	4%	12%	2%	17%
	PSS 2011-12	69%	11%	9%	9%	-
BURKE	website 2015-16	70%	30% students of color
	PSS 2013-14	65%	15%	3%	2%	15%
	PSS 2011-12	67%	14%	5%	2%	12%
TOWN	website 2015-16	info not given**
	PSS 2013-14	75%	14%	5%	4%	2%
	PSS 2011-12	70%	16%	6%	5%	-
KITTREDGE	website 2015-16	info not given
	PSS 2013-14	83%	10%	5%	-	-
	PSS 2011-12	83%	10%	5%	-	-
MARIN PREP***	website 2015-16	not given
	Recruiting brochure for Head of School 2012-13	90%	10% students of color
BRANDEIS-HILLEL	website 2015-16	not given
	PSS 2013-14	91%	-	1%	1%	6%
	PSS 2011-12	91%	-	1%	1%	6%

Source: Private School Universe Survey, National Center for Education Statistics. 
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/privateschoolsearch/

* The Private School Universe Survey (PSS) does not include preschool/transitional kindergarten enrollment. Schools with preschool/TKs may include those students in race/ethnicity percentages on their websites. (ie SF School, Presidio Hill, Children's Day).
** Town reports 36% from "diverse families," not broken out by race, LGBT or family structure. 
*** Marin Prep, which did not participate in PSS, was included after finding data elsewhere online. 
**** Alta Vista did not provide information on student race/ethnicity to PSS.

Some notes on the table above:

The higher the percentage of white students, the less information schools tend to give about their racial/ethnic enrollment.

 There are exceptions, but a rule of thumb is that if a school doesn't provide info about racial/ethnic enrollment on their website, it's probably over 70% white.

Trends over time matter.
Since most incoming students are kindergarteners, shifts in the overall racial/ethnic composition of a school are concentrated in the lower grades. For example, both SF School and SF Friends School are about 50% white overall, but the trends over time are in opposite directions, suggesting significant differences in the racial/ethnic composition of their kindergarten and 1st grades.

San Francisco Day School's enrollment went to 35% students of color this year, after being stable at 40% students of color since at least 2012. Five percent is a large change for a K-8 since kindergarten is only 11% of total enrollment.  This suggests kindergarten enrollment that was almost all white for 2015-16 and/or higher attrition for students of color in upper grades last year. Another possibility is a change in reporting/definition of student of color.

 

Students of color does not equal parents of color.

A significant proportion of Asian, Latino and African-American children at the more expensive private schools are adopted or multiracial. Parents of color looking for a community of other parents of color, take note. At one popular school 3 years ago, of 3 Asian kindergarteners, two were adopted and the other was biracial. Does this mean there was only 1 Asian parent for the entire kindergarten class? On the other hand, this can be a big draw for multiracial and adoptive families.

 

Staff of color does not equal teachers of color.

Many school websites give the percentage of staff of color. This may not reflect who interacts with students on a regular basis. For example, it may include the development director, janitor, IT, or (gasp!) the admissions director. Some schools try to have at least one teacher of color in each grade.  Others aim for equal numbers of male and female teachers, or Spanish-speaking teachers. If this is important to you, browsing school faculty directories can be useful.

The data is self-reported by schools, so take it with a grain of salt.  For example, Chinese American International School (CAIS) reported that they had exactly 50 students per grade for K-8, and no biracial/multiracial students (none!) on the PSS survey.

Enrollment by Grade

California requires private schools to submit information on enrollment by grade, staffing and religious affiliation. The California Department of Education compiles the information every year into the California Private School Directory.

Private School Enrollment by Grade, 2014-15

School	K	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Ungraded	K-8
Adda Clevenger	14	17	12	12	16	15	23	11	24	-	145
Alta Vista	44	29	32	30	17	17	-	-	-	-	169
Brandeis Hillel	43	35	44	45	51	41	44	43	45	-	391
Brightworks	5	3	-	2	8	8	4	7	7	-	44
Burke	45	43	46	46	45	45	49	36	47	-	402
Cathedral	24	24	24	25	24	35	36	35	36	-	263
Children's Day	47	44	43	46	35	42	35	17	24	-	333
Chinese American (CAIS)	61	63	54	56	54	45	41	40	36	-	450
French American (K-12)	77	76	73	72	70	67	65	66	63	-	629
Hamlin	50	43	47	44	45	46	47	46	45	-	405
Kittredge	6	7	8	7	7	10	11	10	15	-	81
La Scuola	20	9	10	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	40
Live Oak	44	24	23	24	23	24	38	53	37	-	290
Lycee Francais	54	58	57	57	55	53	72	56	58		520
Marin Prep	30	19	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	58
Presidio Hill	17	17	18	16	18	19	32	25	27	-	189
Presidio Knolls	43	32	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	91
Russian American Int'l/ SF Pacific Academy	12	10	12	5	10	0	11	3	0	-	63
SF Day	44	44	43	47	44	40	42	44	45	-	393
SF Friends	44	44	44	45	43	50	57	54	55	-	436
SF School	24	20	21	22	21	23	31	32	32	-	226
SF Waldorf (K-12)	67	29	23	21	30	28	30	29	23	-	280
Stratford	55	43	30	33	17	17	-	-	-	-	195
Synergy	24	19	18	18	21	22	23	25	21	-	191
Town	47	46	46	43	43	46	45	44	48	-	408

Source: Private School Directory, California Department of Education
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/si/ps/

Declining enrollment going from K to 8 in language immersion schools (CAIS, FAIS).

It's harder for language immersion schools to fill spots in the upper grades because new students at the school must be at grade level in both English and the immersion language. This can lead to a stituation where middle school enrollments can become smaller instead of larger, at an age when many students are developmentally ready for a bigger pond. In the past, CAIS has accepted SFUSD Mandarin immersion K-5 "grads" to their middle school.

Still working on SFUSD enrollment data...