From Montclair Local
Singled Out: Montclair High School students of color say they feel isolated in majority white AP classes
Walking into an Advanced Placement classroom of almost all white peers, one Montclair High School student immediately felt isolated.
About this project
Study after study has found that New Jersey — despite its diverse population — has one of the most segregated public school systems in the country. More than a dozen newsrooms covering New Jersey have come together to explain how it came to this, what might be done about it and how segregation affects the student experience.
The series, Segregated, includes reporting from NJ Spotlight News, Gothamist/WNYC and others.
Student A, a female student of color, told Montclair Local she has always looked outside of her AP classrooms to find friends, watching as her white classmates found community with one another.
In 1977, Montclair moved away from neighborhood schools to a choice system — part of a voluntary desegregation plan. There is only one high school and at Montclair High School, half the student body is white. The other half is made up of Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American and multiracial students.
But in Advanced Placement classrooms, the demographics look different. In all but one of the AP courses offered at Montclair High School — Spanish Literature and Culture — the percentage of white students exceeds its percentage of the school population.
As part of the Segregated collaboration among newsrooms covering New Jersey, Montclair Local examined the makeup of AP classes, compared with the student population, and heard from students of color about their experiences in advanced classes. Read the full report from Montclair Local.
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