Table 1 compares, over time, the characteristics of students in charter schools with those in traditional public schools.⁶ The trends in the racial mix of students tell a clear story. In the early years, black students were substantially overrepresented and white students were underrepresented in the charter schools relative to traditional public school enrollments. Over time, however, that pattern changed. The white share of charter school students increased from 58.6 percent to 62.2 percent over the full period, while their share of traditional public school students declined, from 64.1 percent to 53.0 percent. Thus, by 2012, white students were significantly overrepresented in the charter school sector. During this same period, Hispanic students increased from 0.8 percent of charter students to 5.5 percent in 2012, still well below their 13.5 percent share of traditional public school students. Combining these two minority groups, we find that, as of 2012, charter schools served a disproportionately small number of minority students; black and Hispanic students accounted for 31.8 percent of the charter school students in this grade range, which was well below their 39.2 percent share of traditional public school students.⁷