Among the list of “top charts of 2018” highlighted by Kevin Mahnken in the 74 is this chart showing a significant decline in the percentage of middle class families sending their children to private schools.

The chart comes from “Who Goes to Private School?,” written by Richard J. Murnane, Sean F. Reardon, Preeya P. Mbekeani and Anne Lamb for the Fall 2018 issue of Education Next.

The authors find that:

Much of the decline among middle-income students is due to falling enrollment at Catholic schools, which have closed in droves in the past 20 years. Meanwhile, private-school enrollment among affluent students has shifted from religious to nonsectarian schools.

— Education Next