Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Racial gap'
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Duffel, Christy. "Racial Differences in the Gender Gap." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2006. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/336.
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The gender gap is a political phenomenon that has been observed in the electorate since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, with women being more Democratic and liberal than men. Many studies have examined its existence among the white public, but little has been done to document its presence among blacks. This study examines the gender gap among whites and blacks and compares the results in order to see if there is a gender gap that exists among blacks and if it is similar to that for whites. Bivariate and multivariate analyses conducted for both blacks and whites find that the documented gender gap among whites is more pervasive than that for blacks, largely because blacks are more united in their Democratic partisanship and liberal attitudes. However, there are also significant gender differences among blacks that usually are similar to and at times different from those among whites.
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Jagpal, Shehnaz. "Racial inequality in the United States analyzing the wealth gap /." CONNECT TO ONLINE RESOURCE, 2007. http://dpace.wrlc.org/handle/1961/4127.
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Wheeler, Ivy G. "Colorblind Racism: Our Education System's Role in Perpetuating Racial Caste in America." University of Akron / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1430765564.
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Akinpelu, Mobolaji Olatokunbo. "Scaling Success : learning from education intervention programs to close the racial education achievement gap." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/104821.
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Thesis: S.M. in Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, Technology and Policy Program, 2016.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 105-110).
An overview of American education reveals a concerning pattern: when outcomes are disaggregated by race, students from certain racial minority groups often have poorer outcomes than White students. This pattern, the racial education achievement gap, can be seen in different sorts of measures from the literature, including in the low representation of minority students at elite public institutions. To address this low representation, and to keep universities racially diverse, administrators and policymakers often turn to race-based affirmative action, the explicit (and contentious) consideration of an applicant's race in admissions decisions. College-centered education intervention programs are another tool administrators and policymakers use to address the gap reflected in elite college enrollment and to keep campuses diverse. This thesis asks how do and how can appropriately designed college-based education intervention programs help to both keep racial diversity and close the racial educational achievement gap in America's colleges? To this end, chapter one lays out the motivating issues - the gap, affirmative action, and education intervention programs; chapter two contains the case study of two successful programs, focusing on the programs' designs, the participants' experiences, and the conditions that foster academic excellence in minority students; chapter three, in part using causal loop diagrams from system dynamics modelling, makes the case for appreciating education as a complex system - one with interlocking political, economic, pedagogic, and sociocultural forces - and thus urges caution in drawing conclusions from chapter two; and chapter four, drawing from the two preceding chapters, proposes three policy recommendations to improve not just the presence of minority students at selective institutions, but, more importantly, their overall academic thriving.
by Mobolaji Olatokunbo Akinpelu.
S.M. in Technology and Policy
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Bao, Chiwen. "Within the Classroom Walls: Critical Classroom Processes, Students' and Teachers' Sense of Agency, and the Making of Racial Advantages and Disadvantages." Thesis, Boston College, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/2505.
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Thesis advisor: Juliet B. SchorDespite decades of research and efforts to reform schools, racial disparities in educational opportunities and outcomes, often referred to as the "achievement gap," persist and concerns about students' math learning and achievement continue. Among researchers, educational practitioners, and the wider public, explanations for these ongoing problems usually point to structural influences or individual and cultural factors. For example, structures of schooling (e.g. school funding, organization and curriculum) and those outside of school (e.g. family background and neighborhood characteristics) become focal points for understanding educational inequalities and places for intervention. In terms of explanations that look to individual influences, teachers and students are either targeted for their inadequacies or praised for their individual talents, values and successes. Regarding students in particular, racial inequalities in academic outcomes often become attributed to students', namely black and Latino/a students', supposed cultural devaluation of education and their desires to not "act white" and academically achieve. Together, these explanations lead to the assessment that possibilities of teaching and learning are predetermined by a host of structural and individual influences. But how is the potential to teach and learn at least partially actualized through everyday processes? Moreover, how do these processes, which simultaneously involve structures and individual agents, lead to the production or disruption of racial disparities? To explore these questions, I investigated processes of teaching and learning in one well-funded, racially diverse public high school with high rates of students' passing the statewide standardized test, many students going onto prestigious colleges and universities, and enduring racial inequalities in academic achievement. I conducted fieldwork over three years in 14 math classrooms ranging from test preparation classes to honors math classes and interviewed 52 students and teachers about their experiences in school. Through analyzing the data, I find that what happens within the classroom walls still matters in shaping students' opportunities to learn and achieve. Illustrating how effective learning and teaching and racial disparities in education do not simply result from either preexisting structural contexts or individuals' virtues or flaws, classroom processes mold students' learning and racial differences in those experiences through cultivating or eroding what I refer to as students' sense of academic agency and teachers' sense of agency to teach. For students, that sense of agency leads to their attachment to school, identification with learning in general and math in particular, engagement, motivation and achievement. As classroom processes evolve in virtuous or vicious cycles, different beliefs about students (e.g. as "good kids" or "bad kids") importantly fuel the direction of these cycles. Since racial stereotypes often influence those beliefs, students consequently experience racial advantages and disadvantages in classroom processes. As a result, some students fail to learn and achieve not because they fear "acting white," but because they do not always get to experience classroom processes that cultivate their sense of being agentic in the classroom space, a sense that is distinctly racialized
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Sociology
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Broh, Beckett A. "Racial/ethnic achievement inequality: separating school and non-school effects through seasonal comparisons." The Ohio State University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1069794238.
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Godcharles, Brian. "Effect of Empathy on Death Penalty Support in Relation to the Racial Divide and Gender Gap." Scholar Commons, 2015. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5953.
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This study aimed to examine previous empirical literature indicating that death penalty support contains a divide among Blacks and Whites and a gap among males and females. Previous literature has indicated that there has been a persistent racial divide and gender gap in death penalty support that has spanned over 60 years of research. Attempts to attenuate these divides have failed to fully explain why Whites are more likely than Blacks to support the death penalty and men are more likely than women to support the death penalty. This study proposes the use of empathy to control for these divides because research has indicated that those who are more empathic tend to be less punitive.
Using data collected from a survey conducted on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, a paid task website, this study attempted to attenuate the racial divide and gender gap by controlling for empathy. The sample consisted of 403 usable surveys that contained questions that measured sociodemographic characteristics, three measurements of empathy (cognitive, affective and ethnocultural), death penalty support, and attribution styles.
The results indicated that there was not a racial divide or gender gap in death penalty support despite over 60 years of research indicating otherwise. Furthermore, this study failed to find a significant relationship between cognitive and affective empathy with death penalty support. This study did find a relationship between attribution styles and death penalty support as well as ethnocultural empathy with death penalty support. Individuals who scored higher on the situational attribution style were less likely to support the death penalty. Those who scored higher on the ethnocultural empathy scale were also less likely to support the death penalty.
Future research should refrain from testing with Amazon’s Mechanical Turk as was not generalizable to the United States population. Research should be continued on different samples that have been shown to be more reliable than online surveys. Finally, research should be continued beyond empathy to examine what effects other controls have on the racial divide and gender gap in death penalty support.
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Goode, Tia. "The Racialization of Space: How Housing Segregation Caused the Racial Wealth Gap in the United States." VCU Scholars Compass, 2019. https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/5826.
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This project addresses how residential segregation have stymied home ownership and wealth in the black community; inhibiting true housing equity. This thesis project will attempt to use design as a means to help address past and continuing discrimination. Accessibility, affordability and accountability are central to this goal, which will be addressed in the project.
The site chosen for this project is the St. Luke’s Building located in Richmond, VA. This building was home to the Independent Order of St. Luke, a fraternal and cooperative insurance society for blacks. It also housed the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank which was founded in 1903 by Maggie Walker. Walker was the first woman to charter a bank in the United States.
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Accuardi-Gilliam, Joseph Emile. "Examining the Gap| Teachers' Color-Blind Racial Ideology and Deficit Thinking through the Lens of School Discipline." Thesis, Lewis and Clark College, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10622699.
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Current statistics in education suggest a systemic problem of racist disciplinary practices in schools, as Black males have been demonstrated to be overwhelmingly overrepresented in the practices of school discipline (U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2014). While researchers have begun to explore the causes of this phenomenon to find solutions to counteract this trend (Gillborn, 2014; Skiba et al., 2014), little has been done to examine how racism—in the form of racial colorblindness—may play a role in manifesting the discipline gap and perpetuate structural racism in schools. Considering that a majority of the teaching force in the Northwest are white, this research examines how racial color-blind ideologies (Bonilla-Silva, 2014; Neville, Awad, Brooks, Flores, & Bluemel, 2013) and deficit thinking (Valencia, 2010) are related to ideologies of school discipline, which perhaps condition discipline in schools.
This quantitative research combines Neville, Lilly, Duran, Lee, and Browne's (2000) Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale, items from Skiba et al.’s (2003) Disciplinare Practices Survey, and scales developed for this study, designed to address deficit thinking (Valencia, 2010) and attitudes toward Black males within disciplinary contexts. An online survey was administered to practitioners in contrasting educational communities within the Northwest. Correlation analyses included examining relationships between components of the survey within and in-between organizations. Furthermore, this study introduces new scale items to address attitudes toward Black males within educational discipline settings, further penetrating the literature base on the topic.
Findings demonstrate significant correlations between color-blind, deficit thinking, and pro-discipline attitudes, suggesting a relationship between educators’ attitudes toward the justification for discipline and color-blind attitudes are perhaps an interwoven issue which contributes to racial disparities in school discipline. These data suggest a need for developing the racial identities of a predominantly white educational workforce in the effort to eliminate the discipline gap.
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Hays, James M. "Student to Teacher Racial/Ethnic Ratios as Contributors to Regional Achievement Gaps, 1999-2008." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2011. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc103326/.
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With the advent of No Child Left Behind legislation in 2002 and its mandates for annual yearly progress for all students, many districts and schools in Texas have had difficulty elevating African American and Hispanic students’ scores. The current study examined these students’ achievement on the annual Texas high-stakes measure as a function of a numerical construct that aligns the race/ethnicity of students when the teacher race is White. Earlier studies have shown that racial/ethnic compatibility between students and teachers improves student achievement in the primary grades. The study, which was set in 10 north Texas school districts and 30 high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools, examined African American and Hispanic students’ achievement on the Texas state assessments in reading and mathematics over a 10-year period. District performance data came from 4,664,192 African American, Hispanic, and White students and 222, 834 White teachers. Campus level data encompassed 188,839 10th graders, 93,573 eighth graders, and 40,083 fourth graders, and 20,471 White teachers. Analysis revealed that, as the ratios of African American and Hispanic students to White teachers increased, the percentages of these two student groups passing the Texas assessments decreased. These patterns differed for White students whose passing percentages increased as these students’ numbers increased relative to White teachers in all settings except in elementary schools. These preliminary findings suggested that racial alignment at the high school and middle school levels might elevate African American and Hispanic achievement. Implications may lead to shifting focus on teacher quality and class size as the primary determinants of student achievement. Findings need validation with further study using larger data sets and sequential grade levels. If validated through further studies involving larger samples, contiguous grade levels, and more sophisticated statistical analysis, this study’s findings may have implications for teacher education curriculum, recruitment of minority teacher candidates, workforce retention, and state policy on class size limits.
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Fails, Carol. "The achievement gap and the role of Black community church leaders." Thesis, Capella University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3632952.
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Pretlow, Willard Edwin. "The Wealth Gap A Cross-Sectional Quantitative Analysis of Self-Esteem and Monetary Power." ScholarWorks, 2018. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/5405.
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The median wealth of Blacks is lower than that of Whites by 90 percent. The corresponding median income for Blacks is 40 percent below Whites. Additional research has revealed that Blacks tend to invest in low-yielding assets and borrow at high interest rates. The alarming problem is that financial outcomes and behaviors can be associated with race. In this cross-sectional quantitative study, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem and the Money Attitude Scale, both are Likert-type scales, served as survey instruments to collect data from Blacks and Whites about their individual financial behaviors. The purpose of this survey was to explore the relationship between self-esteem and monetary power among Blacks and Whites in the Unites States. The Behavioral life-cycle hypothesis served as the theoretical framework for the study. The research question for this study was as follows: There is a relationship between self-esteem and monetary power among Blacks and Whites in the United States. Using the IBM SPSS analytics software, the findings of the linear multiple regression analyses indicated that there was a significant predictive relationship between self-esteem and retention time, self-esteem and distrust, and self-esteem and anxiety. There were no correlation findings related to race, there were however, correlations related to gender. Regional investigative studies to gather data about behavioral factors that drive decision making are still necessary. The social change implication as it relates to asset accumulation is that financial services professionals will begin to shift attention away from financial accounting outcome matters toward behavioral lifestyle outcome matters
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Foster, Merriel P. "The Race Of Academic Achievement: An Analysis Of Racial Heterogeneity And Scholastic Performance At The State Level." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2014. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/888.
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This paper seeks to examine the relationship between racial heterogeneity and academic performance and success on a statewide basis. With extensive literature examining the causes and implications of the achievement gap present between white and minority students, I utilized the prior research and focused on how ethnic and racial heterogeneity in states could be a determinant of success or failure of student performance. My results yielded implications that coincided with previous studies – that an increase in the non-white population of a state negatively contributed to expected average academic performance. Additionally, the findings had some implications supporting studies that demonstrate that heterogeneity can decrease economic productivity, trust levels, and inclination to flourish socially, by means of lower expected educational attainment.
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Cruz, Felicia. "Exploring the Digital Divide and the Latino-White Achievement Gap in Online Education." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2020. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703433/.
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The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the relationship between the digital divide and the Latino-White achievement gap in online education. Through an analysis of archival enrollment and academic performance data a comparison was conducted between online and face-to-face courses by ethnicity. Additionally, academic performance data was then compared to survey responses from online students on digital motivation, material access, internet skills, and internet usage. Findings and recommendations for future research are discussed and provided to continue the exploration of disparities of digital access and academic performance in an effort to inform decisions in higher education.
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Ireland, Cairen D. "Racial Profiling in Education: A Study of Teacher Perceptions of Students in Special Education." Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School, 2020. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/etd/933.
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African American males have performed near the bottom of the educational hierarchy in America for centuries. Though some improvements have been noted in the last several decades, educational statistics illustrate the achievement gap still persists between African American and White students (Hanushek, 2016). Disaggregated data show disparities in academic performance, high school drop-out rates, and college completion rates. African American males as early as kindergarten are also facing harsher discipline in schools and Black boys are often excluded from gifted and advanced placement courses and other educational opportunities (Howard, 2010). Yet, this population is over-referred and overrepresented in special education, particularly in eligibility categories like emotional disturbance and intellectual disability. Researchers state White, monolingual females make up the majority of the teacher workforce across the country. Theorists also posited the teacher is the single most important factor in school success and their beliefs about students have a tremendous impact on efficacy and outcomes (Noguera, 2012). These assertions are significant. If teachers have had very little exposure to students of other racial or ethnic backgrounds or have a negative attitude toward students of color based on the master narrative, it will inevitably show up in their discourse, pedagogical practice, and student outcomes.
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Chandra, Michelle Veena. "The black/white wealth gap : the transgenerational effects of post-reconstruction sharecropping and racial systems on African Americans today." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/37153.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate how sharecropping systems, a form of racialized agriculture, instituted in the Post-Reconstruction era has had a profound impact on the inability of many African Americans to generate and pass down wealth to successive generations lending to the sizable gap in wealth between whites and blacks (as well as between blacks) in America today. Another aim was to find out how systematic anti-black racism, particularly during Jim Crow, aided in denying a substantial number of southern blacks from entering into the labour market and engaging in the white American ideal of property ownership by re-asserting a white hegemonic order reminiscent of the antebellum period. Another objective was to trace the effects of the Great Migration (1910-1970), the northward and westward migration of close to 8 million blacks out of the South, that occurred as a result of this systemic racism.
It was found that the late move of black men out of agriculture and into other areas of the labour market, in addition to the persistent racism that upheld sharecropping systems in the South, severely hampered the ability of many African Americans from building and passing down wealth holdings to their children, helping to explain some of the staggering wealth discrepancies that we see today. Furthermore, the results of the study indicated that some blacks, particularly in Durham, North Carolina, benefited by the anti-black racism in the South by creating a black clientele in predominantly black neighbourhoods where whites did not want to set up shop, allowing some blacks entry into the coveted middle class. The effects of the Great Migration did not benefit all, however, in that it also created clusters of blacks in northern urban areas who faced increasing anti-black racism and exclusion from the marketplace, lending to the creation of a lower middle class and an impoverished underclass. The principle conclusion was that in order to understand present day inequalities among African Americans, there must be a historical analysis that is sensitive to the transgenerational effects of sharecropping, Jim Crow and institutionalized racism.
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Smith, Warren T. "Predictors of Academic Achievement among Students at Hillsborough Community College: Can School Engagement Close the Racial Gap of Achievement?" Scholar Commons, 2010. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/1778.
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In the United States today, significant gaps exist among the races along a variety of measures of academic success, including standardized test scores, grade point averages, and drop-out and graduation rates. In recent decades, social scientists and educators alike have sought to uncover the reasons for these gaps, and many have focused on the role of cultural and institutional factors within the school setting. In recent years, researchers have examined such factors as a students' school identification (Osborne 1997; Voelkl 1997), students' opportunities to learn and the classroom climate (Oakes 1985), students' sense of school belonging (Goodenow 1993), and of particular interest to this researcher, sense of school engagement (Fredricks, Blumenfeld and Paris, 2004). Using data drawn from the Community College Survey on Student Engagement (CCSSE) administered by Hillsborough Community College (HCC) in the spring semester of 2007, I explore (1) whether students' levels of academic achievement, as measured by grade point average, vary across racial groups, as much of the literature has shown; and (2) whether any of the observed racial differences in academic achievement can be explained by differing levels of school engagement. Results show that black students at HCC do, in fact, report lower academic achievement compared to their white counterparts, but that these racial differences persist even after controlling for levels of school engagement. In other words, school engagement predicts academic achievement for all students, blacks as well as whites. The strongest predictors of academic achievement for students at HCC are class attendance, quality of student-faculty relations, and hours spent studying.
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Delia, Deckard Natalie Marie. ""Can't Buy Me Wealth": Racial Segregation and Housing Wealth in Hillsborough County, Florida." Scholar Commons, 2011. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3068.
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Informed by the literature regarding the gap in wealth between white and non-white households in the United States, as well as the literature on segregation and neighborhood preference, this research explores the home value component of the wealth gap in Hillsborough County, Florida. It finds that homes in Predominantly Black or Hispanic neighborhoods are not only undervalued compared to Predominantly White and heterogeneous neighborhoods, but have appreciated more slowly at least since 2000. The research also finds that buyers identifying as black or Hispanic are more likely than those identifying as white or "other" to purchase homes in Predominantly Black or Hispanic neighborhoods. Controlling for income, loan amount and loan product, buyers identifying as Black or Hispanic select neighborhoods with lower median home values and lower rates of appreciation than do those identifying as white. Given that these homebuyers spend as much both initially and in payments over time as do those who identify as white, while their purchases are worth less and appreciate less, this research contributes to the literature by positing that the racial wealth gap will increase as blacks and Hispanics receive lower returns on their comparatively greater home investments than do whites.
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Ahmed, Emtiaz Rony. "Racial-Ethnic Gaps in Achievement Motivational Constructs of U.S. Eighth-Grade Students that Predict Mathematics and Science Achievement." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1532072341697104.
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Chen, Wei-Lin. "Understanding the student success gap: Building models for underrepresented racial minority and non-traditional students' college experience in community college." Diss., University of Iowa, 2017. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/5727.
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Community colleges are a crucial channel for achieving postsecondary education success, especially for minority and nontraditionally aged students. Nonetheless, community colleges are inadequate to meeting national goals for postsecondary educational attainment. Most notably, the lack of a strong guidance of academic interventions stifles a student’s preparation to transfer to four-year institutions as well as to attain an associate’s degree.
The majority of research concerning community colleges rarely addresses the issues of low degree attainment rates from rigorous guidance of academic interventions by student status difference, including race/ethnicity, age, first-generation status, motivation, and academic preparation. First, few community colleges and associations have proposed and implemented designed guidance for students. As such, evaluating the impact of guidance plans in community colleges provides us with a better understanding of student success at these schools. Second, previous studies used samples collected from a single community college, city, or state, which make generalizability difficult to attain. Third, researchers have paid little attention to how the variation across community colleges differs across the nation in terms of the mission and purpose of the institutions as well as the students who attend these colleges. This variation may influence students’ academic curriculum and exposure to academic advising, which in turn may impact their success. Fourth, even though minority and nontraditional students are overrepresented at two-year intuitions, few studies investigate whether the impact of academic interventions in community colleges differs by race/ethnic and age.
Building upon the literature on student development in higher education, in this dissertation, I examined how academic interventions (i.e., academic advising and faculty–student interactions) promote student success after controlling for potential confounding factors at both the student and institution level. Employing propensity-scored based techniques, I compared student success (a) among Black, Latino, and White students, and (b) between traditionally aged students (18–21 years of age), and nontraditionally aged students (24 years of age and older).
Using data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09) and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), I employed doubly robust estimation to provide better estimates of academic advising and formal faculty–student interactions on student success. I measured students’ successes by determining whether students attained an associate’s degree or whether they transferred to a four-year institution. To accomplish these tasks, I first used a multinomial logit model to estimate the propensity scores of receiving academic advising and faculty–student interactions. I then created a sample weight based on the inverse of the propensity score. I used multinomial logit regression model, weighted by the inverse of the propensity score, to estimate the effects of academic advising and faculty–student interactions. Finally, I examined the conditional effects of academic advising and faculty–student interactions by students’ race, age, first-generation status, motivation, and academic preparation.
The findings indicate that both academic advising and formal faculty–student interactions benefit student success at community colleges. Specifically, academic advising increases student success of transferring to a four-year institution, but African American students benefit less from academic advising than their White peers. Academic advising positively influences both Hispanic students and White students in terms of their upward transfer to a four-year institution. In addition to academic advising, formal faculty–student interactions improve student success regarding both upward transfers and attainment of associate degrees. The positive impact of formal faculty–student interactions is consistent across students’ race, age, first-generation status, motivation, and academic preparation.
This dissertation contributes to the existing literature on community colleges in two ways. First, my dissertation seeks to better inform policy makers in designing academic interventions that can improve student development in community colleges, especially for minority and nontraditional students. Second, my dissertation contributes to the research literature on higher education by providing improved estimates that have stronger internal and external validity than estimates from past studies on the effects of academic interventions in community colleges.
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Flores, Roberto Manolio Valladão. "Uma análise dos efeitos da segregação racial sobre a proficiência dos alunos do ensino fundamental brasileiro." Universidade de São Paulo, 2010. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/96/96131/tde-06052010-113523/.
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Pesquisas recentes vêm encontrando que alunos negros têm pior desempenho escolar que alunos brancos em testes cognitivos padronizados. A segregação racial é freqüentemente apontada na literatura internacional como uma das principais responsáveis por essa diferença. Nessa dissertação, foi analisado o efeito da segregação racial escolar no diferencial de proficiência escolar entre alunos brancos e negros do ensino fundamental brasileiro. Nos modelos estimados, mesmo após a utilização de diversos controles, foi encontrada evidência de que onde há maior segregação, os negros tem pior desempenho relativamente aos brancos.Recent research have found that black students have worse schoolar performance than white students in standardized cognitive tests. Racial segregation is frequently pointed out as one of the main factors behind this scenario in international literature. We have studied the effects of racial seggregation on the black-white grade gap in Brazil. In the estimated models, even after the inclusion of several control variables, we have found that where the racial seggregation is higher, the grade differential is higher against black students.
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Cooke-Rivers, Jacqueline Olga. "On the Nature of Cultural Capital: The Reinforcing Action of Non-Elite Forms and Racial Differences in Student Achievement in the Middle Class." Thesis, Harvard University, 2014. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:13070039.
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This dissertation argues that cultural capital is self-reinforcing in nature. This conjecture is explored through the analysis of sixth-four semi-structured interviews with black and white middle class parents. The first phase of the analysis investigates how the use of one form of non-elite cultural capital, racial socialization, varies among middle class black parents and how it is related to their deployment of elite forms of parental cultural capital. Throughout the dissertation elite parental cultural capital is operationalized as parents' educational aspirations, parental encouragement of academic engagement and promotion of the work ethic.
Next, the relationship between the use of elite parental cultural capital and adolescents' academic achievement is evaluated for black and white middle class families. Ultimately the link between the use of non-elite cultural capital and racial differences in academic outcomes is examined.
The results suggest that there may be subtle differences in cultural socialization practices among black parents in this sample, which are apparently correlated with their use of elite cultural capital. This implies that non-elite cultural capital has the potential to reinforce elite cultural capital. However, this appears to have only a weak relationship to the achievement of black adolescents or to the racial achievement gap.African and African American Studies
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Orland, Catherine Brenner. "Teachers, study circles and the racial achievement gap: how one dialogue and action program helped teachers integrate the competencies of an effective multicultural educator /." Click here to view full text, 2007.
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Rippeyoung, Phyllis Love Farley. "Is it too late baby? pinpointing the emergence of a black-white test score gap in infancy." Diss., University of Iowa, 2006. http://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/80.
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Zhu, Beibei. "Three Essays on Employer Learning and Statistical Discrimination." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/23168.
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This dissertation consists of three essays studying employer learning and statistical discrimination of young workers in the U.S. labor market. The first chapter outlines the dissertation by discussing the motivations, methods, and research findings.Chapter two develops a framework that nests both symmetric and asymmetric employer learning, and derives testable hypotheses on racial statistical discrimination under different processes of employer learning. Testing the model with data from the NLSY79, we find that employers statistically discriminate against black workers on the basis of both education and race in the high school market where learning appears to be mostly asymmetric. In the college market, employers directly observe most parts of the productivity of potential employees and learn very little over time.
In chapter three, we investigate how the process of employer learning and statistical discrimination varies over time and across employers. The comparison between the NLSY79 and the NLSY97 cohorts reveals that employer learning and statistical discrimination has became stronger over the past decades. Using the NLSY97 data, we identify three employer- specific characteristics that influencing employer learning and statistical discrimination, the supervisor-worker race match, supervisor\'s age, and firm size. Black high school graduates face weaker employer learning and statistical discrimination if they choose to work for a black supervisor, work for an old supervisor, or work in a firm of small size.
In the last chapter, we are interested in the associations between verbal and quantitative skills and individual earnings as well as the employer learning process of these two specific types of skills. There exist significant differences in both the labor market rewards and employer learning process of verbal and quantitative skills between high school and college graduates. Verbal skills are more important than quantitative skills for high school graduates, whereas college-educated workers benefit greatly from having high quantitative skills but little from having high verbal skills. In addition, employers directly learn verbal skills and continuously learn quantitative skills in the high school market, but almost perfectly observe quantitative skills in the college market.
Ph. D.
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Harrison, Jullian. "PUSHED WITHOUT DIRECTION: Privileged Problems and the Configuration of Class and Race. How Latent Class Differences, Supported Through Racial Inequities, Maintain the Achievement Gap for Upper Class Black Students." VCU Scholars Compass, 2016. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/4301.
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Scholars for decades have studied the achievement gap and attempted to explain it in regards to race and class. Throughout the existing literature regarding the achievement gap between black and white students, however, there is a dearth of research exploring why the gap exists for upper-class black students; this population is largely ignored. This research seeks to explain why an achievement gap exists between white and black students who come from households of similar incomes. Ten students (five white and five black gradates) of a private, non-parochial school in Washington DC are interviewed about high school and post-high school experiences. Using cultural capital and labeling theory frameworks, this study follows the work of Billings (2011), Pattillo-McCoy (2000), Lacy (2007), and Khan (2011) in their focus on black students, cultural capital, and embodied privilege, and builds on that of Lensmire (2012), Dixon-Roman 2014, Orr (2003) Adams (2010) and Tyson et al. (2005). Results uncover the uniquely complex configuration of class and race. Latent issues as a result of race can arise, and the research illustrates how they affect the achievement ideology and attainment of both black and white students. This study’s findings suggest that two mechanisms shape the achievement gap: academic support and social interactions and interpretations, with the former rooted largely in class differences and the latter rooted in racial differences. This study aims to improve our understanding of the distinct role race and class play in influencing educational and professional outcomes from upper-class backgrounds.
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Meskil, Dawn M. "A Study of the Perceptions of Racial Equity in One Early Childhood Education Program." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2016. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3151.
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Although public education in the United States has had remarkable growth and improvement since its beginning, significant inadequacies concerning racial equity continue to cast a shadow on the system. Despite desegregation efforts and specific attention to providing integrated school settings there has been little progress in establishing educational justice. The purpose of this case study was to uncover perceptions about racial inequity within Asheville City Schools as well as potential facilitators of equity. A qualitative case study using 10 guiding research questions was conducted to evaluate the perceptions of parents as well as educators at Asheville City Schools Preschool regarding racial inequities and potential facilitators of equity. Transcripts from a Racial Equity Photovoice Project were used to identify perceptions of the presence and the impact of racial inequity as well as assets of, barriers to, and potential facilitators of equity. Findings indicate parents and educators agree that barriers of racial equity include elements of negative societal influences, antiquated educational policies and procedures, inapt curricula and instruction, external systems that perpetuate biases, meager funding structures and poor home-school connections. Further, findings indicate parents and educators agree that diverse student bodies and faculties, culturally and social-emotionally relevant curricula and instruction, positive relationships between educators and children, and authentic 2-way communication are potential facilitators of racial equity. Overarching themes incorporate concerns related to resources, mandates, personal narratives, and relationships. This research adds to the literature related to racial equity and has implications for practice as well as future research.
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Norris, Tina. "ADOLESCENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, BULLYING BEHAVIOR, AND THE FREQUENCY OF INTERNET USE." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1270316819.
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Smith, Audley Edward. "A critical examination of the impact of school principals' leadership on the academic achievement of African American males in preschool through third grade." Oxford, Ohio : Miami University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=miami1228937687.
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Yoon, Aimee Jean Yoon. "Racial Achievement Gaps among Young Children: How Do Schools Matter?" The Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1498142602172034.
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Biddle, Simon. "Steroid metabolism in racing greyhounds." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2014. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/14878.
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The metabolism of androgenic anabolic steroids has been studied in the racing greyhound. Various drug preparations have been investigated utilising different derivatisation techniques, coupled with gas chromatographic analysis, to enable the identification of key metabolites in canine post administration samples. This has led to an increased understanding of some of the generic routes of steroid metabolism that take place in the greyhound. This valuable information can help to support metabolism studies in the future. The identification of specific metabolites for each compound investigated, has provided a means for controlling the misuse of these compounds, and contributed valuable enhancements to screening protocols utilised in the canine sports drug testing industry. Utilisation of the techniques described, resulted in the identification of specific major metabolites of the anabolic steroid methyltestosterone, namely 17??-methyl-5??- androstan-3??-17??-diol and 17??-methyl-5??-androstan-3??,16??,17??-triol. 16??- hydroxylation was shown to be a major phase I metabolic pathway in the canine along with phase II conjugation with glucuronic acid. Similar results were obtained during the metabolism study of the progestatgenic steroid norethisterone. Several di- and trihydroxy metabolites were detected in the glucuronic acid fraction of the post administration urines from this study. The norethisterone metabolism study also provided some insight, into the area of trace contaminants of pharmaceutical preparations. Low levels of nandrolone metabolites were also detected in the norethisterone post administration urine samples, leading to the discovery that the administered pharmaceutical tablets contained small quantities of nandrolone and 19- norandrostenedione, albeit below FDA approved contaminant levels. Modern methods of drug screening employ such highly sensitive techniques, that they allow for the detection of metabolites of such trace contaminants, following administration of the drug preparation to the greyhound. It is therefore important to have a broad understanding of the metabolism of various drug preparations, both banned and permitted substances alike; as detection of a trace amount of a banned substance metabolite, arising from the administration of a permitted medication, whose iii metabolite profile is unknown, and therefore potentially not detected, could present an interesting case. In conjunction with research into controlling the use of banned substances for the purposes of suppressing oestrus in the greyhound bitch, an investigation into normal/reference levels of endogenous hormones has been carried out. The endogenous steroid levels in a population of 212 greyhound bitches have been studied with a view to establishing a method for the detection of the exogenous administration of the endogenous anabolic steroid testosterone. The major urinary metabolites investigated were epiandrosterone, 5??-androstane-3??,17??-diol and 5??-androstane-3??,17??-diol. Statistical evaluations have been carried out to support the implementation of a suitable threshold for the key testosterone metabolites, namely 5??-androstane-3??,17??-diol and epiandrosterone. The detection of 5??-androstane-3??,17??-diol was found to be a very good indicator of the exogenous administration of testosterone to the greyhound bitch, when compared with the reference population data for this metabolite. However, further statistical/analytical data evaluation was deemed necessary before an absolute threshold could be implemented for this analyte, for the purposes of controlling the misuse of testosterone in the racing greyhound bitch. To support the understanding of endogenous steroid levels in the female greyhound, yet further, the endogenous reproductive steroid profiles were measured throughout the entire oestrus cycle of a cohort of 33 racing bitches. The results of the study clearly indicate a surge in androgen metabolites during the first 7-10 days of the oestrus cycle, in particular epiandrosterone and 5??-androstane-3??,17??-diol. This unique set of data has provided detailed information regarding the fluctuating concentrations of androgen and progesterone metabolites (following ovulation), at key stages of the canine oestrus cycle. The information obtained from this research can be used to support regulatory decisions regarding the misuse of testosterone in the racing greyhound bitch.
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Chang, Briana L. "EFFECTS OF RACIALIZED TRACKING ON RACIAL GAPS IN SCIENCE SELF-EFFICACY, IDENTITY, ENGAGEMENT, AND ASPIRATIONS: CONNECTION TO SCIENCE AND SCHOOL SEGREGATION." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2015. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/333388.
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Urban EducationPh.D.
Given the concentration of economic growth and power in science fields and the current levels of racial stratification in schooling, this study examined (1) the effects of race on students’ connectedness to science and career aspirations, (2) the extent to which these effects were moderated by school racial composition and racialized tracking, and (3) the differences in modeling effects using separate variables for race and gender (i.e., White, Black, Hispanic, female) versus race/gender (e.g., White female, Black male, etc.). Using the lens of racial formation theory, this study situated access to science knowledge as a racial project, conferring and denying access to resources along racial lines. Reviews of the literature on science self-efficacy, identity, engagement, and career aspirations revealed an under-emphasis on school institutional factors, such as racial composition and racialized tracking (which are important in sociological literature), as shaping student outcomes. The study analyzed data from the nationally representative High School Longitudinal Study that surveyed students in 2009 during their freshman year in high school and again in 2012 during most students’ junior year (n = 6,998). Affective ratings (in self-efficacy, identity, engagement) and career aspirations for students measured in 2012 were examined as dependent variables and a variable for racialized tracking was estimated given schools’ placement of students in advanced science coursework in 2012. Although school racial composition was not found to moderate race on outcome effects, primary analyses demonstrated that the presence of racialized tracking in the students’ schools did moderate these effects. Overall these results suggested that the student subgroups most often at a disadvantage compared to White students for the science outcomes studied were Hispanic males and females; Black students’ ratings and aspirations were largely on par or exceeded those of their White counterparts. In addition, results indicated that racialized tracking served to exacerbate gaps for Hispanic students and may also diminish career aspirations for Black students. Finally, while examining effects by race/gender did provide some additional insight and nuance in the interpretation of these results, there were clear instances where these more detailed analyses were not needed or may have obscured results that were clearer when aggregated by race. Given these results, implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed.
Temple University--Theses
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Schneider, Carri Anne. "When Journalism and Scholarship Collide: A Critical Analysis of Newsweek’s Annual Report on America’s Top High Schools." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1178554216.
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Konya, Kaanakia Toge. "Exploring identity processes in the work setting of a developing country through the lenses of social identity and post-colonialism." Thesis, Brunel University, 2014. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/10999.
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The concept of understanding one’s origin or existence spans across almost every sphere of social science; despite its popularity, there is still a lack of research exploring identity in the work setting of developing countries. This thesis aims to contribute to understanding identity processes of workers in developing countries through the lenses of social identity and post-colonialism. The rationale for using these areas lies in the perceived nature of identity processes for people in developing countries by taking into account historical and cultural influences; for social identity (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), the “prototype” and “cohesion, solidarity and harmony” and for post-colonialism (Sen, 2006; Ekeh, 1975; Ekanola, 2006; Mizuno & Okazawa, 2009), “power”, the “dialectics of the colonized mind” and “social formations”. This thesis takes a socio-psychological approach, which is based on a qualitative research method; in particular, 47 in-depth interviews with professionals from the oil and gas sector of Nigeria form a key aspect of the research method. Findings reveal that social identity theory can be used to interpret the propensity of Nigerians to identify with groups. The thesis finds that social identity captures the importance attached to group identification through an understanding of the drivers and benefits of harmony to the self-concept in the chosen context. However the thesis also finds that social identity but does not cater for other integral aspects of identity processes, such as power and identity struggle. The thesis finds that by addressing the perception of perpetuated colonialism produced by the persistent domination of foreign workers in senior roles and their interaction with indigenous workers, post-colonial theory adequately covers issues of power and struggle. In summary, the thesis finds that the integration of social identity theory and post-colonial theory facilitates a more holistic interpretation of identity processes in regions like Nigeria. Hence this thesis contributes to the literature on identity processes in the work setting of a developing country.
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Martynyuk, Nataly. "Actions of alpha-chimaerins in mechanisms relevant to dendritic spine formation and neurodegeneration." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2019. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/287938.
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Rho GTPases and their regulators such as guanosine exchange factors (GEFs) and GTPase activating proteins (GAPs) represent an important class of molecules controlling dendritic spine plasticity. Although they are typically described as cytoskeletal modulators, roles for the GTPases in endocytosis and cell polarity establishment have also been defined. The neuronal proteins a1- and a2-chimaerins belong to a group of Rac and Cdc42 GAPs that inactivate these GTPases; in addition to a GAP domain, the a-chimaerins share a phosphokinase C (PKC)-like C1 domain but have distinct N-terminal domains (NTDs). My project has explored the importance of specific domains of a1-chimaerin both in induction of a morphological cellular protrusion collapse phenotype ('circularisation') and in interactions with partner proteins that may help to explain the phenotype. The results described in my thesis show that a1-chimaerin possesses a previously undescribed C-terminal domain (CTD) that is indispensable for the ability of the protein to induce collapse of protrusions, and consequent circularisation, in various cell types; moreover, an intact CTD is also important for association of a1-chimaerin with its known effector EphA4, and potentially with other undefined membrane proteins, in a C1-domain- dependent manner. In addition, my results show that a1-chimaerin associates via its NTD with the Src kinase Fyn, and via its C1 domain with the NR2A subunit of the NMDA receptor. Further experiments explored a1-chimaerin effects on EphA4 and NMDA receptor cell surface expression, as well as binding to other putative partners - including the adaptor protein p35 and the polarity protein PAR6. Finally, I have shown that inhibition of a pathway involving the Rho-associated coiled-coil containing protein kinase (ROCK) reverts circularisation induced by a1- chimaerin, and that a blocking peptide based on the CTD may be employed to partially counteract the phenotype. These results uncover a novel domain in a1-chimaerin that may have a crucial importance for the induction of cellular process collapse by a1-chimaerin with a potential relevance to the EphA4-induced dendritic spine retraction, EphA4 receptor endocytosis, and cell surface expression of NR2A-containing NMDA receptors. This suggests a model of a multi-protein signalling complex involving a1-chimaerin that coordinates cellular process remodelling, and that is likely to be important both for adult neuronal circuit plasticity and for neurodegenerative diseases.
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Finau, Lynette Suliana Sikahema. "Teachers of Color's Perception on Identity and Academic Success: A Reflective Narrative." Antioch University / OhioLINK, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1629127636689077.
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Roy, Joseph J. "Inner ring suburban school principal perceptions and practices related to equity actions designed to reduce the racial achievement gap." 2009. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3354756.
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Sosnowski, Nancy H. "Women of color staking a claim for cyber domain: Unpacking the racial /gender gap in science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET)." 2002. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3056282.
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Women and girls of color are severely under-represented in the fields of Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (SMET). Research indicates that SMET will continue to be dominated by men unless we address the needs of women of color to gain entry and sustain a career in these fields. Women of color issues and concerns are often combined with those of white middle class women, thereby making it difficult to tease out what is important to them in relationship to SMET. This qualitative research project was conducted at a large public university over a three month period with a group of women of color undergraduates, graduates and professionals in the field of engineering. Methods utilized included phenomenological in-depth interviews and observation. The study gave voice to what they encountered regarding access, recruitment, and retention to SMET careers, the gender and racial biased attitudes and practices that either supported or obstructed their determination to move forward along the engineering pipeline and the encouraging and discouraging relationships which supported or obstructed the women's determination to succeed in the field. The findings point out the important role engineering departments must take in lowering first year attrition rates by providing an inclusive, “women” friendly environment that provides same sex/race mentors, tutors and programs to encourage and support students through difficult times. Diversity workshops and programs should be created to inform faculty and administrators to develop more effective and respectful ways of communicating with different ethnicities. Creating inclusive pedagogy integrated with feminist frames and constructivist teaching methods whereby students lived reality is integrated into practical applications of knowledge would provide a more comprehensive, interesting and fun way to learn science, math and technology thereby alleviating the boredom often found in engineering courses. The study also identified the important role families played in the success of the women, especially the role of mother and daughter, which prepared these women academically and emotionally for the rigors of engineering. Moreover, K–12 teachers need to learn about, promote and facilitate skills development for girls of color to gain entry to SMET careers. One teacher can make a difference.
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Chen, Ying-Ju, and 陳盈如. "The effect of preschool educational tracking on racial gaps in academic achievement." Thesis, 2016. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/26637743881596628369.
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碩士國立東華大學
幼兒教育學系
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Compared to their Chinese counterparts, many studies have found that aboriginal students in Taiwan perform significantly worse in school. As the rate of cross-national marriages continues to increase in the current demographic and ethnic composition of Taiwan, the academic performance of children from such families as compared to other students has become a topic worthy of attention. According to past studies on academic performance and ethnic differences, educational tracking (e.g., going into general secondary schools or vocational schools) might also be a significant critical factor. The difference in educational tracking is profoundly influential on students' subsequent years of education, occupation, income, and even social status, and educational tracking is rather obvious as early as during preschool education. Apart from common institutional tracking as manifested in public and private kindergartens, curriculum tracking (general curriculum / English curriculum) is another highly controversial matter attracting great attention. The following questions thus arise: As the foundation of all education, does the difference in educational tracking during the preschool period influence students' cognitive development? Does it have a lasting influence on academic achievement when pre-schoolers begin their primary education? Do students from cross-ethnic/cross-national marriages choose differently when it comes to educational tracking? Can government education departments really help children learn and identify those schools that fit them best by providing a diversified range of free choices in pre-school educational tracking? Conversely, will this actually highlight the gap between the rich and the poor and be the starting point of educational inequality? As the number of current studies meant to answer these questions is small, this study sets out to fill this research gap. This study collected data on 615 fifth graders and their parents via questionnaires in 2013 and constructed a model to account for the impact of cross-ethnic/cross-national marriages on students' choices when it came to preschool educational tracking, as well as the impact of preschool educational tracking on the academic achievement of primary school students. The study began with an analysis of the overall situation of students from cross-ethnic/cross-national marriages in terms of their preschool educational paths and academic achievement through percent frequency distribution, mean, and standard deviation. It then set out to validate relevant theoretical hypotheses via the structural equation model, with "preschool educational tracking" and "preschool family education resources" as the mediators on the first layer and second layer, respectively. The study presents the following results: 1) choices of preschool educational tracking are influential on students' preschool cognitive development and academic achievements in primary schools; 2) enrollment in public kindergartens is negatively influential on children's preschool cognitive development; 3) experience from English teaching in preschools is indirectly positively influential on preschool cognitive development due to better access to literary and art resources as a result of greater family wealth; and 4) a significantly higher proportion of aboriginal students and children from cross-national marriages chose to go to public kindergartens, and hence their poorer preschool cognitive development. Given the indirect impact of preschool cognitive capacities on subsequent academic achievement in primary schools, the academic achievement of aboriginal students and children from cross-national marriages in the fifth grade might also bepoorer. In addition, the preschool family educational resources of aboriginal students were found to be significantly less than their Chinese counterparts, particularly so in the access to literary and art resources, which was detrimental to their preschool cognitive development.
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Wolfe, Ruth Rebecca. "Working (in) the gap: a critical examination of the race/culture divide in human services." Phd thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10048/1256.
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This project entails a critical examination of the race/culture divide in human services from the vantage point of middle women non-professional grassroots advocates who emerged in the 1990s to address inequities that minoritized immigrants experience with main stream human services in Canada. The race/culture divide denotes critical race theorists' critique of a focus on cultural difference that obscures racism. Shaped by critical race theory and critical research methods, and drawing on interviews and participant observation involving 25 middle women, my findings reveal that the middle women's articulations of barriers and gaps as systemic inequities are at odds with main stream services' tendencies to focus on cultural challenges. This tension results in the discursive production of a cultural niche, a gendered space of exploitation of a culturally defined Middle Woman, who is thus rendered perpetually immigrant. The study illuminates how the Middle Woman navigates a complex and perilous tension between jeopardizing relationships with main stream organizations and simultaneously resisting what she experiences as disrespectful, unacceptable, unethical and overtly racist interfaces with human services. Although the middle women recounted numerous, visceral and detailed culturalist-racist interfaces in systemically racialized human service systems, they were equivocal about naming racism until I raised it directly. They gave meaning to "in Canada" experiences through their particular pre-migration realities in a process of continuous comparison between "back home" and "here," positioning them differentially in relation to Canada, and therefore also to the possibility of naming racism in Canada. The middle women engage in a continuous process of discerning racism, always weighing it against other explanations for inequitable treatment. The project thus draws attention to the toll that navigating the race/culture divide takes in embodying the sensed and draining the spirit. It draws attention to the process through which I, as a white researcher, came to see the workings of our racialized society. My research contributes to the literature on the race/culture divide and whiteness studies, and has implications for research on racism, dialogue about cultural competence and anti-racist practice, and conceptualizing settlement and responsive human services.
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Gill, Jagjeet Kaur. "Minding the Gap: Understanding the Experiences of Racialized/Minoritized Bodies in Special Education." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1807/43385.
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The issue of special education in the United States has been a contentious issue, at best, for the past 40 years. In Ontario, to a lesser extent, there have been issues of equal access to education for minoritized and racialized students. Special education in the Toronto area has not been without its issues surrounding parental advocacy, the use of assessments, and disproportionate number of English Language Learners in special education. This project examines how racialized and minoritized families understand special education practices and policies, specifically within the Toronto, York, Peel, and Halton Regions. The investigation is informed by nine interviews with students in grades 7 to 12, their respective mothers, and five special education administrators and educators. Students and parents identified themselves as Black, Latino/a, and South Asian. Within these categories, parents identified themselves as Somali, Trinidadian, Jamaican, and Punjabi-Sikh. Students were identified with a range of disabilities including learning, behavioural, and/or intellectual.
This research focuses on ways to interrogate and examine the experiences of minoritized students and their parents by bringing forward otherwise silenced voices and understanding what it means to “speak out” against the process of identification and placement in special education.
The findings of this investigation suggest a disconnect how policies and practices are implemented, and how, parents’ rights are understood. In particular, policies are inconsistently applied and are subject to the interpretation of educators and administrators, especially in relation to parental involvement and how much information should be released to families. The issue of language acquisition being read as a disability was also a noted concern. This investigation points to implications for teacher education programs, gaps in parental advocacy and notions of parental participation within schools, and re-examining special education assessments, practices, and policies.
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Mooney, Patricia 1960. "Middle Class and Middle School: Does Opportunity Knock for African American Students?" Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/148273.
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Closing the achievement gap between African American and White students continues to challenge educators in both urban and suburban contexts. Teachers and administrators in America are overwhelmingly White, and have limited training, if any, in understanding cultural differences or developing culturally responsive practices and policies. More importantly, racism and deficit thinking impose invisible barriers that inhibit the success of African American students. This Problem of Practice explored the existing achievement gap between African American and White students at Keller Middle School, a Title I campus in southeast Texas. Using a qualitative research methodology, campus data, policies, and practices were examined through the lens of societal racism, institutional racism, and deficit thinking. Three fundamental themes were revealed in this study: 1) White teachers and administrators believed that African American students were not successful in school because they (or their families) had internal defects that impeded learning; 2) African American parent and student participants had deficit beliefs about other African Americans and used defensive othering as a coping strategy; and 3) African American students and parents perceived themselves as successful and attributed that success to a high motivation to achieve. Recommendations are given to address the gap in achievement for African American learners in middle school.