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The Color of Success

Gilberto Q. Conchas, PhD

Associate Professor &

Chancellor’s Fellow

University of California, Irvine

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Problems Facing Urban Public Schools Low test scores Low grades Achievement Gap High drop-out rates Poor attendance Unmotivated students Burned-out and ineffective teachers Dilapidated and unsafe buildings Administrative hopelessness Politicized and inefficient bureaucracies Endless series of failed school reform

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Ladson-Billings, 2006 AERA Presidential Address

Taken together, the historic, economic, sociopolitical, and moral debt that we have amassed toward Black, Brown, Yellow, and Red children seems insurmountable, and attempts of addressing it seem futile. Indeed, it appears like a task for Sisyphus. But as legal scholar Derrick Bell (1994) indicated, just because something is impossible does not mean it is not worth doing.

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Guiding Research Questions Why do some low-income high

school students achieve success despite urban school inequality?

How does the structure and culture of urban schools mediate school success?

How do low-income youth experience and perceive urban school success?

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Research Focus

My work explores the origins of low-income students’ engagement and success in relationship to the urban high school context.

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Purpose of the Study

To examine how within school processes construct success among low-income urban high school students.

To show, from students’ perspectives, how institutional mechanisms impact student engagement.

To show, how the structural and cultural dimensions of the small school reform efforts matter.

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Research Says…

* Segregation and neglect in a racially stratified society… (Orfield)

* Inadequate learning environments: aesthetically unpleasant, ill-equipped, ineffective teachers, defiant peer cultures… (Anyon; Orfield et al.)

* Low-achieving School structure & culture: low teacher expectations, irrelevant curriculum, lack of supports systems… (Conchas; Gandara)

* Family background… (Diaz-Salcedo; Trueba)

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Research says…

* Oppositional culture and the stigma of acting “white”: voluntary versus involuntary… (Ogbu)

* Immigrant paradox and downward assimilation (Feliciano; Portes and Rumbaut, Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco)

• Acculturation today, leads to detrimental outcomes:

• Health• motivation• achievement

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But Many Beating the Odds! Impact of school processes

(Conchas; Gandara; Mehan; Noguera)

Impact of relationships within schools among peers and teachers (Conchas; Conchas and Rodriguez; Stanton-Salazar)

Impact of these on school engagement (Conchas)

Sara Lawrence Lightfoot, The Good High School, 1983

It seemed easy for us to recite all of the problems teachers and students confront and create in secondary schools… but it seemed difficult, even awkward, to find goodness and talk about successes.

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My Research Suggests

School change is a multi-faceted process with technical, cultural, and political dimensions.

Size is not synonymous with urban school success.

Structural processes as well as cultural dimensions of reform efforts matter, such as school culture, teacher beliefs, and interpersonal relations

Comparative Case Study Methodology Answers how and why questions to

ascertain processes. Phenomena takes place within real

life contexts. Researcher has little or no control

over phenomena. Goal is not to generalize to the

whole, but to expand upon exiting theoretical propositions.

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Overview of The Color of Success Case Study Mix-Method Case Study

Phase 1: Observations and document analysis

Phase 2: Qualitative interviews and focus groups

Phase 3: Quantitative: Attendance, grades, and NELS (OLS Models to assess Social Capitol)

(Phase 4: Compare with Boston small school data)

3 Race and Ethnic Groups: 26 Latinos, 27 Black, and 27 Asian American

4 Comparative Structures/Cultures (and then compare with 2 in Boston)

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Baldwin High School

1,900 Students in 9-12 Grades 65% African American 20% Asian American 10% Latino 5% White 18% ELL Low Income with a Few Black

Middle Class

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Small Learning Communities Advanced Placement

15% Black 66% Asian 5 % Latino 14% White

Graphics Academy 25% Black 56% Asian 9% Latino 10% White

Medical Academy 55% Black 32% Asian 10% Latino 3% White

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Race and School Culture

This school reflects the images of society at large. There is limited communication across...ethnic lines. And I can see tremendous variation. I think there are...programs at this school where you have a mix of students where communication goes on fine and the friendships cross ethnic lines….On the other hand, you have other divisions where...you have classes which are all of one ethnic group...and kids...are a little bit terrorized because they don’t know one another. English Teacher

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Variations in Institutional Processes General School Pathway* Weak Structure and Culture

Latino and Black Youth Consistent with Past Research Weak Peer Networks Low Teacher Expectations Weak Relationship Building No College Going Culture

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Strong Structure and Weak Culture AP & Graphics Academy

Strong and Competitive College-Going Culture

Promotes Success Replicates Individualism High Anxiety and Stress Acting “White” to Succeed Loss of Ethnic Identity

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Strong Structure and Culture Medical Academy

Strong College-Going Culture Promotes School Success Positive Student Identity Pro-School Ideology Enhances Race and Ethnic Relations Academic Peer Groups Model of Success for Urban Youth

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Variations in ResponsesMedical Academy

“We are like a community, because in the Medical Academy they are always telling us to work together and more things are going on for us to unite. We help each other to fulfill our goals in school and go into health.” 11th grade

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AP and Graphics Academy

“Oh my God, me be in regular English? Forget that! That does not look good. I want to be tagged the best. The other programs are seen as easy, that’s why I’m in Advanced Placement.” 11th grade

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General Academic Track

“You have an all Black class…and if you are in there…they take care of their own….We are invisible.” 10th Grade

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What I Argue?

Structural and cultural processes divided students by race and distributed opportunities among students in a way that reproduced social inequities.

Those students who perceive stronger and healthier race and ethnic relations are more engaged in school, whereas those who feel more intimidated by the racial and ethnic climate suffer.

Institutional support mechanisms helped students achieve success, despite their critical consciousness of social inequality.

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Significant Factors and Influences: Structural

Smaller is Best Highly Qualified Teachers and Staff Rigorous and Relevant Curriculum Proper Class Scheduling Properly Resources: Financial, Space,

Materials Program Partnerships: Parents,

Communities, and paid labor (internships)

Replicable Structure Sustainable Structure

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Significant Factors and Influences: Cultural

College-Going Climate Supportive Cross-ethnic Community of

Learners Supportive Climate of Varying Academic

Abilities Respectful Climate Responsible and Supportive Peer Groups Positive Teacher Expectations Strong Relationship Building

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Do the Numbers Matter?

OLS Models to Predict Study Habits of Black, Vietnamese, and Mexican American High School Students:

1. Parents Appear to Have SOME Influence, but Research Highlights Relationships within Schools

2. Peer Groups

3. Teacher Expectations

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Limitations of Small School Success Size is not synonymous with urban school

success Schools Serve Few Students NCLB: Testing Limits Success Access to Some Schools Remain

Ambiguous; Uneven Recruitment Processes; Equity and Equality Issues

Difficult to Replicate Teacher Culture Difficult to Replicate School Culture Structural Inequality: Poverty,

Joblessness, Health and Nutrition, Race and Class Segregation

Beyond the Family, 2010

How the school context mediates the acquisition and potential activation of social capital among low-income Asian, Latino, Black, and White youth. 60 college students 60 high school students 60 middle school students 500 surveys and narrative analysis NELS analysis

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High Potential Community Colleges: Postsecondary SuccessHow the social organization of community colleges mediate success among low-income young adults.

• 4 Gates identified high potential community colleges in CLiPs

• Longitudinal Mix-Method Case Study

• Comparative race/ethnic and gender approach, 16-26 year olds

• Education, community and work/labor approach

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