White suburban schools' responses to low-income black children: Sources of successes and problems

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a study of low-income black children who moved with their families into middle-income, white suburbs. Three hypotheses are tested: (1) Educational standards will be higher in the suburban schools than in the children's city schools. (2) Suburban schools and teachers will respond to these students with increased educational assistance mixed with some racial discrimination. (3) Students' grades and school satisfaction will not decline with the move to the suburban schools. Two kinds of research design are used: children's postmove suburban experiences are compared with retrospective reports of their premove experiences and also compared with experiences of a control group. Interviews with mothers and children permit quantitative and qualitative analyses. The findings support all three hypotheses and suggest new perspectives on the kinds of advantages and problems arising from residential integration.