Disadvantaged Minority Students Research Articles

Examining the role of institutional agents and school-based social capital in minority university choice and access

ABSTRACT Empirical studies on university choice and access among under-represented racial/ethnic minorities have utilised the concept of school-based social capital (SBSC) – defined by Stanton-Salazar as key resources and support provided by institutional agents (i.e. teachers, counsellors and other staff). They primarily relied upon minority students’ perceptions. Few of them canvassed both staff and student understandings and experiences of SBSC and thus have not yet captured the nature of SBSC and its influence from both the supply and demand sides. This study interviewed 18 secondary school teachers and nine minority students of South/Southeast Asian ethnicity enrolled in a publicly-funded school of Hong Kong. Its findings shed light on the highly-valued school-based support and resources staff and students viewed as helpful in the university choice process. The findings also disclosed the challenges minority students expressed about being exposed to SBSC while living in the school community, characterised by an ethos of “treating everybody the same”. This in turn rationalised staff understanding of diversity and equity-based support as a transitional approach to mainstreaming/assimilating minority students. As a result, some staff members either withheld critical information on university admission requirements or were less responsive towards the needs of the most disadvantaged minority students, despite a presumable promise to envision university for all. This study calls for structural and institutional transformation so that both individual and collective efforts can empower the least advantaged and promote their university choice and access.

Impact of the Bronx Community Health Leaders Program for Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Prehealth Students.

Purpose: Underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities in the health care workforce is a local and national issue. We describe and report on outcomes of a longitudinal service-driven prehealth pathway program in a low-income community intended to address this disparity and increase health equity.Methods: The Bronx Community Health Leaders (BxCHL) is a prehealth pathway program for socioeconomically disadvantaged and underrepresented minority students seeking careers in health care. The program enrolls students in college or college graduates and provides longitudinal near-peer mentorship, exposure to the health care environment, and supports professional development. An academic federally qualified health center serves as the program's home site and learning environment. We conducted surveys and tracked the career advancement of program participants over a 6-year period, 2014–2020.Results: One hundred sixty-eight students participated in BxCHL for >3 months. Of these, 76 students advanced into professional health career programs with 39 direct acceptances and 15 conditional acceptances to medical school programs, 9 nursing, 4 physician assistant, 9 health-related masters level programs, 1 respiratory therapy, and 1 optometry. The direct and overall acceptance (direct and conditional) rate of medical school applicants is 59% and 86%, respectively. The first 11 BxCHL alumni obtained their medical degree.Conclusions: BxCHL's longitudinal service-driven and near-peer mentorship program design represents a replicable model to address health equity by supporting prehealth students from communities with limited access to mentors and professional learning environments in entering the health care workforce and serving their communities of origin.

The Impact of Same-Race Teachers on Student Behavioral Outcomes

Previous papers on the impacts of same-race teachers have documented that students taught by same-race teachers improve their performance on state exams. However, little is known about whether the positive impact extends beyond test scores to student behavioral outcomes. Using the random assignment of teachers to the U.S. public schools within the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project, I show that same-race teachers increase the effectiveness of communications with Black students. I find that this effect is driven by better teacher explanations and consequent improved student understanding, which aligns with the literature about culturally relevant pedagogy. Additionally, I do not find empirical evidence supporting two alternative explanations for the positive effects of a same-race teacher on communication: i) higher general communication ability of Black teachers and ii) more teacher attention directed towards same-race students. Understanding the impacts of same-race teachers is of great importance, as student behavioral outcomes predict their success in the long-term perspective. Further, the findings may also suggest that training non-minority teachers in using culturally relevant pedagogy may improve the performance of disadvantaged minority students in the short-term by complementing diversification of the teacher labor force.

Discrimination, health, and the costs and benefits of believing in system fairness.

For minority students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, attending university and succeeding despite social and academic stressors is often considered the ultimate marker of resilience. However, a growing body of work suggests that there may be health costs to upward mobility for such students. This study investigated whether believing that the social system is fair simultaneously promotes psychological health while undermining the physical health of Latinx students experiencing frequent discrimination. Two hundred thirty-three low-income and/or first-generation Latinx college students were followed through their first year at university. Discrimination experiences, psychological health, and physical health risk (a suite of inflammatory, biomorphic, and cardiovascular risk markers) were assessed upon entering university and at the end of the academic year. Regardless of discrimination experiences, believing in system fairness predicted higher end-of-year psychological health (controlling for initial psychological health). However, for students who experienced substantial discrimination at university, believing in system fairness also led to higher end-of-year physical health risk (controlling for baseline levels of discrimination and physical health risk). Beliefs that allow socioeconomically disadvantaged minority students to thrive psychologically may also put them at physical health risk when facing frequent discrimination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Practical Use and Regenerative Role of Theories of Intercultural Pedagogy in Educating Disadvantaged (Minority) Students

Practical Use and Regenerative Role of Theories of Intercultural Pedagogy in Educating Disadvantaged (Minority) Students

School Climate, Academic Achievement and Educational Aspirations in Roma Minority and Bulgarian Majority Adolescents

BackgroundSchool climate can promote students’ academic achievement and high educational aspirations. School climate refers to the quality and character of school life, norms, values, social interactions and organizational processes within a school.ObjectiveWe examined for the present sample whether (a) school climate relates to academic achievement and educational aspirations and (b) such relations vary for Roma minority compared to their majority peers.MethodParticipants in this cross-sectional study were 356 adolescents aged 11–19 years old (159 Roma, 197 Bulgarian majority), 332 mothers (149 Roma, 183 majority), 231 fathers (104 Roma, 127 majority) and 221 majority teachers who completed self-report surveys to address the study goals. Adolescents provided data on educational aspirations and academic achievement, parents on their children’s educational aspirations and teachers reported on school climate. We employed linear mixed models to explore associations of school climate, academic achievement and educational aspirations among Roma and Bulgarian majority youth.ResultsThere were negative associations between teacher-reported school climate and students’ academic achievement, as well as adolescent and parental educational aspirations for Roma adolescents only. Roma adolescents and parents reported lower academic achievement and educational aspirations than their majority counterparts.ConclusionsThis study supports the relevance of school climate in relation to academic achievement and aspirations of disadvantaged minority students. Interventions should pay close attention to perceptions and attitudes in a school to successfully promote positive outcomes among students.

Punished For Being Normal! A Culturally Relevant Critique of the Deviant Behaviors of Minority Millennials

Socially disadvantaged minority students, including African American students are disproportionately, singled out for disciplinary action and behavior intervention programs in schools in the United States. The article draws from triangulated evidence sources, including the researcher’s experience as an educational leadership administrator, faculty member teaching educational leadership, research, and policies, classroom lesson observations, collaborations and input from practicing teachers and principals, and literature reviews. Perhaps one of the readily accepted collective stereotypes is that socially disadvantaged minority students including African-American children are more prone to engage in negatively deviant behavior than any other group of students. This factor is one of the major contributors to the disproportionately high number of discipline referrals, parent-conferences, in school and out of school suspensions, grade retention, underperformance, alternative school placements, school-to-prison pipeline, and dropout rates, among the seemingly endless list of other problems minority students face. To help educational leaders and teachers to better understand more of the diverse students that they serve, the paper critically examines some of the commonly misinterpreted behaviors of black K-12 students and offers possible culturally relevant interpretations and rationale for such otherwise ‘normal’ behavior. Further, for each of the behaviors analyzed, the paper suggests alternative avenues for re-examining culturally ‘normal’ behavior that mainstream public schools routinely label as deviant. The article argues that leaders and other educators ought to continue to critically examine this issue, in order to deepen their insights into the cultural and home backgrounds of their students, and to find novel mechanisms of labelling, curbing, and appropriately dealing with otherwise normal behavior that is mischaracterized as deviant. The paper also suggests innovative ways for educators to help students and families identify potential triggers and causes for behavior and attitudes that are likely to be construed by mainstream educators as negative deviance. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.16.12.7

A Summer Prematriculation Program: Bridging the Gap for Disadvantaged Underrepresented Minority Students Interested in a Nursing Career.

The nursing and health care workforce needs diverse clinicians who can provide culturally competent and high-quality care to an increasingly diverse U.S. Achieving this goal requires creating learning environments that foster the success of disadvantaged underrepresented minority (URM) students seeking nursing careers. This 4-week summer prematriculation program introduced 33 URM individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to nursing as a career through financial support, academic enrichment, and social support to enhance nursing program admission success. Federal guidelines were used to establish URM and economically disadvantaged status. To date, one third of program participants have been admitted to nursing programs. Fundamental reforms in pre-college education systems, such as the evidence-based strategies implemented in our summer prematriculation program, may be needed to achieve a diverse, culturally competent workforce that can help eliminate persistent health and health care disparities. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(8):471-475.].

Two Models of Learning and Achievement: An Explanation for the Achievement Gap?

Background/Context Despite decades of research, the persistence of the gap in student achievement between disadvantaged minority students and their middle-class peers remains unexplained. Purpose/Objective The purpose of the current article is to propose a new model of the achievement gap. Research Design Data were analyzed from three nationally representative data sets: The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of the Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 (ECLS-K), the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS), and the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS). Findings/Results The achievement gap may be explained as a consequence of the conventional structure of schooling and the failure to individualize task difficulty and provide performance feedback in a way that is necessary to ensure that all students experience mastery. Many students become disengaged and the effect is most severe for disadvantaged minority students. Alternative theories of the achievement gap do not adequately explain the observed pattern of data. A league table analysis indicates that interventions based on the proposed model of the achievement gap are more efficient than 21 alternative approaches for raising achievement and suggest a promising strategy for addressing the achievement gap.

Do KIPP Schools Boost Student Achievement?

The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) is an influential and rapidly growing nationwide network of charter schools serving primarily disadvantaged minority students. Prominent elements of KIPP's educational model include high expectations for student achievement and behavior, and a substantial increase in time in school. KIPP is being watched closely by policy makers and educators as a possible model for urban education, but existing studies of KIPP's effects on students have been subject to methodological limitations, making them less than conclusive. We measure the achievement impacts of forty-one KIPP middle schools across the country, using propensity-score matching to identify traditional public school students with similar characteristics and prior-achievement histories as students who enter KIPP. We find consistently positive and statistically significant impacts of KIPP on student achievement, with larger impacts in math than reading. These impacts persist over four years following admission, and are not driven by attrition of low performers from KIPP schools.

Classroom order and student learning in late elementary school: A multilevel transactional model of achievement trajectories

This study examines the association between classroom order in 4th and 5th grades and student achievement growth over a school year. A three level transactional model tested the effects of classroom order on students' rates of growth in math and reading during the school year controlling for starting achievement levels, student risk factors, and classroom poverty. Classroom order influenced students' rates of math and reading growth and accounted for a significant portion of variance in student achievement trajectories above and beyond student-level risk factors. Cross-level analyses identified the moderating effects of classroom order on achievement growth for at-risk students with higher levels of classroom order predicting greater rates of math achievement growth among disadvantaged minority students.

All Validities are Not Created Equal: Determinants of Variation in SAT Validity Across Schools

Previous research has demonstrated that cognitive test validities are generalizable and predictive of academic performance across situations. However, even after accounting for statistical artifacts (e.g., sampling error, range restriction, criterion reliability), substantial variability often remains around estimates of cognitive test–performance relationships suggesting the presence of additional moderators. In the present study, we examine the sources of institutional variation in Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) validity across a sample of 110 institutions. Institutional characteristics moderated the size of SAT validities, such that more selective schools and schools that emphasize traditional assessment techniques (i.e., school records, standardized tests) showed higher SAT validities while schools that were larger and where students demonstrated more financial need, schools that emphasized the usage of alternative assessment techniques (i.e., essays, letters of recommendations, extracurricular activities), and schools that enrolled higher percentages of historically disadvantaged minority students generally exhibited lower SAT validities. Future directions in the understanding of situational influences on SAT–grade point average validities are discussed.

School Choice and Segregation

Three arguments regarding racial equity have arisen in the school choice debate. Choice advocates charge that choice will improve access to quality schools for disadvantaged minority students (Chubb & Moe 1990; Coons & Sugarman, 1978; Godwin & Kemerer, 2002; Viteritti, 1999). Critics argue that choice is unlikely to benefit minority students, but they are divided as to why this may be the case. Some maintain that unfettered choice leads to racial segregation (Henig, 1996; Mickelson, 2005; Saporito, 2003); others maintain that while choice may be successful in reducing segregation at the building level, choice programs may be problematic to the extent that they segregate schools at the classroom level (Wells & Crain, 1997; Wells, Holme, & Vasudeva, 2000; Wells & Roda, 2009; West, 1994). I use data from the eighth-grade wave of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study to examine these questions. Results indicate that the racial composition of magnet schools is not statistically different from regular public schools; however, magnet schools are more heterogeneous at the classroom level, but only with respect to White/Hispanic racial composition. In particular, honors classes in magnet schools are significantly more diverse than honors classes in regular public schools, but only with regard to White/Hispanic diversity.

Early determinants of postsecondary education participation and degree attainment: Findings from an inner-city minority cohort.

Early determinants of college attendance and degree attainment for economically disadvantaged minority youth were examined in the present study. The study sample (n=1,379) was drawn from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS), an on-going investigation of a panel of low-income minority children born at 1980, growing up in high-poverty neighborhoods in Chicago. Regression findings indicated that three factors in elementary grades can potentially improve both college attendance and BA degree completion for economically disadvantaged minority students: better classroom adjustment, high parent expectation in child's education, and better academic performance. Findings have implications for schools, educators, and policy makers.

Educational Equity and Adequacy for Disadvantaged Minority Students: School and Teacher Resource Gaps Toward National Mathematics Proficiency Standard

ABSTRACT This study addresses the issue of educational inadequacy and inequity for disadvantaged minority students. It estimates desired national standards and examines interrelated gaps in key school–teacher resources and mathematics achievement by linking national education data sets (National Assessment of Educational Progress [NAEP], Common Core of Data, and Schools and Staffing Survey). Although poor minority students’ chances to meet the national mathematics proficiency standard are undermined by the lack of their access to qualified teachers and adequate school funding, it turns out that the adequacy-based (absolute) gaps are much larger than the equity-based (relative) gaps. Meeting the NAEP Grade 8 mathematics proficiency standard requires substantial increases in per-pupil education spending (from $6,493 to $7,197 in year 2000 dollars) and in-field mathematics teaching rate (from 49% to 91%) across the nation. Research and policy implications are discussed.

Minority Dropout in Higher Education: A Comparison of the United States and Norway Using Competing Risk Event History Analysis

The objective of this article is to compare college persistence patterns among minority and majority students in universities and colleges in Norway with that of the United States. Despite differences in the educational systems and economic regimes, both countries face the common challenge of ensuring educational equity, especially among students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and minority students. Using competing risk event history analysis, this article examines nationally representative samples of students to assess the relative year-to-year risk of dropping out from higher education among minority and majority students. We found that while the US higher education system tends to exacerbate initial socioeconomic inequalities between minority and majority students, there is no difference in the dropout risk among minority and majority students in Norway. Moreover, at the [Bachelor of Arts] BA level, we found that minority students graduate at significantly lower rates than majority students in the United States, even when we control for dropping out. Again, there is no such difference in Norway. This indicates that even though minority students in Norway are also disproportionately from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, they are encountering fewer obstacles in higher education than minority students in the United States.

Differences in Race, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Status in Schoolchildren Dispensed Injectable Epinephrine in 3 Massachusetts School Districts

Purpose of the Study. To analyze the demographic characteristics of schoolchildren dispensed injectable epinephrine in 3 school districts with widely diverse socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic populations. Study Population. Students (prekindergarten to grade 12) from 3 school districts in Massachusetts (n = 21 875) were evaluated. Two of the school districts were affluent, suburban towns outside of Boston (5855 students). The third district (16 020 students) was also a Boston suburb but with a very low per-capita income, with 23% of the school-age population living below the poverty line. The 2 suburban districts were 92% and 95% white, respectively, and the third district was 60% nonwhite. Methods. All school districts in Massachusetts are required to report the number of students using daily or as-needed prescription medications to the Department of Public Health. Data were taken from reports filed by school nurses monthly for all students from the 2003–2004 school year for these 3 school districts. Results. A total of 181 schoolchildren (0.83%) in the 3 districts were dispensed injectable epinephrine during the school year studied. Diagnoses listed for the prescription of epinephrine included peanut ree nut allergy (65%), stinging-insect allergy (19%), seafood allergy (6%), and egg or dairy allergy (3%). A miscellaneous group (7%) included diagnoses for latex, chocolate, pollen, fruit, cold air, and ibuprofen allergy. Males were more likely to be dispensed epinephrine than females (odds ratio [OR]: 1.44; P < .02). White students were nearly 5 times more likely to have been dispensed epinephrine for peanut and tree nut allergy (OR: 4.5; P < .001) and almost 9 times more likely for stinging-insect allergy (OR: 8.7; P < .001). Seventy-five percent of students dispensed epinephrine for peanut or tree nut allergy were enrolled in prekindergarten through grade 5. Conclusions. Significant racial and socioeconomic differences for prescribing self-injectable epinephrine was seen in 3 school districts in Massachusetts. Reviewer Comments. This study describes the racial and socioeconomic demographics of children prescribed injectable epinephrine but does not address the reasons for the disparity between affluent and nonaffluent or white and nonwhite populations. This study suggests that minority, socioeconomically disadvantaged students are being either underdiagnosed or undertreated for potential anaphylactic reactions that require epinephrine. Other studies have not shown racial differences in the incidence of food allergies, suggesting that other factors are involved in the lower rate of epinephrine dispensed to disadvantaged minority students.

Texas charter school legislation and the evolution of open-enrollment charter schools.

This article chronicles the evolution of legislation for Texas open-enrollment charter schools to their implementation by demonstrating how these schools have (or have not) used their freedom from state-mandated requirements to develop innovative learning environments as well as to bring innovative curricula into the classroom. The investigative focus was on an analysis of Texas open-enrollment charter school legislation, from 1995 (74th legislative session) to the 77th legislative session in 2001, and the characteristics of the state's 159 open-enrollment charter schools that were in operation during the 2001-2002 academic year. The authors found that charter school legislation has changed in response to concerns of all involved, and focuses on the need for balance between choice, innovation, and public accountability. Although charter schools are free from most state regulations, legislators were clearly interested in ensuring that this freedom does not impede charter schools' ability to provide a quality education to all students who attend them. The currently operating open-enrollment charter schools in Texas are more racially and economically segregated than other public schools in the state, and charter schools that targeted students most at risk for dropping out of school (and returning students who had previously dropped out) differ from other schools in their stated teaching methods. Teacher turnover remains significantly greater than that for other public schools in the state. However, it does not appear to be specifically associated with schools that target disadvantaged students or minority students. The schools' mission statements suggest that innovative school environments are a factor in school design. Texas is poised to continue along the public education choice model. Charter school legislation provides a framework upon which charter schools may build to meet the educational needs of the students who choose to attend them, including the freedom to be creative in meeting students' unique needs. Questions remain about how and why charter schools exist and the contributions they make to the overall public school system, including whether charters are making a difference in what and how much children are learning.

The Concept of a ‘Networked Common School’

The current educational arrangements of advanced liberal democracies continue to isolate various ethnic and racial groups. Disadvantaged minority students attend inferior schools. The overreliance on the curriculum as a design for teaching and learning renders school learning less relevant for ‘knowledge work’ jobs in network societies. The concept of a ‘networked common school’ addresses these problems. It envisions linking local schools in a social network mediated by networked computers. Teaching and learning will continue to take place at local sites, but significant face-to-face, inter-group learning will take place at regional learning centers, to be followed up by virtual group learning at distributed local sites.

Same, different, equal: rethinking single-sex schooling

In this timely book, Rosemary Salomone offers a reasoned educational and legal argument supporting single-sex education as an alternative to coeducation, particularly in the case of disadvantaged minority students. carefully organized, often lively ...compendium of everything that matters in the debate: how boys and girls do in classes and on tests, their differing learning styles, and the legal tussles.--Timothy A. Hacsi, New York Times Smart, objective, evenhanded. Must reading in this important debate.--Susan Estrich, University of Southern California Law School Everyone concerned about inequalities in our schools and our society should want to read it.--Michael Duffy, Times Educational Supplement (U.K.) If you have time for only one book and you really want to be informed about single-sex education, then make it Same, Different, Equal.--John Borst, Education Today The single best book I have read about single-sex education. A must-read for every educator who is concerned about the different outcomes for boys and girls in school.--Michael Thompson, Ph.D, coauthor of Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys