An Empirical Test of Five Prominent Explanations for the Black-White Academic Performance Gap

Autor/in	Oates, Gary L. St. C.
Titel	An Empirical Test of Five Prominent Explanations for the Black-White Academic Performance Gap
Quelle	In: Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal, 12 (2009) 4, S.415-441 (27 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1381-2890
DOI	10.1007/s11218-009-9091-5
Schlagwörter	Race; Academic Achievement; Social Capital; White Students; African American Students; Achievement Gap; Cultural Capital; Educational Quality; Learner Engagement; High School Students + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Rasse; Abstammung; Schulleistung; Sozialkapital; African Americans; Student; Students; Afroamerikaner; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Quality of education; Bildungsqualität; High school; High schools; Oberschule
Abstract	The viability of five prominent explanations for the black-white performance gap ("academic engagement," "cultural capital," "social capital," "school quality" and "biased treatment") is examined using NELS data and a LISREL model that adjusts for clustering of students within schools. Empirical models have typically assessed these factors "individually"--a practice that probably fosters overestimation of their explanatory power. School quality and biased treatment emerge as the primary explanations for black-white high school test performance differentials. Access to better-quality schools and receipt of more stimulating interpersonal "signals" from gatekeepers ensue from racial (and socioeconomic) privilege. Enhanced test performance in turn ensues from these resources. In essence, the explanations for the racial gap that place more emphasis on what black and white students "bring to" high school (i.e., specific levels of engagement, cultural and social capital), seem less consequential to performance differentials than "what happens to" them when they get there (i.e., quality of education provided, and race-contingent treatment received). (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10