Search results

Theories suggest curricular tracking is linked to racial/ethnic inequality. However, prior studies largely examine cognitive outcomes like standardized test scores and neglect behavioral outcomes. They also overlook potential racial/ethnic differences within curricular tracks. This study asks the following questions: (a) Is curricular tracking associated with young women's social and behavioral outcomes during the transition to adulthood (dropping out of high school, teen motherhood, and poverty)? and (b) Are there racial/ethnic differences in these associations? Using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data and logistic regression, results show that all women reduce risks of negative outcomes in the college and vocational tracks compared with the general track. However, college track coursework buffers White women from dropping out and teen motherhood (but not poverty) significantly more than it does Black and Latina women. Thus, racial gaps are greatest within the college track rather than lower tracks, suggesting that the college track may be a site for opportunity hoarding among Whites.

Many scholars highlight the benefits of high educational expectations. The study of adolescent women's sexual risk-taking focuses on college expectations and high achievement for buffering young women from negative outcomes. But one's expectations and level of college preparation could be mismatched, which may have negative effects. Congruent expectations and achievement are likely to be most beneficial, while inflated expectations (high expectations and low test scores) and deflated expectations (low expectations and high test scores) are expected to be associated with higher risks. College preparatory versus lower coursework in high school may also moderate or mediate these effects. This study used National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS:88) data with event history and logistic regression analyses to examine how expectations, achievement, and college-preparatory math coursework interact to affect adolescent women's risk of unprotected first sex. Results show that the effects of expectations are conditional on achievement and coursework: Inflated or deflated expectations (relative to test scores) are associated with the highest risks of unprotected sex, as are low expectations among women in non-college-preparatory math. Theoretically, this has implications for understanding "rationality" in the relationship between educational factors and adolescent women's sexual risk-taking, as well as for reconsidering the notion that high educational expectations always benefit youth.

This study assesses the effects of high school educational experiences on the risk of incarceration for young men aged 19–36 using event history analysis and National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data. High school education serves as a defining moment in an individual's life course. Young men who enroll in secondary occupational course work significantly reduce their likelihood of incarceration both overall and net of differences in the adult labor market. High school student/teacher ratios and student composition also significantly affect an individual's risk of incarceration.

A new campus and its first class of students, both in transition.

"This comprehensive reader examines critical topics on schools and education, and exposes students to examples of sociological research on schools with a focus on the school as community. The Structure of Schooling draws from classic and contemporary scholarship to examine current issues and diverse theoretical approaches to studying the effects of schooling on individuals and society. It covers a wide range of issues, including the development and application of social and cultural capital; the effects of racial segregation and resource inequality on student outcomes; the role of gender, class, and race in structuring educational opportunity; the effects schooling (pre-K through college) on life course outcomes; the significance of a school's institutional environment; youth and digital innovation; and the sociology of school reform movements"--

AbstractIn spite of recognition that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer+ (LGBQ+) young adults face challenges associated with their sexual identities, research on inequality in education has only recently begun examining their academic experiences and outcomes in college. Prior work has mainly focused on social and extracurricular experiences during college or academic outcomes among LGBQ+ students in K‐12 settings. In this article, we review the growing body of social science literature on LGBQ+ college students' academic outcomes. A strength of our review is our integration of research on individual, interpersonal, and institutional characteristics and experiences that influence LGBQ+ student outcomes. In reviewing the literature, we identify a number of methodological and theoretical limitations, such as a lack of precision and consistency in defining and conceptualizing LGBQ+ identities and experiences and limited attention to intersections with race, class, and gender. We offer some solutions to these limitations and present a theoretical framework that promises to add clarity and further reliability to future research on LGBQ+ college student outcomes. We conclude by suggesting directions for future research.

Studies of teacher satisfaction suggest that satisfaction is related to both the racial composition and the organizational structure of the schools in which teachers work. In this article, the authors draw from theories of race and organizations to examine simultaneously the effects of school type (traditional public vs. charter) and racial mismatch on teacher satisfaction and subsequent turnover. In doing so, they examine the organizational differences between traditional public and charter schools that contribute to systematic differences in satisfaction and turnover across these school types. Using 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey data, the authors find that charter school teachers are more satisfied than are public school teachers because of greater autonomy. Charter school teachers, however, are more likely to leave teaching than are traditional teachers. The authors also show that teaching in racially mismatched schools results in lower levels of satisfaction for white teachers and that being in a charter school reduces this negative effect.

Many college campuses recently began asking undergraduate applicants about their sexual identities on their college applications. How do applicants who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and otherwise on the queer spectrum (LGBQ+) experience this question, and what factors influence how they respond? The authors use focus group and interview data with 60 LGBQ+ undergraduate students attending two college campuses to explore these questions. Although many students were comfortable with coming out, they described evaluating the potential risks and benefits of disclosure, and some lacked trust in the institution and were concerned about loss of information control. Unlike when coming out in other institutions, many expressed serious concerns about how the information might get back to their parents. Such spillover effects from institutional disclosure have not been previously identified in the literature. These concerns were heightened for students of color. The present results extend theoretical understandings of coming out and offer valuable insights to college administrators.