Ethnic Minority Achievement: Assumptions, Realities, and Possibilities

1. Ethnic Minority Achievement: Assumptions, Realities, and Possibilities Tabbye Chavous University of Michigan School of Education Meeting of Oakland County Superintendent’s Association May 2, 2007

2. My Goals in Today’s Talk To begin to complicate our thinking around race, diversity, and students of color in ways that can have positive implications for educational practices with students of color • Describe current theories and perspectives on ethnic minority achievement from social science • Address assumptions underlying these perspectives and their implications for teachers and educational practices • Engage in discussion about ways that the norms of educational practice and professional development can hinder or facilitate efforts to effectively education ethnic minority students

3. Context of African American Achievement • Racial group disparities in socioeconomic structures and opportunities contribute to racial differences in achievement outcomes • Not just a social class issue, though • “Achievement gaps” reported across socioeconomic contexts

5. What influences students’ engagement in school? School - Teachers- Peers- Culture Home - Parents- Siblings- Culture Community - Role models- Opportunities- Culture Self - interests- efficacy/beliefs- temperament/affect

6. What influences students’ engagement in school? Home - Parents- Siblings- Culture Community - Role models- Opportunities- Culture Self - interests- efficacy/beliefs- temperament/affect

7. Prevalent Theories of Ethnic Minority Achievement • Ogbu & Fordham • “Acting White” • “Racelessness” • Stereotype Threat • “Academic Disidentification”

8. Major Assumptions of Theories • Identification with being Black associated with • Cultural orientation that devalues education • More susceptibility to negative effects of concern about racial stereotypes on achievement and motivation • Race-consciousness or awareness of racism detrimental to academic achievement

9. Black Identification as Risk Factor + Awareness of Group Societal Status Racial Group Identification - Academic Motivation

10. Concerns with Current Theories • Non-historical view of African American culture • Lack of explanation for positive achievement outcomes • Little attention to within-group variation in youths’ beliefs and attitudes • Little empirical support for idea that Black identity related to academic risk

11. Why are These Theories the “Popular” Ones Then? • Reasons for ethnic minority underachievement found within students (or their families, communities, and cultures) • Schools and other societal institutions can feel good about acknowledging effects of “past wrongs,” but • Have no current culpability or responsibility to change structures and practices

12. Why Educators Should Have Problems with These Models • Within these frameworks, teachers and schools have little agency or efficacy in affecting or improving student achievement

13. Empirical Research Related to African American Achievement Values • Family and parental socialization research • African American identity research

14. Black Identification as Protective Factor Racial Group Identification + Awareness of Group Societal Status Group Pride + Academic Motivation

15. Family & Parental Socialization Research • African American parents report similar or higher levels of achievement values than other groups • African American youth who receive messages from parents emphasizing group identity and pride report better educational outcomes

16. African American Identity • Racial identity involves how individuals think of themselves in relation to their group • Particularly relevant to developing children and adolescents • A schema regarding the relations between self, group, and society • Lens through which individuals perceive, interpret, and respond to their social and educational experiences

17. African American Identity • Views of racial identity from popular theory • “all or nothing” view of group identity • existence an “optimal” racial identity • assumption of particular beliefs accompanying racial identification • Our research shows African Americans vary in • definitions of self with regard to their group • perceptions, interpretations of societal discrimination and group barriers • perceptions of and feelings toward their group

18. Bad News and Good News • “Bad” News Life becomes complicated when considering the vast variation that may exist within this group • Good News A complex view of youth and how they think is actually more consistent with what we see in the real world

19. Importance of School for Future + Black Identity + Group Pride + Society View of Blacks + Black Identity + Group Pride - Society View of Blacks - Black Identity + Group Pride - Society View of Blacks - Black Identity - Group Pride - Societal View of Blacks

20. Academic Self-Efficacy + Black Identity + Group Pride + Society View of Blacks + Black Identity + Group Pride - Society View of Blacks - Black Identity + Group Pride - Society View of Blacks - Black Identity - Group Pride - Societal View of Blacks

21. 12th Grade School Status

22. College Attainment 2 Years Later

23. Summary • Youth vary in the ways they think about race and society • Youth with strong, positive sense of racial identity reported more school motivation and showed better achievement outcomes • Youth who de-emphasized their racial identity and internalized negative group views showed lower motivation and achievement

24. Implications • Cultural risk or stigma perspectives not sufficient in understanding ethnic minority achievement • Essential to consider potential assets and strengths associated with youths’ group identities • Need to understand ways that youths’ contexts help shape their views, attitudes, and self-perceptions related to self and schooling • Potential roles of schools and classroom systems

25. Culturally Relevant Educational Practices Boykin’s Integrity-Based Principles • Meaningful Learning • Strategic Instruction and Critical Engagement •  Learning Community •  Cultural Resources •  Constructive Social Relationships

26. “Culturally Relevant” Educational Practices • Isn’t this “just good teaching”? Yes and No • Consistent evidence that schools often are not providing these types of environments for many students of color • Subtle and complex ways that “diversity” or “culture” is relevant can be overlooked

27. The “Input-Out” View of What Causes African American Underachievement Students’ Academic Beliefs and Values Motivation And Engagement

28. Transactional Approach Students’ Academic Beliefs and Values School Structures and Practices Motivation And Engagement

31. We Can Affect the Way Students Develop Views of “Reality” with the Environments we Create for Them!

32. Experiences in School Context : Racial Discrimination • Little study of race-based experiences of children and adolescents • Experiences of racial discrimination not uncommon for African American youth • Reported experiences often school-based • Evidence of detrimental impact on well-being and achievement

33. Impact of Perceiving Racial Discrimination in School on African American Achievement Teacher Discrimination _ Academic Attitudes & Performance _ Peer Discrimination Spencer, 2001 Wong, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2003 Chavous, Rivas, Smalls, et al. 2007 Smalls, White, Sellers, Chavous, 2007

34. “When You Work Really Hard In School, Which of the Following Reasons Are Most Important To You?” From: Ferguson (2003)

35. Reports that “My Teachers Support Me and Care About My Success in Their Class” listed as percentages N=537 From: Ferguson (2003)

36. An Alternative View of the “Acting White” Theory • O’Connor (2006) ethnography of suburban high school • Teachers primary explanation for Black underachievement was “acting White” theory • Students segregated structurally through ability grouping • Over time, some began to adopt Black anti-intellectual views • Thus, schools can create “self-fulfilling prophecies” in relation to the ways they view and respond to students

37. Constructivist Teaching Phonics Instruction Embedded in Meaningful Text Modeling & Guided Use of Explicit Comprehension Strategies Multiple Methods of Reading Instruction Connection to Children’s Personal Experiences Encouragement of Self Expression Didactic Teaching Isolated Phonics Instruction Rote Memorization Teachers Read to Students Without Engaging in Conversation Correctness Emphasis in Children’s Writing Two Instructional Approaches From: Stipek (2004)

38. Predictors of Didactic Teaching % Below Grade Level Didactic Teaching % Eligible Free/Reduced Lunch % African American % Latino From: Stipek (2004)

39. Predictors of Didactic Teaching % Below Grade Level .18 Didactic Teaching % Eligible Free/Reduced Lunch .04 .42*** % African American .06 % Latino From: Stipek (2004)

40. As Teachers Aren’t Evil Beings (at least most of us),What Types of Factors Could Contribute to Such Phenomena?

41. Diversity in Educational Training & Professional Development Discussions of diversity, race, ethnicity often avoided If they are discussed, they are framed: • As separate from and distinct from content learning areas • As separate from learning models and paradigms used for students in general

42. Potential Consequences • White youth viewed as norm when trying to understand educational processes • Ethnic minority youth viewed only through oversimplified “racialized” or social class lens • Raises potential for stereotyping, erroneous assumptions and interpretations

43. Even With Good Intentions… “Giving students the love they don’t get at home”

44. Potential Consequences • Education professionals unsatisfied or frustrated when they expect “concrete” or oversimplified information about youth from different backgrounds • e.g., “What are minority students like?” and “How should I teach minority students?” • Teachers feel less equipped and less effective in working with youth, affecting • Nature of interactions with youth • Students’ learning and social outcomes

45. Implications & Recommendations • An integrated approach to diversity in teacher professional development would require the definition of a good teacher to include the ability to teach in diverse settings with diverse youth • NOT diversity as tools to supplement teachers’ skills and methodologies, but, instead • Diversity as part of teachers’ skills and methodologies

46. Recommendations In taking such an approach, it would be essential to • Have informed views about youth from different racial/ethnic groups • Acknowledge variation within any given group • View ethnic minority youth as “whole people” • Engage in self-reflection regarding our own views and worldviews and assumptions and the ways they influence our practices