The Color of Success

by Conchas, Gilberto Q.; Noguera, Pedro A.

• ISBN13: 9780807746608
• ISBN10: 0807746606
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-01-31
• Publisher: Teachers College Pr

Summary

Through students' own voices and perspectives, this book reveals how and why some racial minorities achieve academic success, despite limited opportunity. Based on the experiences of Black, Latino, and Vietnamese urban high school students, the author provides a revealing comparative analysis that offers insight into how schools can provide opportunities and safe learning environments where youth acquire real goals, expectations, and tangible pathways for success. Offering alternatives to current practices and structures of inequality that plague educational systems throughout the nation, this sociologically informed book: takes a rare look at urban school success stories, instead of those depicting failure; explores the social processes that enable racial minority youth to escape the unequal structures of urban schooling to perform well in school; and focuses on youth's interpretations and reactions to the schooling process to determine how schools can empower youth and promote the social mobility of low-income urban populations.

Author Biography

Gilberto Q. Conchas is a faculty member in the Department of Education, Chicano/Latino Studies, and Sociology at the University of California, Irvine.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Pedro A. Noguera
Preface	xv
Acknowledgments	xvii
Introduction	1	(1)
Purpose of this Book	2	(1)
Structure, Culture, and Agency	2	(1)
Semantic Conventions	3	(1)
Research Design	4	(1)
Organization of the Book	5	(2)
The Racial Dichotomy and Challenges Confronting Students in American Schools: Toward a Conceptual Framework of Urban School Success	7	(13)
Issues Associated with Educational Inequality	8	(2)
Cultural-Ecological Explanations of Minority School Failure	10	(2)
Complicating the Cultural-Ecological Framework	12	(1)
School Processes and Minority Achievement	13	(2)
Voices of High-Achieving Minority Youth	15	(1)
Confronting Segregation and Stereotypes	16	(2)
Finding Goodness in Urban Schooling	18	(1)
Conclusion	19	(1)
Balkanization in School Organization: Integrated and Segregated School Societies Side-by-Side	20	(20)
Racial Segregation and Performance	21	(1)
Baldwin High School as the Case Study Setting	21	(1)
Why a California High School?	22	(1)
The General School Climate as Perceived by Teachers and Students	23	(2)
Low-Achieving Student Perceptions About the General School Pathway	25	(1)
Violence and the Daily Practice of Going to School	26	(3)
Small Learning Communities: Career Academies	29	(10)
Conclusion	39	(1)
``Ain't No Thing But a Chicken Wing'': Constructing Black Student Success	40	(21)
Background on Black Student Achievement	41	(2)
The Situation at Baldwin High School	43	(4)
The Academy Experience at Baldwin High School	47	(6)
A Closer Look at African American Males	53	(3)
A Closer Look at African American Females	56	(3)
Conclusion	59	(2)
``I Want to Make a Difference'': Forging Optimism Among Latino Students	61	(15)
Background on Latino School Achievement	61	(2)
School Opportunity Structure and Racial Perceptions	63	(2)
Identity Formation Among Latino Students	65	(1)
Responses of High-Achieving Latino Students	66	(6)
Creating Optimism Despite Inequality Among Medical Academy Latinos	72	(2)
Conclusion	74	(2)
``We Just Make the Best of What We Have'': Understanding Vietnamese Student Motivation and Success	76	(13)
Background on Asian American Student Achievement	77	(2)
Vietnamese-Origin Students at Baldwin High School	79	(2)
Gender and the Construction of Student Ability	81	(1)
Academic Identity Groups Among High-Achieving Vietnamese Students	82	(1)
Understanding the Model Minority Stereotype	83	(1)
Structuring Competition versus Collaborative Learning	84	(2)
Benefiting from the Model Minority Typology	86	(1)
Conclusion	87	(2)
Social Capital Among Urban Youth: How Interactions with Peers and Teachers Promote Achievement	89	(23)
Differences in Students' Studying Behavior	92	(5)
Familial Sources of Social Capital	97	(3)
Nonfamilial Sources of Social Capital	100	(4)
Multivariate Results: The Influence of Familial and Nonfamilial Social Capital on Study Habits	104	(3)
Nonfamilial Processes of Social Capital Within Baldwin High School	107	(3)
Conclusion	110	(2)
Conclusion: Implications for Policy and Practice	112	(13)
Institutional Processes, Social Support Systems, and School Success	112	(2)
Student Ideology, Institutional Mechanisms, and Social Support Systems	114	(3)
Summary of Key Findings and Policy Recommendations	117	(3)
Implications for Further Research	120	(1)
Policy and Practice Limitations	121	(2)
Conclusion	123	(2)
Appendix: On the Subjectivity of the Researcher	125	(4)
References	129	(10)
Index	139	(9)
About the Author	148