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A Common Destiny: Blacks and American Society (1989)

Chapter: The Schooling of Black Americans

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Suggested Citation:"The Schooling of Black Americans." National Research Council. 1989. A Common Destiny: Blacks and American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1210.
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7 THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS 329

Ill ' 7.le ~ i row ._ __ ~_ MAYA Jacob Lawrence Graduation (1948) Gouache on paper The Evans-Tibbs Collection, Washington, D.C.

Black Americans have followed two major strategies to try to improve the educational opportunities made avail- able to their children. At times, they have pursued high-quality schooling by insisting that segregated schools be provided equal educational resources. At other times, convinced that equal-quality education and segregated schools were incompatible, they have fought to integrate schools. At all times, blacks have sought educational excellence and equal educational opportunity. These goals are the principal concerns of this chapter. By educational excellence we mean high standards of academic performance for teachers and students (see Carnegie Forum, 1986; Holmes Group, 1986~. By equal educational oppor- tunity we mean that the support-both financial and in human resources- and the encouragement provided for education are equal for all students. Equal educational opportunity is a complex concept. Prior to the mid- 1960s, equality of educational opportunity was defined in terms of quantifi- able resource inputs, such as physical facilities, teacher credentials, and racial mixture within the schools. But the Coleman-Campbell (1966) report Equals ity of Educational Opportunity shifted conceptions of equal educational oppor- tunity to the achievement results produced by the schools. Equality came to be measured by school outputs, generally student scores on tests of achieve- ment (see Coleman, 1968; Gordon, 1972; Mosteller and Moynihan, 1972~. Implicit in this measure are the basic requirements for equal educational opportunity: equivalent resources for the education of all students, including equal curricular opportunities, teacher quality, and encouragement and ex- pectation of learning. Missing from both measures are such factors as treat- ment within schools and the economic and social returns to schooling (see 331

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY Brookover and Lezotte, 1981; Ogbu, 1978~. Because of the difficulty of finding direct measures for these factors, however, in this chapter we focus primarily on evidence about equal educational outcomes and changes over time in differences in these outcomes. Many different indicators of educational status can be used. Examples include average years of school completed, average performance on achieve- ment tests, representation in the population as a whole as compared to representation in institutions of higher learning, and group differences in attainment or achievement. We use a variety of such indicators to discuss how far the United States has moved from a society providing low-quality, unequal, and segregated schooling to blacks to a society providing excellent, equal, and integrated schooling. Our answer to this broad, evaluative ques- tion is based on an examination of four topics. First, the chapter details changes in the basic outcomes of schooling such as levels of enrollment and attainment. Second, it describes changes in school performance, using achievement test scores and other indicators. Third, the chapter deals with factors internal to the schools that affect educational outcomes. It focuses on those aspects of the schooling process that are most important for achievement levels. Fourth, factors external to the schools that influence students' attainment and achievement are assessed: these include family, neighborhood, peer group influences, and the social and academic effects of desegregated schooling on blacks and whites. ENROLLMENT AND ATTAINMENT Trends in the enrollment and attainment status of blacks can be summa- rized by three important findings. First, there has been a substantial reduc- tion in black-white inequality in the basic amount of schooling received. Second, noteworthy gaps between blacks and whites remain, especially in terms of high school completion and rates of college attendance. Third, there was a drop in college attendance by blacks from 1977 through 1982 and a divergence in the college enrollment chances of blacks and whites that has persisted through the mid-1980s. EARLY CH I LDHOOD EDUCATION In the cohort of black males born in 1925, school enrollment rates ex- ceeded 90 percent only when the cohort was between the ages of 10 and 12; but in the cohort born in 1965, the rates were greater than 90 percent from ages 7 to 14 and were greater than 95 percent from ages 9 to 12. Figure 7-1 shows the ratios of black/white school enrollment rates in the cohorts of black men who were 5 years old in 1930, in 1950, and in 1970. Black enrollment was less probable at every age than white enrollment in these 332

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS FIGURE 7-1 Black/white age-specific school enrollment rate ratios for boys aged 5 in 1930, 1950, and 1970. 1.00 oh LL ct 0.95 cr Z 0.90 :E o by 111 111 I by 0.85 0.80 0.75 0.70 0.65 O 0.60 o 0.55 O Born in 1965 Or _ / ,, "` Born in 1945 / / / ~ NNx - I ~`` I -/ / t / I / l \Bornin1925\ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 \ 5 7 9 11 13 15 AGE Sources: Data from decennial censuses and Current Population Surveys. 17 19 cohorts, but approached those of whites in a wider range of ages in each successive cohort. The growth in formal schooling at younger ages continues as nursery school, Head Start, and kindergarten attendance has increased throughout the nation. Although the effects of participation in early schooling on aca- demic achievement are mixed, the correlation of early school entry with later school leaving does point to continuing growth in educational attainment. Figure 7-2 shows age-specific school enrollment rates of cohorts of black and white children at ages 3, 4, and 5 from 1968 to 1985. During this period, for the first time, rates of participation in early schooling have not only grown dramatically among black and white children, but they have often been greater among blacks. The growth in schooling is most impressive at the youngest ages: among black children, participation between 1968 and 1985 grew from 69 percent to 93 percent at age 5, from 30 percent to 52 percent at age 4, and from 10 percent to 34 percent at age 3. The sensitivity of participation in early schooling to general social conditions and public policy is suggested both by the overall increase in participation since the late 333

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY FIGURE 7-2 School enrollment of black and white children aged 3-5, 1968-1985. Whites, Aged 5 80 111 o of Lid z 50 Lid o _/ _ - Blacks, Aged 5 70 60 Blacks Aced 4 Blacks, Aged 3 /~ Whites, Aged 3 Whites, Aged 4 me' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1968 1970 1972 1974 976 1978 1980 1982 1984 YEAR Sources: Data from decennial censuses and Current Population Surveys. 1960s and by the leveling off of growth in the late 1970s; there may even have been a decline in school participation of 3- and ~year-olds after 1978. HIGH SCHOOL ATTAINMENT AND DROPPING OUT The median years of schooling for young blacks has risen sharply since before World War II, narrowing the gap between blacks and whites almost completely. In 1940, the median schooling for young black men was 6.5 years and for young white men it was 10.5 years, leaving a gap of 4 years; for black women it was 7.5 years and for white women it was 10.9 years, a gap of 3.4 years.) By 1980, the overall gap in median years of schooling had declined to less than one-half year: 12.6 years for blacks and 13.0 years for 1. It is more difficult to measure and interpret trends in schooling among people in their late teens and early 20s than among those at younger ages. The difficulty is partly because age and grade in school are not so tightly linked and partly because it is far more difficult to sample relevant populations by the later teen years (especially black males, who are missed by census enumerators at relatively high rates). Consequently, we rely on reports of schooling at ages 25- 29 as our main source of information about high school completion. This age range is especially useful for comparisons of schooling because by age 25 most people have completed both secondary schooling and military service. 334

THE SCHOOLI NG OF BLACK AMERICANS FIGURE 7-3 Schooling of adults aged 25-29, by race and sex (in median years), 1940-1980. 13 9 12 of - o o I C) oh in 10 o co ~ 9 _ Z 8 _ 7 _ 11 6 _ o L Hi/"? _~' - - - 1 1 1 ,, 1 White Men ,' White Women Blacks/ / ~/ Black Men 1940 1950 1960 YEAR Sources: Data Tom decennial censuses and Current Population Surveys. 1970 1 980 whites (see Figure 7-3~. While useful, however, median years of education can be misleading as an indicator of group differences because educational attainments of blacks and whites have become so concentrated at several transition points in the schooling process, especially at high school gradua- tion. Therefore, we also examined changes in the share of the population that has completed major schooling transitions. In 1940, more than 70 percent of young black adults and fewer than 40 percent of whites had completed no more than 8 years of schooling. The percentage of adult Americans with this minimal level of schooling had declined markedly by 1980 (see Figure 74~. Although there were still more blacks than whites with 8 or fewer years of schooling, fewer than 7 percent of blacks-or whites-were in this group. For the next transition, as recently as 1940, only 11 percent of black men and 14 percent of black women had completed high school, while white completion rates were at or near 40 percent. By 1980, high school completion had become almost universal among white men and women: more than 87 percent reported that they had completed high school (see Figure 74~. Although there was very rapid growth in high school completion among blacks, by 1980, about one 335

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY FIGURE 74 Adults aged 25-29 with (a) 8 or fewer, (b) 12 or more, or (c) 16 or more years of schooling, by race and sex, 1940-1980. 100 (a) 8 or Fewer Years 90 80 70 60 By LL O 50 IL ILL 40 30 20 10 o 100 90 _ 80 he IL () 50 IL 40 20 o Black Women Black Men [21 White Women White Men _* 1940 1950 1960 YEAR (b) 12 or More Years 60 Black Women ~ ~ Black Men 70 _ ~ White Women ~ white Men 1 1970 1 980 1940 1 950 1960 1970 1980 YEAR Sources: Data Mom decennial censuses and Current Population Surveys. 336

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS FIGURE 7-4 (Continued) 30 25 20 ' 1 5 cr LL CL 10 5 O _ (c) 16 or More Years Black Women Black Men [~ White Women White Men ALL 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 YEAR quarter of young black adults still did not complete high school: 76 percent of black women and 74 percent of black men reported high school comple- tion. It is difficult to reconcile estimates of 75 percent of blacks completing high school by ages 25 to 29 with common reports of black high school dropout rates approaching 50 percent. Such discrepancies may occur for many rea- sons. For example, there is significant variation in dropout rates from place to place. More important, there is little standardization of concepts or methods for the measurement of high school "dropout" or even of high school completion. For example, reports of high school completion by ages 25 to 29 may refer to certification by examination or the completion of other forms of high school equivalence. About 450,000 people each year achieve the equivalence of high school graduation by completing the GED (General Educational Development Test), and about 60 percent of these people are less than 24 years old. Blacks are overrepresented among those taking the GED; 18 percent of those taking the GED examination in a 1980 sample were black. If blacks are represented in this proportion among those taking and passing the GED at younger ages, then more than 40,000 young black adults could be completing high school in this way each year. Finally, some members of relevant populations just do not appear in social 337

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY surveys. By age 18, substantial numbers of youth with high school diplomas, as well as some without, have entered military service, and they are far less likely to be covered in the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS), which is the most standardized source of dropout measurements. Dropouts are defined as those who are not enrolled in high school or college and have not already completed grade 12. At the same time, after age 16, there are very serious, and perhaps growing, problems of surveying the black population, especially black men. The CPS data show the dropout rate as relatively low at age 16 among whites and blacks, with somewhat higher dropout rates among blacks (around 10 percent) than among whites (7-8 percent) in 1970-1971. They show a precipitous fall in the dropout rates among black men through 1978-1979 (with a very small rise subsequently) and among black women from 1974-1975 through 1982-1983. By the close of the period, the reported dropout rates of blacks of less than 6 percent are more than a percentage point below those of whites. It is fair to say that these reported trends are not credible, unless one is willing to disregard most common knowledge about high school completion. The rapid downward slide in reported dropout rates among blacks may reflect decreasing survey coverage of dropouts, rather than actual decreases in dropout rates. Dropout rates at ape 18~ which range from about 13 percent for white women to ~ 1 . _ 1 1_ 1 _ ~ ~ about 18 percent tor black men, appear somewhat more crease, crux Envy also show a sharp decline among blacks and substantial convergence with rates among whites. For blacks and whites alike, there are essentially no sex differences in rates of high school completion. From the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, high school graduation grew from just over 70 percent to just under 90 percent among whites, and it has since leveled off. Among young black adults aged 25-29, high school graduation has grown dramatically and almost continu- ously, from about 50 percent in 1965 to nearly 80 percent in the early 1980s. Still, among young adults, high school graduation rates of whites exceed those of blacks by about 10 percent, so blacks are about twice as likely as whites not to graduate from high school. COLLEGE ENTRY AND COMPLETION Since 1977 there has been a marked decline in college entry among black high school graduates. No definitive explanations of this decline have been found. Little notice was taken of the decline until 7 years after it had begun; public interest increased in the wake of visible declines in black enrollment on the campuses of major universities and of occasional incidents of racial conflict. Black college entry declined during a period of unprecedented growth in the chances of white high school graduates to attend college (see Figure 7-5). The rate of black high school graduates attending college rose from about 39 percent in 1973 to about 48 percent in 1977-when it was virtually equal 338

THE SCHOOLI NO OF BLACK AMERICANS FIGURE 7-5 Odds of college entry among recent black and white high school graduates, 1969-1984. -0.2 -.< 3: cn -0.4 He o m Z 0 6 x ~ ~ -0.7 _ O O -0.8 -0.9 _\ Blat \ Whites 'it' - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 / 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 YEAR Note: Data are adjusted for family income, sex, region, and metropolitan location. Sources: Data Tom decennial censuses and Current Population Surveys. to those of whites-and then fell continuously to about 38 percent through 1983. In 1986, the latest year for which national data are available, 36.5 percent of black high school graduates entered college in the fall after high school graduation. In comparison, for 1973-1984, the college entry rate of whites rose almost continuously from about 48 percent to 57 percent. College entry rates rose most rapidly among whites after 1979, when blacks had experienced a sharp drop in their rate of college entrance. Among blacks and whites, the odds of college entry declined from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. After 1973 college entry chances rose, especially among blacks, for whom they peaked in 1977. Among whites, college entry leveled off between 1975 and 1979, but it has risen continuously since then. Among blacks, a precipitous decline in college entry began in 1978. It appears to have leveled off after 1981, with black college entry chances lower than they were in the late 1960s. In terms of college completion, blacks lagged far behind whites in 1940, and the gap has not been closed. In 1940, fewer than 2 percent of black women or men had completed college, compared with 5 percent and 7.5 percent of white women and men, respectively. By 1960, more than 5 percent of blacks had completed college; growth was slow between 1960 and 339

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY 1970, and the most rapid period of growth in college completion among blacks was between 1970 and 1980: see Figure 74. In 1980, 12 percent of young black women and 11 percent of young black men had completed 4 years of college, compared with 22 percent of young white women and 25.5 percent of young white men. As recently as 1970, the share of college graduates among blacks was similar to that among whites in 1940. And today, the chances of a black youth completing college still lag about one- half behind those of a white youth. EXPLAI N I NG THE DECLI N E I N BLACK COLLEGE ENTRY One might think that the peak of college entry for blacks in the 1970s was abnormally high, given the other social and economic conditions of black Americans. At the same time, it is difficult to imagine that the "normal" level of continuation from high school to college among blacks in the 1980s should be lower than it was in the 1960s. Of course, the selectivity of high school graduation itself deserves to be considered as a possible source of decline in college entry. Rates of high school completion did increase among blacks during the 1970s and 1980s. As the selectivity of high school gradua- tion declines (i.e., as increasing numbers of pupils from poor backgrounds graduate), one might expect continuation to college to decline. Yet, selectiv- ity seems an unlikely source of declining college entry; there is no historic evidence for white cohorts that would suggest a negative correlation between rates of high school completion and rates of continuation to college. On the contrary, growth in college graduation among whites has been driven by a combination of increased rates of high school completion and stable or slightly increasing rates of continuation to college. The causes of the decline in college enrollment among blacks are not easily pinpointed. Arbeiter (1986) considered four types of explanations: (1) short- comings of the available data; (2) shifts in the economic status of blacks relative to that of other groups; (3) the changing structure of financial aid; and (4) shifts in the outcomes of competition among schools, businesses, and the military for college-age black youth. A fifth possibility, advanced in two recent reports for the U.S. Department of Education (Chaikind, 1987; Myers, 1987), assert that differences in black-white college attendance rates result from differences in achievement. Because the Census Bureau data used in most reports on black college attendance typically do not distinguish between part-time and full-time col- lege attendance or between enrollment at 2- and Year institutions, it is possible that the observed decline could be attributable to decreases in numbers attending on a part-time basis or at 2-year institutions. If this were the case, then the overall trend would overstate the decline in black enroll- ment at Year institutions. But Arbeiter (1986:5), comparing data for 1980 and 1982, found that the largest decline in total black enrollment occurred at Year institutions, while there was an increase in black enrollment at 2- year institutions. For 1976 and 1982, there has been an absolute decline in 340

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS full-time black enrollment at both 2- and 4-year institutions. And there has been a decline of 9.1 percent in the number of blacks taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) from 1980 to 1985, suggesting a decline in the number of blacks planning to enroll in college, although there is no evidence of a decline in college aspirations among black high school seniors (see below). Turning to economic status, the lower incomes of black families explain part of the black-white gap in college entry. But the college entry chances of blacks have fallen so far since 1980 that family income can no longer account for the black-white difference. The rise and decline of blacks' chances for college entry, absolutely and relative to those of whites, cannot be explained by changes in family income (or by changes in the college-going chances of men in comparison with women). Only the very highest income families in the black population experienced any improvement in college-going chances after 1980, and even this group lost ground relative to whites. In Figure 7-6 the college-going chances of blacks and whites are compared. These changes are expressed as the odds of college entry among blacks, as given by the ratio of entrants to nonentrants, relative to the odds of college entry among whites.2 The lower trend line shows a 2-year moving average of the natural log of the ratio of the odds of college entry among blacks to the odds of college entry among whites. Since the natural log of 1 is equal to 0, the zero point, shown near the top of the graph, is where the odds ratio for blacks and whites would be equal. There has been a long swing from the late 1960s to the middle 1980s, during which the college-going chances of black high school graduates first moved toward those of whites and then diverged, perhaps to a point more distant than in the late 1960s. In 1984, the odds that a black high school graduate would enter the first year of college within 1 year were less than one-half the corresponding odds for a white high school graduate. The upper trend line "adjusted" in Figure 7-6 is a comparable measure of the difference in the chances of college entry, but it is based on a statistical model in which the effects of sex, region, metro- politan location, and family income have been controlled. Two features of the figure stand out. First, the two lines are virtually parallel throughout the period from 1969 to 1984. Thus, the observed trend in black-white differences in college entry is in no way a consequence of changes in sex composition, geographic location, or economic status. Specif- ically, changes in black family incomes do not explain the reversal in college chances. Second, the adjusted trend line always lies above the observed line. That is, once adjustments are made for the differing social composition of the black and white populations (on the variables included in the model), the differences in chances of college entry are more nearly centered around the zero point of equal chances. For example, during the 1970s, black high 2. The sample sizes for blacks are quite small, and the data have been smoothed in two ways. First, they were initially tabulated for pairs of years from 1968-1969 through 198~1985. Second, thee data shown are moving averages; thus, the data for 1970-1971 are actually an average for those 2 years, in which one-half weight is given to the adjacent years. 341

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY FIGURE 7-6 Relative odds of black and white college entry (log scale), 1969-1984. llJ () 0.3 o 0.4 0.2 0 1 By LL 111 ~ -0.2 O -0.3 C: o cn o cn LL > lL -0.1 YEAR 1977 1979 - - - - Equal Chances Adjusted \ \ i/ Observed '' ` - / -0.4 -0.5 -0.6 -0.7 _ -0.8 1 1969 1971 1973 1975 1 1 \ 1981 1 983 Note: Data are observed and adjusted for family income, sex, region, and metropolitan location. Source: Data Tom decennial censuses and Current Population Surveys. school graduates were more likely to enter college than whites with the same socioeconomic and geographic characteristics. Two recent reports contend that a principal determinant of black college attendance is achievement test performance. The studies, conducted for the U.S. Department of Education, attempted to determine the impact of achievement levels and family income on black college attendance. Chaikind (1987) assessed change from 1970 to 1984 in black college enrollment rates; Myers (1987) focused on data from the High School and Beyond Survey (HSB) of 1982 seniors. Neither report directly relates actual changes in achievement or in family background to patterns of change in college atten- dance. Yet, by implication, these reports provide an account of change over time in black college attendance rates that emphasizes black-white differences in achievement (see. e.`r.- Chronicle of Higher Education, April 29, 1987~. The available evidence about changes in levels of academic achievement among black youth in the 1970s and 1980s suggests that their achievement levels are on the increase, absolutely and relative to those of whites. Thus, although black students continue to perform less well on tests than white students, it is unlikely that changes in academic achievement among blacks could explain either the trend in black college enrollment or the difference in trend between blacks and whites. \ ~ 342

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS Another hypothesis that has been offered to account for the decline in black college entry is change in the educational goals of black youth. Accord- ing to this hypothesis, black youth prefer attending vocational or technical schools, or 2-year colleges, to attending 4-year colleges or universities. This claim has no basis in fact. Annual surveys of the educational aspirations and plans of large national samples of black and white high school seniors by the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan show that there has been little or no change in the plans or aspirations of high school seniors to attend technical or vocational schools or to complete a 2-year college pro- gram. Rather, the data show that the interest of black seniors in these two types of post-high school education has declined since 1982 (Bobo, 1987~. At the same time, the aspiration to complete 4 years of college has grown almost as much among black as among white seniors, although after 1984 there may be a tendency for the collegiate aspirations of blacks to lag behind those of whites. From 1980-1981 to 1985-1986, the total federal, state, and college "package" of financial aid declined 3 percent after controlling for changes in the consumer price index, but the real financial situation became worse than that because the costs of attending a state college or university rose faster than the general cost of living. Over the 10-year period from 1975-1976 to 1985-1986, outright grants as a percentage of all financial aid declined from 80 percent to 46 percent, while loans increased from 17 percent to 50 percent as a percentage of financial aid. This change has probably reduced blacks' college-going chances more than those of whites. At equal levels of current family income, black youth are less economically secure than whites because black families are more vulnerable than white families to unemployment and are less wealthy than whites (see Chapter 6 and below). Consequently, as one recent report stated (Miller and Hexter, 1985:17~: "Minority students are less likely to borrow than white students; fewer than one-third of low-income minority aid recipients secure a government secured loan, compared with more than two-fifths of low-income white aid recipients. " Why are black students less willing than white students to borrow funds to support their college attendance? In a purely economic analysis, a stu- dent's willingness to borrow will be affected by the economic return to his or her investment. Given the history of economic discrimination against blacks and the perception of fewer opportunities to enter good jobs, to be promoted, and to be retained in times of recession, a black student will not expect the same economic rewards with the same degree of certainty as a white student who makes the same investment of time and money in college education. If the expected rewards are less, then the amount of money that a student will borrow to invest are also likely to be less. There is also a second, psychological factor affecting willingness to borrow. Black students are overwhelmingly from very low income families. During the period from 1968-1973 to 1980-1985, the percentage of recent black high school graduates with family incomes below $10,000 per year (in 1985 343

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY FIGURE 7-7 Plans of black and white male high school seniors to enter the armed services, 1976-1986. 50 40 30 IIJ 20 10 o 1976 1978 1980 1982 YEAR Black, Probable , ' White, Probable - ~of/ Black, Definite White, Definite ~_~ 1 1 1 1 1984 1 986 dollars) increased from 27 to 35 percent; the percentage of black graduates with family incomes higher than $40,000 per year increased from 6.1 percent to 8.5 percent. In contrast, among white graduates, the percentage of fami- lies with incomes below $10,000 grew Tom 9 to 10 percent, but the per- centage of families with incomes over $40,000 grew from 25 percent to 35 percent. That is, the income distributions for families of black and white students are almost mirror images: 35 percent above $40,000 for whites and below $10,000 for blacks, 10 percent below $10,000 for whites and above $40,000 for blacks. A typical $10,000-12,000 college debt is much larger to a black student-relative to his or her family income-than to a white student (see Jaynes, 1986~. Changes in the attractiveness of military service is another proposed expla- nation of the decline in black college entry relative to that of whites. Plans and aspirations to enter military service after high school graduation have increased among black high school seniors of both sexes (see Figure 7-7~. The percentage of black male seniors with definite or probable plans to enter the armed forces rose from 36.7 percent in 1977 to 50.0 percent in 1985; among black female seniors, the percentage with military plans rose from 15.9 percent to 29.0 percent during that period. Among white female seniors, intentions to enter the military are never larger than 5 percent and there has been no trend. Among white male seniors, plans to enter military 344

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS service have grown from 16.6 percent in 1977 to 21.3 percent in 1985. Thus, the share of black female high school seniors who intend to enter the armed forces now exceeds that of white male high school seniors by a substantial margin. These trends in plans to enter the military leave many questions unan- swered. It is not clear to what degree military service competes for black seniors who would otherwise enter college, rather than choosing other forms of schooling or labor market entry after high school. It is also not clear whether black seniors choose military service because of the aggressive mar- keting of schooling entitlements that can be earned within the armed forces or for other reasons. In conclusion, it appears that the decline in financial aid is the most important factor in the decline in black college enrollment. Increases in military enlistment may also be important. However, possible interactions between military enlistment and college enrollment decisions are not under- stood. COLLEGE: DEGREE ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE OF MAJOR Two recent assessments (Thomas, 1987; Trent, 1984) of black enrollment covering degree completion status, types of degree-granting institutions, and representation in the natural and technical sciences of undergraduate and graduate students found three major trends: (1) black students are no longer gaining ground in institutions of higher education and on some indicators they are losing ground; (2) on the key indicators of enrollment and degree completion, blacks remained underrepresented (especially in B.A. and ad- vanced degrees in the natural and technical sciences); and (3) a small number of colleges, especially the nation's historically black institutions, made a disproportionate contribution to the pool of black degree recipients. There has been a decline in black participation in graduate school. Thomas (1987:266) reported that between 1976 and 1982 "Black full-time enroll- ment in graduate schools declined by almost 20%, while white enrollment declined by about 8%." This decline did not reflect an increase in black college graduates seeking professional or technical degrees since the latter rates remained constant over the period. It also was not a result of a drop in the size of the pool of black B.A. recipients. In terms of degree completion, the percentage of M.A.'s awarded to blacks declined from 6.7 percent in 1976-1977 to 5.8 percent in 1980-1981. The figures for Ph.D. completion were stable, with blacks accounting for 3.8 percent in 1976-1977 and 3.9 percent in 1980-1981. Black students (as with college students in general) appear to be majoring less in the areas of education and the social sciences and more in business (Trent, 1984), indicating a shift by black students away from programs leading to graduate school and toward fields that promise more direct entry to the labor market. Despite the increasing enrollment of blacks in predominantly white colleges 345

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY and universities, historically black institutions account for a disproportionate share of the black B.A. pool in the natural, biological, and technical sciences (Thomas, 1987; Trent, 1984~. For example, although historically black colleges and universities accounted for 14 percent of the institutions granting B.A.'s in biology to blacks in 1980-1981, they accounted for 40 percent of the biology degrees awarded to blacks. These schools also graduate large percentages of blacks in engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences. ACHIEVEMENT A preeminent concern in the area of race and education has been black- white differences in achievement test scores. Our examination of trends of school achievement of blacks-especially in terms of performance on stan- dardized tests covering reading, math, and science-should be prefaced by several observations. First, achievement test performance is but one type of criterion of student success and school performance. Other outcomes of schooling are arguably as important as test achievement, such as the devel- opment of higher order reasoning ability, effective interpersonal and social skills, and the acquisition of basic cultural values and orientations. These other abilities are not readily measured, and thus, little systematic informa- tion is available on them. Second, achievement test performance is an impre- cise indicator of ability to perform a wide range of nonschool work and social roles. Third, even carefully designed test instruments may include some degree of cultural bias that artificially lowers the tested performance of blacks relative to whites (see Taylor, 1980, and below). These limitations notwith- standing, achievement test performance remains an important measure of student ability and school performance. Such tests also play a part in deter- mining access to higher education (Thomas, 1981~. EFFECTS OF PRESCHOOL AND COMPENSATORY PROGRAMS During the 1960s, governments made a concerted effort to improve the educational achievement of children from poor households. The major pro- grams for poor children, Head Start for preschool children and Chapter I funds (formerly, Title I funds) for remedial education, became popular quite early, despite reports that questioned their efficacy (see Sherry, 1983:18-39~. There have since been more positive reports on their effects (see below), and these programs remain popular even in the cost-cutting climate of the 1980s (see Education Week, May 9, 1985:16-22; May 1, 1985:1, 12-13~. The research on these and other compensatory education programs sug- gests that some types of strategies, for example, early intervention efforts, produced more desired outcomes than others-"pull-out" or other special placement approaches. Early intervention efforts, which yield small long- term consequences for tested intelligence and achievement, do appear to have other noteworthy benefits. A set of longitudinal studies established in 346

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS 1975, and known as the Consortium of Longitudinal Studies, reported on 14 studies of low-income families who participated in experimental and preschool programs prior to 1969. The more carefully designed of these studies found (1) students in preschool programs have significant gains in IQ followed by washout of the effect after termination of the program; (2) students in preschool programs are referred significantly less often to special education and are retained in grade less than those not in preschool pro- grams; and (3) preschool participation had long;-term benefits on math achievement (see Glazer, 1986; Karweit, ~Y~:~ 1983~. In particular, the two latter findings identify important outcomes of these programs. Head Start centers tend to be small, serving an average of 56 students, and extremely flexible because there are no national standardized curriculum or performance standards. The centers are relatively efficient and inexpensive, thanks partly to reliance on donations and volunteer staff efforts. In addi- tion, the lack of emphasis on credentials makes it possible to hire teachers and aides who do not have college degrees and so are paid much lower salaries than public school teachers. There is a strong emphasis on using parents at Head Start centers, as well as a more general ethic of neighbor- hood participation fostered by parental involvement in policy making. About one-half of Head Start students and personnel nationwide are black, but the proportion is much higher in many inner-city and rural areas, making the program an important institution of the black community (Skerry, 1983~. Although Head Start has been more publicized, the Chapter I (Title I) program is the most extensive federal effort in compensatory education, involv- ing some 5 million children in 14,000 school districts. The Sustaining Effects Study of Compensatory and Elementary Education, mandated by Congress in 1975, remains the most comprehensive evaluation of Chapter I. This 3-year longitudinal study examined the achievement scores of 120,000 students in a representative sample of 300 schools and compared the scores of Chapter I recipients with those of a control group of "needy" students who were not included in Chapter I services. The findings were clearly positive (Carter, 1984:8~: ~' AN Mullin and Summers Statistical analysis showed significant gains for Title I [Chapter I] students, relative to needy students, for the Mathematics sections of the Comprehen- sive Tests of Basic Skills. This was true for grades 1 to 6. For the reading section . . . significant reading gains were found for grades 1 to 3, but not for grades 4, 5, and 6. More striking was the finding that "in the beginning grades, school learning experiences are almost as effective as Initial Achievement and perhaps as important as Background." The impact of school learning experiences de- creased, however, as grade level increased, until the effects were virtually nil by the sixth grade (Carter, 1984:11~. The research on Head Start has also found that the benefits of the program, measured in terms of intelligence 347

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY and achievement test scores, fade as the graduates advance through the primary grades (Skerry, 1983:21~. Thus, while intervention at an early age can have a positive impact on achievement, it appears to lose much of its impact over time because of the increasing influence of other factors. The annual budget for Head Start has risen to more than $1 billion, and the budget for Chapter I is approaching $4 billion. While millions of children are reached by these programs, considerably more are eligible and could be reached if additional funds were available. Federal spending on elementary and secondary education fell from $9.4 billion to $8.8 billion between 1980 and 1985, and the federal share of expenditures on elementary and secondary schools fell from 9.2 to 6.1 percent. During the same 5-year period, total state spending increased by approximately $20 billion, and total local spend- irlg increased by an additional $19 billion. ELEMENTARY AN D H IGH SCHOOL Our analysis of data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results in three key findings (also see Congressional Budget Office, 1986~. First, school achievement scores of blacks have increased at a faster rate than those of whites. Second, despite gains by blacks, substantial gaps in school achievement remain. Third, among the youngest age group and birth cohort, there is evidence of a possible decline in black performance relative to that of whites; this trend, in particular, bears close scrutiny as more recent data become available. Improvements in Black Achievement Scores NAEP assessments of reading, math, and science performance have been conducted for 9-, 13-, and 17-year-olds since 1969-1970 and as recently as 1985-1986. Table 7-1 reports the percentage of correct answers for the reading assessment by race for the period 1969-1984. In each case, the improvement among blacks exceeded that among whites, resulting in a narrowing of the black-white gap at each age level. Similar patterns were obtained for the math assessments, and black gains relative to white gains on the science assessments occurred among 9-year-olds (4.7 percent) and 13- year-olds (2.1 percent). The science performance of 17-year-olds declined for both blacks and whites, falling from 47 percent correct to 41 percent correct for whites, and from 34.1 percent correct to 26.9 percent correct for blacks. These changes resulted in a slight increase in the black-white gap (0.09 percent) in science performance for 17-year-olds. However, the overall pat- tern is one of improvement among blacks and declines in the difference between blacks and whites. The pattern of black improvement relative to whites can also be seen in the average black-white difference in percentage-correct reading scores by birth year. The difference remained in the range of 16-19 percent for cohorts 348

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS TABLE 7-] Progress in Academic Achievement, by Race and Age, 1969- 1984 Correct Scores (percent) . Achievement 9-Year-Olds 13-Year-Olds 17-Year-Olds Assessment White Black White Black White Black Reading 1969-1970 66.4 49.7 62.6 45.4 71.2 51.7 197~1975 67.0 54.5 61.9 46.4 71.2 52.1 1979-1980 69.3 59.6 62.6 49.6 70.6 52.2 1983-1984 69.1 57.4 64.4 52.4 72.5 60.0 Change: 1969-1984 +2.7 +7.7 +1.8 +7.0 +1.3 +8.3 Most Recent White-Black Difference (1984) +11.7 +12.0 +12.5 Change in Difference (1969 1984) -5.0 -5.2 -7.0 Mathematics Most Recent White-Black Difference (1986) + 11.9 + 10.1 + 18.0 Change in Difference (1973 1986) - 10.4 - 11.8 -4.2 ~- ~acnce Most Recent White-Black Difference (1982) +14.5 +12.0 +16.4 Change in Difference (1969 1982) -4.7 -2.1 +0.4 Sources: Data Tom Educational Testing Service (1985) and earlier National Assessment of Edu- cation Progress (NAEP) reports on reading; Albert E. Baton, personal communication (1987), and earlier NAEP reports on mathematics; and Hueftle et al. (1983) and earlier NAEP reports on science. born between 1954 and 1963, but declined to 10-13 percent for cohorts born between 1964 and 1974. These improvements in test performance occurred at all ability levels. NAEP has developed a classification of reading proficiency based on the complexity of the material used in the assessment, student familiarity with the material, and the types of questions asked. The broad pattern is one of improvement over time at each level of reading proficiency (those performing at the 95th, 75th, 50th, 25th, and 5th percen- tiles), with some age-group and time variation. For instance, 9-year-olds show improvements at each percentile level between 1971 and 1975, but level off or slightly decline thereafter. The results for 17-year-olds, however, are consistently upward (Bobo, 1987:Figures 8.23-8.25) Improvements in test performance occur in all regions of the country. The NAEP data can be separated into four regions-Northeast, Southeast, Cen- tral, and Western. The broad pattern of improvement occurs in each of the four regions and at each age level. The one noteworthy deviation occurs among 9-year-olds in the Southeast, where the black-white difference in- creased between 1980 and 1984 (see below). 349

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY TABLE 7-2 High School Mathematics Enrollment Patterns, by Race, 1976 Number of Average Courses Score Black Students (percent) White Students (percent) - 0 47 29 18 1 59 37 24 2 70 21 26 3 82 13 32 Note: Average mathematics score (percent correct) for 17-year-olds by number of courses taken in algebra and geometry, 1976. Source: Data from Jones et al. (1984). The math and verbal SAT performance of blacks has also improved in absolute terms and relative to whites in the past several years. This indicator, however, is less useful: SAT takers are a self-selected group, and more low- performing blacks than whites take the SAT. Overall, the SAT results are consistent with other data. There is a fairly clear record of improving achieve- ment test performance by blacks. Accounting for change in achievement is difficult, but two contributing factors have been identified: patterns of course enrollment among blacks and whites, and policies aimed at improving the educational status of blacks, such as school desegregation and compensatory education efforts. The con- tributions of school desegregation and compensatory education programs are inferred on the basis of two observations. First, black students born in 1964 or later show the most striking improvements in achievement. These younger cohorts were more likely than earlier cohorts to have begun schooling in desegregated schools, and they are also more likely to have participated in the various preschool and compensatory education programs of the 1960s. Second, the largest gains in achievement occur in rural areas where school desegregation proceeded most effectively Harley, 1984) and where funds for compensatory programs were often targeted. The one result that casts doubt . 1 ~ ~ ~ ., -. . ,, _,~ :_ ALE on desegregation as a contnoutor to improving DIaCK Pam ~s tt~c uniformity of change across regions. With regard to what has become known as the "differential course- taking" hypothesis, it seems clear that patterns of course enrollment are related to achievement test performance, especially in the area of mathemat- ics (Davis, 1986; Johnson, 1984; Jones et al., 1984; Marrett, 1987; Mat- thews, 1984~. For example, blacks are much less likely than whites to be enrolled in advanced mathematics courses. As the first two rows of Table 7-2 show, 66 percent of black 17-year-olds from the 1975-1976 NAEP data were enrolled in one or no algebra or geometry courses, in comparison with 42 percent of white students. The figures in the first two columns of the table show a strong positive relationship between the number of algebra and geometry courses taken and average mathematics score. Those with no alge- bra or geometry answered 47 percent of the mathematics assessment ques- tions correctly; those who had taken three such courses answered 82 percent 350

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS TABLE 7-3 Advanced Mathematics Credits for High School Seniors, by Race and Sex (in percent), 1982 NumberBlack White of CredosMoeFemale Mao Female 030.033.1 16.914.2 123.020.1 16.319.3 217.720.3 18.924.6 3 16.5 15.521.9 22.9 4 11.4 8.421.6 15.7 5 1.4 2.64.4 3.3 S~nple size 538 6163,030 3,277 Weighted N 85,530 118,733764,754 879,600 Source: Data Tom Jones (1987). correctly. In addition, there is a tendency for schools with larger proportions of black students to have a lower average number of these courses taken by students (Tones et al., 1984~. More recent data indicate both that blacks are less likely to be enrolled in advanced mathematics classes and that there is a strong relation between course taking and test perfo~ance. Information from the 1982 seniors in the HSB study on number of advanced mathematics credits is shown in Table 7-3. Black seniors were twice as likely as white seniors to have had no mathematics course at the level of algebra I or higher. The white seniors were approximately twice as likely as the black seniors to have taken four or more advanced mathematics courses. There is also a strong association between course taking and math test score performance for all four race-by-sex subgroups. Several other factors known to contribute to mathematics achievement also differ between black and white students, including verbal skills, socio- economic status, and mathematics achievement prior to high school. But even after accounting for the effects of these other variables, patterns of course enrollment still affect mathematics achievement. In particular, even after controlling for socioeconomic background, verbal ability, and prior mathematics achievement, having taken calculus improves scores-even among students with the same number of overall mathematics credits. Fur- thermore, average senior year mathematics achievement differences among the race-sex subgroups are accounted for by prior subgroup differences in socioeconomic status, verbal ability, and prior mathematics achievement, and differences in representation at the several levels of mathematics course taking (Tones, 1987~. In sum, over the relatively short period from 1970 to 1980, the gap between average academic performance of white and black school children narrowed appreciably. The effects are visible for all levels of ability and for all types of communities. The data suggest that the largest impact was in rural areas. It is not possible to conclude from the evidence that achievement gains of black students are due simply to school desegregation or to programs 351

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY initiated in the 1960s that were designed to increase educational opportuni- ties for minority students. However, the results do present a challenge to commentators who judge that these programs failed. SIGNS OF SLIPPAGE AND REMAINING BLACK-WH ITE GAPS I N ACH I EVEMENT There is some evidence of slippage among the younger age groups. When the NAEP achievement test data are divided into several types of communi- ties, the likely extent and nature of this change can be seen. NAEP reports often display results by type of community, contrasting three categories in particular: extreme rural, disadvantaged urban, and advantaged urban. These categories are constructed so that they each contain about 10 percent of the nation's school children. The proportional representation differs for blacks, with 8 percent falling into the rural category, 30 percent in the disadvantaged urban category, and 5 percent in the advantaged urban category. Results examined by these categories both confirm the two overall patterns we stressed above, improvement among blacks and continuing black-white dif- ferences, as well as indicate possible deterioration among the youngest age group. Black reading scores by birth cohort and type of community indicate a clear advantage in reading test score performance among the advantaged urban blacks over both their disadvantaged urban and their rural counter- parts. In addition, at each age level and for each type of community shown- with one exception, rural blacks, aged 9-average reading scores among blacks have improved. The average black-white differences by birth cohort and type of community have consistently been larger in rural communities than in urban areas; the greatest decline in performance differences occurred in rural areas; however, there were increases in black-white differences in rural and urban disadvantaged areas between birth years 1970 and 1974. A recent study of literacy in the United States conducted by NAEP (Kirsch and Tungeblut, 1986) concludes that there are large black-white gaps in performance on average, especially at medium and higher levels of profi- ciency. Perhaps most telling, as the report emphasizes (Kirsch and Jungeblut, 1986:5~: "These differences appear at each level of education reported." The differences are thus not entirely the result of lower educational attain- ment among blacks, although disparities in family socioeconomic back- ground and level of attainment are a component of these differences. The NAEP literacy study involved a large, nationally representative sample of young adults, aged 21-25; developed innovative measures of literacy; and focused on levels of proficiency rather than on arbitrary points that distin- guish the "literate" from the "illiterate." This is an important point inas- much as definitions of literacy have changed considerably over time. The nineteenth century standard was the ability to write one's name. The early twentieth century standard was a fourth-grade level of reading ability, and more recent conceptions have suggested an eighth-grade level of reading 352

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS TABLE 7 - Results of Three Literacy Tasks by Adults Aged 21-25, by Race, 1985 Percent Perfonning at or Above Indicated Score Prose Documents Quantitative: Scores White Black White Black White Black 150 100.0 97.7 99.9 98.6 99.8 98.3 200 98.0 86.2 97.9 82.3 98.0 87.4 250 88.0 57.5 89.9 55.5 89.4 60.4 300 63.2 23.7 65.4 19.8 63.3 22.0 350 24.9 3.1 24.3 2.5 27.2 2.4 375 10.8 0.7 10.5 0.9 11.5 0.8 Note: Each scale ranges Tom a minimum of O to a maximum of 500, with a standard deviation of approximately 50. Source: Data Tom Kirsch and Jungeblut (1986). ability. In lieu of specifying some arbitrary standard, the NAEP approach defined literacy as "using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and poten- tial" (Kirsch and Jungeblut, 1986:3~. In addition, the NAEP study devised tasks that simulated real-world be- haviors and activities-for example, reading newspaper articles, writing a letter, completing applications, interpreting pay stubs, balancing a check- book, using bus schedules, and reading maps. The tasks focused on profi- ciency with prose, with documents-using information contained in forms, tables, and charts-and with quantitative tasks. The tasks varied in difficulty in terms of the amount of information required, the abstractness and com- plexity of the interpretations needed to obtain the correct answer (from entering one's name in a blank space to summarizing the theme of a poem), and the amount of extraneous information that had to be filtered out. The levels of proficiency exhibited by blacks and whites on the prose, documents, and quantitative tasks are shown in Table 7-4 for selected levels of performance. Each scale ranges from O to 500 and has a mean of approxi- mately 305 and a standard deviation of 50. Black-white differences are small at the low end, but begin to emerge at the 200-score level. A prose score of 200 is roughly equivalent to being able to identify a single piece of informa- tion from a moderate-length sports article; a similar documents score is roughly an ability to select and match store coupons on the documents scale; and for the quantitative scale the score is roughly equivalent to being able to add simple checkbook entries. At this level, there is about a 12 percent difference between blacks and whites. This difference widens to about 30 percent on average at the 250-score proficiency level and to an average of 40 percent at the 300-score level. A prose score of 250 is roughly equivalent to an ability to match two discrete pieces of information from a sports article, and a documents score of 250 is 353

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY roughly equivalent to an ability to locate an intersection on a road map. A score of 300 on the quantification tasks is equivalent to entering and calcu- lating more complex checkbook account entries. For prose, a score of 300 is equivalent to locating more complex information from a news article. For documents, a score of 300 is equivalent to an ability to use a map and follow directions to a particular location. After introducing controls for family background (such as parents' educa- tion and occupation), high school curriculum, and educational attainment, the average difference between blacks and whites declined substantially for all three literacy scales. Prior to these controls, average black-white differ- ences ranged from 51 to 60 scale points. The difference declined to between 41 and 45 points after these controls were taken into account. There is reason to believe that the differences are smaller than in the past. A recent Census Bureau study of literacy, which involved a sample of all adults rather than just young adults, found smaller differences in perfor- mance among younger blacks and whites than among older blacks and whites. Among the possible causes of these patterns and group differences are family background, differences in ability, test bias, differences in motivation, and differences in the educational resources and climates of schools and communities. In the next section, we focus on those institutional practices ~.' ~ and policies and individual behaviors that can be manipulated through soaai policy. Specifically, the next section addresses the part that the schools themselves play In keeping blacks in the educational pipeline and encourag- ing high achievement. Following consideration of "intraschool" factors in achievement and attainment, we explore in greater depth the literature on nonschool or "extraschool" factors. SCHOOL FACTORS IN ATTAINMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT THE EFFECTS OF SCHOOLS AND BETWEEN-SCHOOL DIFFERENCES What the schools can do to affect student achievement outcomes has been a source of controversy since the Coleman-Campbell report (1966~. That study reported two major unexpected findings: despite extensive segregation, inequality in the measured resources and facilities available to students of different races within regions was small; and aggregate school resources had trivial effects on achievement scores after students' family backgrounds and schools' student body compositions were taken into account. The latter result, in particular, has been interpreted to imply that there is little the schools can do to reduce black-white differences in performance, and that school quality-conventionally understood to mean such resources as modern facilities and highly trained teachers-has little to do with how much students learn. The report also found large black-white differences in 354

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS achievement test performance at the time of school entry, and these differ- ences were substantially maintained throughout the years of schooling. Some interpreters read the report to suggest that achievement differences between blacks and whites were not produced by the schools and probably could not be reduced by the schools (see Mosteller and Moynihan, 1972~. These conclusions, the subject of intense controversy and scrutiny, continue to influence the questions addressed by educational researchers. The efficacy of attempts to change the schools in ways that would aid blacks-for example, through compensatory education programs-has also been the subject of controversy. Early evaluation efforts concluded that at best small gains were made. More recent assessments of program effective- ness, although more encouraging (Glazer, 1986), apply less demanding cri- teria for success than original expectations for these programs would have envisioned (Tencks, 1986~. Thus, initial appraisals of attempts to intervene directly to improve the educational status of blacks seemed also to indicate limited results. On the basis of all the information now available, we find that the negative interpretations of the Coleman and Campbell study have been overstated (see Hanushek, 1986~. The finding of only small, between-school difference effects on pupil's achievement levels was often the major item of contention. Criticisms have been made of (1) biases in the sample used in the study, (2) shortcomings of the measures used, (3) the criteria for designating significant effects, (4) the conceptual assumptions about the ordering of variables (Should the variance shared by family background and school variables be attributed to one or the other?), and (5) what, if any, legitimate policy implications might be derived from the study. But after substantial reanalyses (see Mosteller and Moynihan, 1972) of the data, and extensive work on different data sets by others (Heuser et al., 1976), the basic finding of small, between-school differences remains intact (Mullin and Summers, 1983; Spady, 1973~. There are three principal findings concerning school factors. First, there do not appear to be substantial differences in achievement that are traceable to between-school differences in such factors as facilities, teacher qualifications, and class size. However, there do appear to be considerable differences in the socioeconomic status, background, and school performance of black and white teachers (see below). Importantly, one aspect of this observation is that as a result of an intractable data problem-selectivity on an independent variable-there is no credible evidence that private schools are better institu- tions than public schools. Second, contrary to much prior literature, we find grounds to infer that what the schools do substantially affects the amount of learning that takes place. Differences in the schooling process as experienced by black and white students contribute to black-white achievement differences. Much research on between-institution differences has focused on a limited number of the most tangible inputs to the schooling process-such as expenditures per pupil and teacher test scores. Other between-school differences that are 355

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY related to within-school practices do matter. These differences are closely tied to teacher behavior, school climate, and the content and organization ~ . . 01 Instruction. Third, early intervention compensatory education programs, such as Head Start, have had salutary effects on the educational performance of blacks. However, other compensatory education strategies, such as remedial instruc- tion classes and other "pull-out" type programs, may do as much to rein- force and even widen performance gaps as they do to reduce them (Karweit, 1986~. The studies that have produced these findings share an emphasis on the need for effective teaching. Karweit (1986:13) notes: Achievement of black children will probably be best enhanced through the same avenues that achievement for all children will be enhanced-by good instruction emphasizing active involvement, by good school management which enables good instruction and by increased parent involvement in the day-to-day instructional activities of their children. Yet, it is important to stress at the outset that, because of a lack of theoretical development in these areas and certain methodological limitations (such as small effects, cross-sectional as opposed to longitudinal data, and small sam- ples), some of our findings concerning schooling effects and school climate are advanced more tentatively than findings presented in the previous sec- t~ons. THE SCHOOLING PROCESS There is an important distinction between schools as organizations and the schooling process (Barr and Dreeben, 1983; Bidwell and K;asarda, 1980~. Readily measured institutional attributes such as average classroom size and number of library books do not index the extent and quality of student utilization of these school resources. In particular, several within-school factors warrant close consideration: ability grouping and tracking and other aspects of school and classroom organization and the actual material used and covered in instructional settings. Teacher Expectatums, Characteristics, and Behavior Tracking and teacher expectations are two of the main concerns of educa- tors who argue that schools can impede minority achievement. Low teacher expectations in combination with practices, such as ability grouping and tracking, frequently sort black students into a "hidden curriculum" (Clark, 1963; Leacock, 1970; Rist, 1970~. This hidden curriculum is usuallyless demanding and is believed to allocate and socialize blacks toward lower levels of attainment and achievement. Research on ability grouping does show that blacks are disproportionately located in low-ability groups and non-college preparatory tracks (Oakes, 1982, 1983), where the pacing and dynamics of 356

THE SCHOOllNG OF BLACK AMERICANS low-ability groups and classrooms are substantially different from those of high-ability groups and classrooms. Teacher characteristics and behavior, as well as differences in classroom dynamics, have been the focus of a large number of small-scale studies. While none of these studies yields definitive conclusions, their cumulative findings suggest that teachers and their classroom behaviors do make a difference. Qualitative studies by Rist (1970) and others showed how teachers in kindergarten and the early elementary levels tend to stereotype and sort young children according to their demeanor, dress, and other class-related characteristics. One result was that the groupings into which pupils were placed tended to perpetuate and reinforce any performance differences that were initially present. In another study, Pederson and colleagues (1978) found vastly superior later test scores and occupational achievement levels among students who were exposed, in first grade, to teacher A, compared with those who had teachers B and C. Since the students had been randomly assigned to teachers and a large number of different age cohorts were in- volved, the outcome could not be due to "chance" factors. Interviews with teacher A's students revealed a picture of a dedicated teacher, with uniformly high expectations, and one with the ability to motivate students to persist in their efforts. This kind of teacher is also described anecdotally in other case study accounts (e.g., Sowell, 1972) and in the "effective schools" literature. Unfortunately, however the r~.cc=.nrch nrovirl~c foxy river O~lli~-C For identifying such teachers. . .. . . . -A ~in SHIV ~ ~1~ Available quantitative studies show varying but generally weak relation- ships between teachers' academic background characteristics and students' performances (Bowles and Levin, 1968; Coleman and Campbell, 1966; Murnane, 1975; Summers and Wolfe, 1977~. But an often neglected factor may prove important: the teacher's socioeconomic status background (A1- exander et al., 1987~. Given the evidence to this point, perhaps it is wise to conclude, with Hanushek (1972), that it is much easier to recognize effective teachers than it is to predict their behaviors on the basis of objective indicators. Even so, however, it may be possible to assign such teachers to early grade levels and to classrooms that have large proportions of students with low socioeco- nomic status so that their positive influences on students at this critical stage may have a cumulative effect on their subsequent performance. Classrooms Classroom organization and student-student interactions have also been identified as critical conditions for learning. Some researchers (Aronson, 1978; Sharan and Sharan, 1976; Slavin, 1978, 1980) have instituted and evaluated a series of cooperative learning experiments as an alternative or supplement to standard competitive classroom procedures. These coopera- tive learning experiments have involved small teams of four to six students selected to maximize internal heterogeneity with respect to gender, race, and 357

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY ability levels. The intent was to encourage faster students to help slower ones and then to reward the teams in such a way that slower students could contribute equally to the team score. Such techniques have produced uni- formly favorable results with respect to friendships and interracial interaction patterns, while they may have somewhat improved the relative performance of the slower learners. There have now been a sufficient number of successful replications of these small-scale cooperative experiments to justify their ap- plication on a wider scale and a more sustained basis (see Bossert, 1979~. A different line of work by Epstein (1980) suggests that classroom devices that encouraged increased decision-making responsibilities, as students mature, positively affect students' coping skills and performance. Finally, several studies, summarized and evaluated by K~rweit (1983, 1986), have dealt with the use of classroom time and how it affects performance. There are substantial differences in the ways in which individual teachers use their classroom time, and common sense would suggest that an efficient use of time would have a major impact on how much students learn. Thus far, however, the relationships between time use in the classroom and student performance levels have turned out to be weaker than anticipated, but encouraging enough to warrant further examination of these relatively easily manipulated variables. As Karweit notes, however, we know too little about the "receiving" side of the equation, namely what factors affect the attention and motivational levels of students, although some clues do exist. For ex- ample, a study in Chicago's first-grade classrooms shows that differences In vocabulary acquisition can be traced to the amount of classroom time used in actual daily reading and to differences in the readers used (Dreeben and Gamoran, 1986; see Hayes, 1988:584~. . . . . . SCHOOL CLIMATE AN D "EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS" Educators associated with the "effective schools" movement (Brookover et al., 1979; Edmonds, 1979, 1986; Lezotte and Bancroft, 1985) are sharply critical of the view that variations in school quality do not affect the educa- tional performance of black or other disadvantaged students. The effective schools research emphasizes aspects of the school culture or climate that can either enhance or undermine the goal of high achievement and proper social development. Effective schools research started explicitly (Klitgaard and Hall, 1974; We- ber, 1971) as a critique of the assertion that family factors were more impor- tant than school factors for the achievement of minority and low-income children. Edmonds (1986:94-95) summarized this line of research as estab- lishing that "variability in the distribution of achievement among school-age children in the United States derives from variability in the nature of the schools to which they go." Although this research has weaknesses and sometimes overstates the case for school effects, it has begun to identify processes that contribute to high achievement among students attending low-income and black schools and to suggest ways of translating research 358

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS results into specific intervention strategies (Purkey and Smith, 1985~. Work on effective schools began as a search for "outliers" or schools whose objec- tive characteristics-serving low-income, urban, minority populations-would suggest low levels of performance, but where many students exhibited ex- emplary performance. These schools were contrasted, at least implicitly (e.g., Weber, 1971) with schools exhibiting poor performance. The factors appar- ently differentiating; the two types were then designated as traits of effective . . . ~ . . . , ~ , 1 and ineffective schools. Weber (1971) identified four very successful schools (reading test perfor- mance above the national norm) serving low-income populations. He attrib- uted the apparently effective schooling to a set of eight characteristics. Most important were the leadership of a strong principal, high expectations for student performance, a "good school climate," and regular monitoring of student progress. In short, the character, culture, or climate established in some schools promoted high achievement. Klitgaard and Hall's (1974) analysis of four large data sets from the Michigan State schools and New York City school system identified a handful of schools that regularly produced high achievement, net of socioeconomic status of the school population. Success in those schools was attributed to factors similar to those identified by Weber (1971~. Notions such as school culture or climate are difficult to define and meas- ure. Anderson's (1982) review identified four broad dimensions of school culture and climate: (1) the norms, beliefs, values, and cognitive structures that characterize a school; (2) the organizational structure or social system, which includes the formal and informal rules of organized activity; (3) the school ecology or the physical and material attributes of the school facility; and (4) the social context in which the school is located, including the social class, race, and other background characteristics of the population. It is the first two of these that have been stressed in the effective schools literature. Among the most important attributes of the culture of effective schools are a belief among school administrators and teachers that all students, regardless of race or social class background, can achieve to some high minimum level of competence and a strong school leader, usually a principal, who continually reinforces the idea that the schools' highest priority is academic achievement. Purkey and Smith's (1983) review distilled a set of nine school characteris- tics and four subsequent school dynamics that make up an effective school culture: 1. school site management at the building level, so that a principal and group of teachers have latitude to respond to their particular needs; 2. instructional leadership on the part of a principal or group of teachers that initiates and sustains a commitment to high achievement; 3. stability in staffing in order to provide school continuity; 4. instructional planning involving the careful development of curriculum and teaching plans to make the most effective use of classroom time; 359

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY 5. continuous staff development to ensure adaptation to new needs; 6. parental involvement and support to tighten the home-school link in way that reinforces high achievement goals; 7. schoolwide recognition of success that reinforces the central place of academic achievement in the schools' mission; 8. maximized learning time so that disruptive behavior and nonteachina bureaucratic activities intrude as little as possible on classroom time; and 9 district support in maintaining staff stability and initiatives. These characteristics set in motion four dynamic aspects of school culture: (1) a greater emphasis on collaborative planning among administrators and teachers, (2) a stronger sense of community, (3) well-articulated and shared goals for the school, and (4) improvements in school discipline and order. Lightfoot's (1983) ethnographic study of six exemplary high schools con- cluded that a key accomplishment of these schools was to be "good enough." The schools did not conform to a highly routinized and idealized image of the "excellent" school. Instead, these schools were effective at changing, adapting, and institutionalizing a capacity to respond to the inev- itable problems and imperfections of the schooling process. A basic mission of such good schools and the first step toward establishing an effective school culture was the development of a safe, orderly, and disciplined atmosphere in the school. This requires that teachers and administrators demand of students that they become self-regulating, disciplined, and industrious. If students are not responsive to the authority of teachers and school adminis- trators, if misbehavior, vandalism, violence, absenteeism are rife, progress toward the achievement of even basic competencies will be difficult. At the center of efforts to develop an effective school culture, Lightfoot concluded, are the school principal and the ideology or vision for the school that the principal attempts to put in place. Effective leadership by a principal requires a mixture of the instrumental qualities of the stereotypical principal and a more expressive, symbiotic, nurturant partnership with the teachers and students at the school. The research base that has led to the identification of the characteristics of effective schools has some weaknesses (Brophy and Good, 1986; Purkey and Smith, 1983~: use of small samples; ignoring of important confounding factors in identifying outlier schools; reliance on schoolwide averages that may mask poor performance among particular groups of students; and a frequent use of subjective criteria in designating "effective schools." The students in schools designated as effective in some studies still are not per- forming as well as students in middle-class suburban schools. Ethnographic and longitudinal studies also suggest that there are important differences between low-income effective schools and effective schools serv- ingmiddle-class students. Lightfoot (1983) found that the effective school serving a low-income black population stressed the maintenance of order, disciplined student behavior, and the learning of basic skills and competen- cies. Hallinger and Murphy (1986) similarly found that the effective schools 360

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS serving low-income minority groups emphasized the acquisition of basic skills. Both studies indicated, however, that effective schools for higher income groups stressed "open" instruction formats and development of higher order reasoning abilities. Purkey and Smith (1983) are especially critical of the view that the effective schools literature provides a simple formula for school improvement. In particular, many schools, especially those serving predominantly low-income or black students, may be lacking in most or all of the nine characteristics of an "effective school" (Karweit, 1986). The effective schools research is important, however, because of the diver- sity of researchers and methods that have produced similar conclusions and because of the common-sense power of its principal claims. Intervention strategies that attempt to accomplish many of the recommendations of the effective schools approach have been tried. The Baldwin-King schools project in New Haven, Connecticut, is an exemplar of a promising strategy that has produced sustained improvement in the achievement and interpersonal social skills of black students (Comer, 1980, 1984~. This project, which began in 1968 in two New Haven elementary schools serving a largely low-income black population (Baldwin and King), was designed as a collaborative effort of university researchers, school administrators and teachers, and parents of children attending the schools. The intervention was premised on the idea that schools work best when there is a clear and effective authority structure. But this authority structure has to establish and reinforce positive ties be- tween the school environment and the families and communities of the . children they serve. And beyond creating an orderly environment and en- couraging parental involvement, the school must also respond to the social, emotional, and developmental needs of children. Comer's (1980, 1984) research indicated that the implementation of this model of school activity was difficult and uneven, but ultimately successful. The strategy builds stronger and more trusting ties between parents and schools; this is an important accomplishment since there is often a compo- nent of mutual distrust, suspicion, and conflict between black parents and the schools as institutions (Lightfoot, 1983; Ogbu, 1974; Sieber, 1982~. Lightfoot (1983:349) identified an institutionalized capacity to assist stu- dents experiencing behavioral problems as one of the key features of a "good" school. Similarly, the Baldwin-King project stressed using knowl- edge derived from research on child development and mental functioning in responding to students. These efforts were so effective at integrating previ- ously disruptive students that some of the services were discontinued. This type of program and the curriculum changes that developed from it led to improved "school attendance, academic achievement, and improved social behavior and school climate" (Comer, 1980:203~. Indeed, scores on tests of math and reading ability showed that students at the King School performed better than students attending other schools with low-income minority student bodies in New Haven; students who had been at the King school under the intervention program for the most sustained length of time 361

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY (2 to 5 years) did better than students who had been at King for less than 2 years. Ml N IMUM COMPETENCY TESTI NG AN D TEACHER TESTI NG In 1986, about 40 states had some test of basic skills acquisition-generally known as minimum competency tests. Karweit (1986) and Serow (1984) reported that movements were under way in 23 states to require a minimum level of proficiency for high school graduation. Advocates view the tests as making schools accountable for demonstrating that students meet some basic standards. The diploma sanction is justified on the grounds that it reinforces the importance of the test, encourages students to take it seriously, and helps to identify students in need of remedial assistance. Critics of minimum competency testing charge that such tests, especially when passing is made a condition for receiving a diploma, will negatively and disproportionately affect black students, and evidence supporting this claim is accumulating. Linn and colleagues (1982) reported on a 1977 read- ing communications test in Florida: 3 percent of white students but 24 percent of black students failed. The failure rates were higher for both races on a mathematics test, but the black-white gap was even larger: approxi- mately 20 percent for whites and approximately 75 percent for blacks. Data assembled by Serow (1984) showed the patterns of disproportionate black failure rates in California, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia. These differences in passing rates translate into differences in rates of di- ploma denial by race. Serow (1984:72) examined data from North Carolina and found that 0.5 percent of whites were denied a diploma because of failing a minimum competency test, and 4.4 percent of blacks were denied a diploma on these grounds. Such results may encourage earlier dropout, increase the likelihood that black students will be retained in grade (Karweit, 1986), and increase the overall dropout rate for blacks. Doubts have also been raised about the usefulness of minimum compe- tency tests as a diagnostic tool for identifying students needing remediation (Linn et al., 1982; Karweit, 1986; Serow, 1984~. K~rweit (1986) noted that the use of the examinations has emphasized selection for grade promotion or graduation rather than diagnosis of learning difficulties, and that in many ways the basic content of the test lends itself to mechanical learning of discrete bits of information. Thus, even if students are assigned to a remedial program, the work is likely to emphasize passing a particular examination (Karweit, 1986:30; Madaus and Greaney, 1985:288) . Many of the problems with minimum competency testing may be more matters of implementation than fundamental flaws in the desire to increase performance and accountability. In particular, immediate problems and dis- advantages introduced by the tests may ultimately be outweighed by clearer standards of performance for students and teachers. One method of dealing with the immediate problem of black failure rates on such examinations is to 362

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS adopt educational programs aimed at closing performance gaps rather than at remediation. Levin (1986) and others have proposed "accelerated" curric- ulums for minority students. The program draws on promising teaching and classroom organization strategies (e.g., cooperative learning arrangements and peer tutoring), timetables and deadlines for bringing students up to appropriate grade-level performance, and other innovative steps such as pa- rental involvement and pupil engagement. Research on the success of such programs is still at an early stage. However, if testing and minimum perfor- mance standards policies continue, then steps toward accelerated programs of this kind seem necessary if the pattern of lower black performance is to be improved. Teacher testing is also on the rise. As many as 39 states now have some form of teacher testing. The examinations also frequently have proficiency criteria and sanctions for failure attached to them. According to Gifford (1986:251~: In most cases, as a result of their own initiative or the insistence of gover- nors and legislatures, state departments of education have instituted a stan- dardized examination, established a cutoff score, and prohibited teacher candidates Tom employment as teachers until they have passed the test. In a few instances (Arkansas, Texas, and Georgian, state education departments have mandated that licensed, working teachers pass an examination to retain their certification; and at least one state educational agency (Florida) has linked merit pay increases to teacher testing. . Black teachers have experienced a disproportionate failure rate on these examinations (see Table 7-5~. For example, on the California Basic Educa- tional Skills Test (CBEST) in 1983, 26 percent of blacks and 76 percent of whites passed. Similarly, 35 percent of black but 90 percent of white test takers passed the Florida teacher competency examination in 1983 (Gifford, 1986:255~. Such results appear to have had a discouraging effect on the number of blacks aspiring to become teachers (Baratz, 1986~. For example, in 1978, the first year of Louisiana's program, 31 percent of the teacher examination takers were black; that percentage had declined to 13 percent by 1982. The overall passing rate for blacks during the time period was 15 percent. Universities that train large numbers of black teachers and other profes- sional associations have responded to this problem by modifying their train- ing and preparation programs. These changes sometimes produce dramatic increases in how their graduates perform on teacher competency examina- tions (Baratz, 1986~. The results substantially improved pass rates for black teachers attempting these tests. For example, Gifford (1986) reported im- proved black performance on the CBEST between 1983 and 1985. . . . . . 363

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY TABLE 7-5 Pass Rates on Teacher Competency Tests in 10 States, 1982 1983 Native State All Whites Asians Blacks Hispanics Americans Alabama 81 86 43 Arizona January 6, 1983 66 73 50 24 42 22 July9, 1983 59 70 25 41 36 19 California 68 76 50 26 38 67 Flonda Junc 1982 85 92 67 37 57 90 February 1983 84 90 63 35 51 100 Georgia 78 87 34 Louisiana 77 78 15 Mississippi 97a 54a 100t 70& Oklahoma 78 79 82 45 71 70 Texas 54 62 47 10 19 47 Virginia (teal testing) Communication skills 97 56 General knowledge 99 69 Professional knowledge 99 83 aPass rates at predominantly white public institutions. Pass rates at predominantly black public institutions. Source: Data Tom American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. H IGHER EDUCATION: I NSTITUTIONAL CLIMATE, SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT, AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS Black students on white campuses frequently express feelings of alienation and social isolation (Allen et al., 1984; Fleming, 1984; Gibbs, 1973; Smith, 1981; Willie and Cunnigen, 1981~. In a survey of entering black undergrad- uate and graduate students at eight predominantly white state universities located throughout the nation, Allen and colleagues (1984) found black students to be ambivalent about their status. The students tended to report lukewarm relationships with white students, faculty, and staff, and they did not feel strongly engaged with campus activities. Many turned to black organizations and activities and reported very positive interactions with other black students and black faculty. Indeed, one of the most consistent recom- mendations for change made by the students surveyed was that the number of black faculty and students be increased. In the surveys by Allen and colleagues (1984), 65 percent of the black undergraduates and 73 percent of the black graduate students reported hav- ing encountered discrimination. The discrimination sometimes took the form of treatment by university staff or employees that implied the black students did not belong on campus at all (e.g., excessive requests for proof of identi 364

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS fication at campus events) or that the black students had gabled access to the university through illegitimate means (such as special admission programs). Some of the students who said they faced discrimination reported patroniz- ing or explicitly derogatory remarks by faculty members. The most fre- quently reported form of discrimination involved the use of racist epithets, symbols, or mimicry by white students (see also Willie and Cunnigen, 1981:194~. Events since the late 1970s suggest that discrimination and tensions on college campuses are persistent and possibly increasing problems. Direct acts of aggression and violence have occurred at many college campuses (Smith, 1981:30; The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 1, 1988~. The National Institute Against Prejudice and Violence estimated that 70 of the nation's college campuses experienced significant racial or ethnic violence in 1987. A recent study based on a large sample of black and white students from 30 southern and eastern colleges confirmed the importance of social adjust- ment factors to black success in college (Nettles et al., 1986~. Several of the social adjustment factors had statistically significant interactions with race, usually having larger effects on black academic performance than on white performance. Results of this research are noteworthy because of the large sample size, use of reasonably reliable measures, and formal tests for interac- tions between the relevant social psychological factors and race of the student (see also Fox, 1986; Getzlaf et al., 1984~. Future research in this area needs to more systematically address how the black student experience differs from that of whites, to develop longitudinal designs, and to consider a wider and more complex array of student outcomes. EXTRASCHOOL FACTORS IN ATTAINMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF THE SCHOOLS Schools do not exist in a vacuum. What happens in them is affected by what children bring to and receive from the schools. It is well known that children from higher socioeconomic status backgrounds are more likely than those from low socioeconomic status backgrounds to score high on achieve- ment tests, to receive persistent encouragement from adults, and to form high educational aspirations. They are also more likely to complete college and pursue advanced or professional degrees. These outcomes, in turn, have powerful effects on occupational positions and, thereby, on earnings. These differences in educational attainments are to a substantial degree not due to differences in measured ability. As Sewell and Hauser (1980:69) summarized in their studies of Wisconsin high school students: 365

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY Among students in the top quarter in ability, a student Tom the lowest quarter in socioeconomic status is approximately half as likely to attend college or to graduate from college as a student Tom the highest quarter in socioeconomic status. The chances of a high ability student obtaining grad- uate or professional education, where one would presume ability would be determinant, are approximately 3.5 times greater if he comes Tom a family with high socioeconomic status than Tom a low socioeconomic status family. Although these Wisconsin data pertain mainly to white students, recent analyses suggest that the same processes are at work among blacks (see below). To a substantial degree, black-white differences in educational status can be traced to average social class differences between the two groups. For example, we report below that differences in socioeconomic status explain the entire black-white difference in dropout rates and account for at least 20 percent of the difference in achievement test performance. The more signifi- cant point, however, is that black-white differences in school performance are likely to persist so long as differences in the socioeconomic status of the two groups remain. Socioeconomic status alone, however, does not explain all black-white educational differences. Direct racial discrimination in the provision of edu- cation has a long history in the United States. A degree of national consensus on the idea that schooling for blacks should be of high quality and be provided on an equal and integrated basis is a recent phenomenon. Histori- cally, discrimination in education has included exclusion from the schools, shorter school days and shorter school years for blacks, lower qualifications and poorer pay for black teachers, and plainly inferior facilities and materials (Bond, 1934; Bullock, 1967~. The broader experiences of labor market discrimination, of residential seg- regation, and of antiblack attitudes and beliefs are also relevant to black- white differences in schooling. All of these are likely to affect the in-school behavior of both whites and blacks as students and as teachers. Racial dis- crimination and separation are thus of fundamental importance for under- standing the educational status of blacks. The one event that has had over- arching significance for the schooling of black Americans was neither a pedagogical innovation nor a shift in population characteristics. Rather, it was legal and political: the 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. BLACK-WH ITE SIMI LARITI ES AN D D! FFERENCES Families, neighborhoods and communities, and peer groups affect student performance by influencing patterns of school-related behavior and underly- ing orientations toward education. We report two main research findings. First, contrary to the conclusions of a large literature, the same factors that affect schooling outcomes for whites also affect blacks. Consequently, im 366

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS portent differences between blacks and whites on factors such as socioeco- nomic background, early levels of achievement, beliefs about discrimination, and time spent on homework compared with time spent watching television have important roles in generating educational outcome differences between the two groups. A second and related conclusion is that blacks' particular minority group status affects their experiences within, and adaptations to, the schools. Black children frequently live in social environments that make them less likely to perceive high educational achievement as an unambiguously desirable goal. High achievement may also not be regarded as leading to important rewards or as essential to the adult social roles they perceive as open to them (Ogbu, 1978, 1986~. Consequently, black youth may view themselves as having limited opportunities, and they may feel ambivalence about the probable returns to educational success. Such expectations may explain why black children expend less effort in academic activities than do white children. The Educational Attainment Process A large number of studies have concluded that the process of educational attainment differs for blacks and whites.3 Variables used to explain educa- tional outcomes were routinely found to be less powerful in accounting for the educational attainment of blacks than that for whites. Moreover, socio- economic status exerted less powerful effects at each stage of the attainment process for blacks. In addition, social psychological factors were found to play a larger role in the attainment process among blacks, especially educa- tional aspirations (fortes and Wilson, 1976), beliefs regarding the need for conformity to conventional norms (Porter, 1974), and fatalism regarding the likelihood of receiving economic rewards for education (Kerckhoff and Campbell, 1977b). The general explanation for these differences stresses black-white differences in access to educational goals, rewards, and prepara- tory experiences-as well as differential treatment and evaluation within ed . . . . . ucat~onal Institutions. Recent research using more sophisticated and powerful statistical tech- niques questions the conclusions of much of this body of work. On the basis of analyses of nationally representative samples with large numbers of black high school students, both GottEredson (1981) and Wolfle (1985) have rejected the claim that the educational attainment process works differently for blacks arid whites. There are two bases for their refutations. First, the previous literature used inappropriate tests for black-white differences in attainment "process" effects, either not correcting for sample design com 3. These studies have used nationally representative data (Allen, 1980; Epps and Jackson, 1985; Porter, 1974; Portes and Wilson, 1976); city, state, or school district samples (DeBord et al., 1977; Hout and Morgan, 1975; Kerckhoff and Campbell, 1977a,b); and samples of students in integrated and segregated schools (Falk, 1978; Howell and Frese, 1979; Wilson, 1979). 367

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY plexities, failing to perform formal tests of any kind, or relying on data with such small numbers of black students that reliable inference was impossible. Second, the measurement characteristics of key factors in the statistical mod- els used differ by race, thus creating the appearance of black-white differences when corrections for differential reliability are not made. Using statistical techniques that allowed formal tests for black-white differences and adjust- ment for differential reliability of measurement, neither GottBredson nor Wolfle found any important differences in the educational attainment pro- cess by race. GottBredson analyzed the data used in several of the earlier studies, but omitted variables such as self-esteem, conformity orientations, and fatalism. Wolfle tested a model (see Heyns, 1974; Thomas et al., 1979) that omitted the social psychological factors altogether, but included school factors such as curriculum placement. Wolfle (1985:516) succinctly summa- rized both sets of results when he concluded: "The process of educational attainment is not different for blacks and whites. " Analyses of the High School and Beyond survey data for 1980 sophomores carried out expressly for this report (Papas, 1986, 1987) extended these results in two ways: by focusing on the scholastic outcomes of schooling- achievement test performance and grades-in the students' senior year (1982) rather than ultimate educational attainments, and by examining the impact of school input and social background differences on the causes of differences in achievement between blacks and whites. Even if the same variables predict achievement performances for blacks and whites, different mean levels of the predictors (e.g., family income) may account for much of the observed group differences in achievement. One major result of these analyses was that there were minor, but statisti- cally discernible, group differences in the impact of socioeconomic status on high school dropout rates, on senior-year academic achievement, and on senior-year levels of aspirations. Although higher socioeconomic status re- duced dropping out among blacks and whites and increased aspirations, achievement, and grades, these effects were somewhat stronger among whites. Also, sophomore-year aspirations exerted a weaker influence on senior-year outcomes among whites than among blacks. On the whole, the results indicate greater similarities than differences between blacks and whites in the achievement process. Another major result was that differences in social background, sopho- more-year levels of achievement, curriculum placement, and a set of behav- ioral and social-psychological indicators measured in the sophomore year account for significant portions of the black-white difference in senior-year scholastic outcomes. In particular, differences in socioeconomic status en- tirely explain blacks' higher dropout rate. In addition, most of the difference in senior-year achievement levels reflected prior differences in achievement. 368

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS Families, Socialization, and School Performance An enormous body of research has addressed the link between experiences within families, a child's cognitive development, and school success. Much of this research attempts to identify social class and black-white differences in child-rearing behaviors that may cause achievement differences. Two ob- servations are frequently made: there is substantial variation by social class and race in child-rearing practices, principally in language usage, parental teaching strategies, and other forms of cognitive stimulation; and these differences, which operate in favor of those with high social status, affect cognitive development and school performance. Several possible effects of family structure on cognitive development have been identified: family size, family composition (one or two parents), and Arty order. for example, family size is held to be inversely related to cognitive development, especially for later siblings, because there is less time for parental supervision and instruction as the available time is necessarily spread among more children. Family composition is important because bur- dens that might be shared by two adults fall on the shoulders of one in a single-parent household. Both family size and composition do affect cognitive development and educational outcomes. However, net of family size effects, birth order and spacing do not have important consequences for schooling outcomes (Hau- ser and Sewell, 1985; Olneck and Bills, 1979~. The evidence on family composition is less decisive than that concerning family size: several recent reports emphasize that effects of one-parent or two-parent status on achieve- ment are small and traceable to associated differences in socioeconomic status (Johnson, 1987; Scott-Iones, 1987a; Svanum et al., 1982~. In addition, some research suggests that the negative effects of one-parent households on educational outcomes among blacks are mitigated by support from extended family members (Brackbill and Nicholls, 1982~. Studies of family interaction typically assume that within families a climate is produced that crucially affects cognitive abilities and academic develop- ment (Johnson, 1987:10~. A number of studies have focused on how low- income black families encourage or discourage school achievement (Clark, 1983; Norman-lackson, 1982; Scheinfeld, 1983; Scott-Iones, 1987b; Shade, 1978; Slaughter, 1969~. Clark's (1983) ethnographic study of 10 black low- income families reported that families of high-achieving children tended to be warm and nurturing, set clear academic and behavioral standards, and monitored their children's actions and schoolwork. Families with a low- achieving child were characterized by feelings of depression, lack of personal control, and low emotional spirit. This climate had adverse consequences for parental guidance and monitoring of children and for a child's performance in school. Thus, socioeconomic status does affect chid-rearing behaviors that, in turn, have consequences for cognitive development and school performance. To the extent that blacks on average are of lower socioeco 369

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY nomic status than whites, their schooling performance is thus likely to be lower. But there are some black-white performance differences even after control- ling for socioeconomic status. In part, this occurs because most efforts to control for socioeconomic status are based on cross-sectional information about family income, occupation, and the like. To the extent that black families experience more and longer periods of extreme poverty or unem- ployment, such data provide at best a lower limit estimate of the effect of socioeconomic conditions on differences in black-white achievement. Another possible reason for black-white achievement differences net of socioeconomic status is a black-white cultural difference in socialization. Studies of transracially adopted children provide empirical support for this hypothesis. Scarr and Weinberg (1978) and Moore (1982, 1986, 1987) studied transracially adopted black children and found that these black chil- dren perform about as well as white children on intelligence tests. Moore's research examined a group of 46 black children, 23 of whom were given traditional Placements with another black family and 23 of whom ~ . _ ~ . .. .. ~ A ~ 11 ~ ~ 1 .- ~ -1-~ ~ L:_L were placed with a white campy. ALt ~o adopting rammes were o~ ~,~ socioeconomic status, although the white adoptive families were slightly higher. The results showed that transracially adopted black children per- formed better on the VVISC-IQ test than black children adopted by black families. Measured differences in performance were related to differences in behavioral style in the test situation, in mothers' teaching strategies, and in the racial mix of friends and of the community of residence. Moore's re- search and that of Scarr and Weinberg found that scores in measured intelli- gence were directly related to greater proximity to a white middle-class cultural standard. Moore (1982:142) concluded that variation in the tested inte.lli~ence of black children on the basis of rearing in a black middle-class i= _ . ~ ~ ~ ~ . I ~ __ _ 1 _ ~ _ _ 1 _ ~ _ ~ ~ . . 1~ ~ A: ~ ~ ~ 1~ ~ ~ or white m~ddle-class environment Is m~CUlt to explain on any oasis owner than black-white cultural differences. This cultural difference research has been careful in design and persuasive in findings. The research should be replicated and extended to explain the social origins of black-white cultural differences in child-rearing and cognitive development. Some serious efforts to account for the social origins of black-white achievement differences emphasize a distinctive black American cultural and cognitive style. A number of scholars contend that there are unique elements in black learning styles and cognitive processes (Baratz and Baratz, 1970; Blau, 1981; Boykin, 1986; Cole and Bruner, 1971; Gay and Abrahams, 1973; Hale-Benson, 1982; Massey et al., 1982; McDermott, 1974; Mercer, 1974; Shade, 1978, 1982; Shade and Edwards, 1987; Valentine, 1971). The data are often drawn from small and unrepresentative samples, and the research has not as yet explained why other minority groups, such as Asian- Americans, with their own cultural distinctiveness, attain high academic achievements. Several lists of specific types of black-white differences now 370

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS exist, particularly those offered by Shade (1978) and Boykin (1986~. More work needs to be done on this important issue. Social Status AL Ambivalence Abaft Education Another explanation of the causes of black-white achievement differences emphasize the importance of racial stratification on black orientations toward performance in school. As formulated by Ogbu (1978), this perspective contends that as a result of racial stratification there is often sharp disconti- nuity between the home and community experiences of black students and the middle-class values, standards, and expectations of the schools. Ogbu's cross-cultural research proposes that any minority group, even if of the same "race" as the dominant social group, will exhibit lower school achievement and measured intelligence when compared to the dominant group if the minority group occupies a "caste-like" social status. Caste-like minority group status is defined by involuntary incorporation into the dom- inant society and by extreme discrimination during an extended period of relegation to society's least valued occupational roles. The black American experience fits this definition. Oghu (1986) identified several groups outside the United States that oc- cupied a caste-like status: West Indians in Great Britain, Maoris in New Zealand, Buraku outcasts in Japan, Harijans in India, and Oriental Jews in Israel. In each case, when compared with more privileged groups, those groups with caste-like status were 1-2 years behind in reading, dispropor- tionately concentrated in remedial reading programs, and underrepresented in higher education. Minority group caste-like status, rather than race, was the important factor since the minority group did less well than the domi- nant group even when they were of the same race (as in India, Israel, and Japan) . To the extent that adults in U.S. communities do not hold social and occupational positions that expose them to various middle-class skills, ori- entations, and behaviors, they are less able to pass onto their children the skills, competencies, and orientations necessary to attain high levels of achievement. As a result of location in different social structural positions and environments, therefore, blacks and whites develop different orienta- tions to schooling and bring different orientations to that institution. Ogbu's (1974) ethnographic research in Stockton, California, found that black parents were emphatic in saying that they valued schooling and wanted their children to do well and get a good education. They even held public demonstrations to demand more and better education for their children. But at the same time the parents' own lives helped to create ambivalent attitudes toward schooling in their children. Parents told their children to get a good education and encouraged them verbally to do well in school, and those who could helped with homework; meanwhile, the actual texture of their own lives in terms of menial jobs, underemployment, and unem 371

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY ployment conveyed a second kind of message powerful enough to undo their exhortations. Among black students themselves, the negative messages conveyed by the textures of their parents' lives and community responses were reinforced by their own observations of the employment and unemployment status of older people around them. These other sources of information included older siblings, relatives, and other adults who had finished or left school, their own inability to get part-time and summer jobs, observations of and even participation in public demonstrations for more jobs, and reports in the mass media about the employment difficulties of blacks. Under these circumstances, black students did not try to maximize their school perfor- mance; they said they did not persevere in their schoolwork because they did not think that they would have equal opportunity to get good jobs when they finished school. Among the principal consequences of caste-like minority status is the adoption of a perspective that attributes the groups' low status to unfair discrimination and prejudice. In the United States, this perspective becomes a component of how blacks evaluate encounters with schools. Blacks often have feelings of suspicion, distrust, conflict, and resistance to full assimilation (McDermott, 1974~. Boykin (1986) suggested that black students confront a triple quandary that involves the need to simultaneously master main- stream American culture, black American culture, and the critical perspective of a low-status minority. When the mainstream culture in the schools is experienced as alien and hostile, many black children attempt to assert the value and integrity of the experiences of their homes and communities by rejecting the standards of the schools. Recent ethnographic work by Fordham and Ogbu (1986) suggests that black student peer culture undermines the goal of striving for academic success. Among eleventh graders at a predominantly black high school in ~ _ ~ 1 1 ~ I ___2 L L ·~L ~ L:. ~ Washington, L,.~., many oenavlors assoclarea warn no ac~vc~- speaking standard English, studying long hours, striving to get good grades- were regarded as "acting white." Students known to engage in such behav- iors were labeled "brainiacs," ridiculed, and ostracized as people who had abandoned the group. Interviews with a number of the high-achieving stu- dents-who showed a conscious awareness of the choices they were making- indicated that some had chosen to put "brakes" on their academic effort in order to avoid being labeled and harassed. The students premised these choices on what they saw as their own limited economic chances in life. The burden of peer disapproval was often not perceived as worth the likely limited benefits perceived to accrue to academic success (see also Petroni, 1970; Petroni and Hirsch, 1970~. This pattern is also documented by some experimental and survey-based research. Banks and colleagues (1977) com- pared the responses of black and white children concerning, first, the sorts of tasks they found enjoyable or likeable and those they disliked and, second, whether they would be willing to expend considerable effort at these tasks. 372

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS The white students rated as likeable more of the tasks likely to be rewarded in school (e.g., doing well enough in school to make the honor roll) than did blacks. But the black and white students did not differ in the amount of energy they intended to expend toward those tasks they valued. Hare and Castenell (1986) concluded that black students, in particular black males, form stronger attachments to the peer group. Their data on 500 Champaign, Illinois, fifth graders showed black males to have lower achievement orientations and sense of internal control than white males, but to have higher ratings on measures of perceived social abilities and peer group attachment. Using the same data, but this time focusing on gender differ- ences, Hare (1985) found that black males expressed a greater attachment to peer group culture than black females. Broader social experience with racial stratification influences teachers and school administrators as well. Ogbu (1974) reported that the teachers and school administrators he observed did not reward (and thereby discouraged) children's classroom performance, resisted parents' efforts to help their chil- dren, and did not provide information that would help black youngsters plan their future. More systematic exploration of these ideas about how family and commu- nity processes affect schooling as experienced by black students needs to be undertaken. Research based on assessments of statistical models leads to the conclusion of substantial similarity in the process of educational achievement and attainment for blacks and whites, while a growing body of ethnographic observations of behavior and interaction within the schools suggests that some special factors may be operating for blacks. These additional factors need further empirical testing. Future research would do well to focus on whether and to what extent the educational aspirations and plans of black students are developed and expressed with greater ambivalence or uncer- tainty compared with those of whites. SCHOOL DESEGREGATION AN D ACADEMIC ACH I EVEMENT We reported above that school desegregation modestly improves the aca demic performance of black pupils and has no substantial effect on white pupils' academic achievement. We now elaborate on this conclusion. We also report mixed findings pertaining to the effects of school desegregation on students' self-esteem and educational aspirations. Studies of the relationship between educational and occupational aspira- tions of blacks and whites in segregated schools have been reviewed by a number of researchers, all of whom concluded that the level of aspiration of segregated blacks is as high or higher than that of segregated whites (Cook, 1979:424; Epps, 1975; Weinberg, 1977). Reported findings on the self- esteem and educational aspirations of black children in desegregated schools are so diverse that overall generalizations are not warranted. Effects evidently 373

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY depend on variables not adequately accounted for in the available research (Longshore and Prager, 1985:85~. Reviewing 25 studies of racially mixed schools encompassing natural and planned desegregation, St. John (1975) reported that blacks' occupational and educational aspirations either remained equal to those of whites or became lower after desegregation. Some studies find a trend for minority aspirations to decrease as the percentage of white students in the school increases (Cook, 1979:426~. St. John (1975) and Stephan (1978) concluded that blacks in desegregated schools have lower self-esteem than blacks in segregated schools. Epps (1978) and Zirkel (1971) found the existing studies too inconsistent to reveal a trend. Weinberg (1977), after examining 60 studies, concluded that in 29 of the 60, desegregated blacks have the higher self-esteem (Cook, 1979:426-427~. Research on the effects of desegregation on the achievement of white students has consistently concluded that their achievement has been unaf- fected (Cook, 1979:429; St. John, 1975~. A number of major reviews of the desegregation achievement literature agree that small gains in black achieve- ment from attendance for 1-2 years in mixed-race schools do occur (Crain and Mahard, 1978; St. John, 1975; Stephan, 1978; Weinberg, 1977~. How- ever, they differed in their estimates of the frequency of such gains. St. John (1975) summarized 64 studies with the conclusion that they provide no assurance of achievement gains. Bradley and Bradley (1977) reached the same conclusion. Stephan (1978) stated that of the 34 studies he examined, two- thirds showed no positive effect. Weinberg (1977), concentrating on 49 studies of planned desegregation (omitting studies of other mixed-race schools), judged that 60 percent of them showed achievement gains for blacks. Assessing 73 studies of this type, Crain and Mahard (1978) found positive effects in from one-half to two-thirds of the cases. Cook (1979:428) concluded that positive gains were more frequent than negative ones, and achievement gains were most consistent "~1) when desegregation is required by official policy; (2) when students begin their education in desegregated schools; (3) when cumulative rather than short-term gains are emphasized" (see also Crain and Mahard, 1978; Weinberg, 1977~. An analysis by Crain and Mahard (1983) of the relationship between desegregation and achievement test scores dealt with 323 samples from 93 ~ , 1 1 1 _ 1_ ~ studies in 67 cities. Gains tor black students on stanuara~zea acmevemen~ test scores (or grade equivalents) outnumbered losses, 173 to 98. Both the percentage of samples showing positive changes in academic achievement and the size of the effects were larger in the studies that had the more rigorous research designs (e.g., random assignment, longitudinal data). The findings imolv that many studies have underestimated the positive effects because of methodological defects in sampling, design, or techniques of analysis. Such problems may well account for the large variation in findings. Further support for positive effects comes from what to date is probably the most thorough analysis of the available research literature (see Wachter, 1988~. ~-rid ~ 374

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS BLACK FACULTY IN HIGHER EDUCATION Underrepresentation of black faculty at predominantly white colleges and universities continues to be significant. A recent report noted that in 1960, blacks comprised 3 percent of all college and university faculty and were heavily concentrated in the historically black institutions; in 1968-1969, the percentage had fallen to 2.2 percent of all college and university faculty. In the early 1980s, blacks were less than 5 percent of the full-time faculty at predominantly white universities (Exum, 1983:385~. Figures for 1977-1983 show a drop of 6.2 percent in the number of full-time black faculty at public 4-year institutions and of 11.3 percent at private institutions. Black under- representation is greatest at elite universities and at 2-year colleges. There is little prospect for growth in black representation in light of the declines in both the percentage of blacks going on to college and the Percentage Dursu- ing graduate and professional degrees. ~1 1 r 1 . . O r ~-D- i- ~lack faculty are concentrated in certain fields. Despite a shift toward majors in business and other fields, black faculty remain concentrated in education and the social sciences. Yet, even in these areas of greatest concen- tration, blacks remain underrepresented. Career development, evaluation, and promotion of black faculty have fal- tered since the early 1970s. In the 1980s, the percentage of blacks holding doctorates who have pursued academic careers is on the decline, and black promotion rates among those pursuing academic careers are lower than those for whites or other minority groups. Recruitment efforts falter for many reasons. Menges and Exum (1983) noted that efforts to recruit faculty from groups traditionally underrepresented in academia tend to focus on setting goals and making an initial appointment. Yet both the setting and meeting of such goals are problematic: the information needed to estimate the size of the pool of possible candidates is often lacking, and there may be great variability in whether any goal set is viewed as a minimum or a maximum target, whether goals are to be applied university-wide or on a department- by-department basis, and whether goals are accompanied by effective adver . . . . . . tong anc recruiting techniques. Once blacks are added to the ranks of tenure-track faculty, problems of career development, evaluation, and promotion arise. Menges and Exum (1983) reported that black faculty are likely to encounter six types of prob- lems that put them at a special disadvantage: lack of seniority, greater non- teaching responsibilities than whites, dual appointments, different research interests, lack of social networks, and conflict over affirmative action. First, as a result of lack of seniority, black faculty are in vulnerable positions if faculty reductions take place. Second, black faculty members often face greater service demands than whites, for counseling black students, working on professional groups and activities, and serving on various departmental and university committees. Such demands on the time of black faculty can reduce the time available for work on research and teaching. Because many of their duties are similar, black and white faculty shared several career-related 375

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY sources of stress, such as high personal expectations for research productivity. But black faculty reported a larger number of sources of stress, and the largest black-white differences concerned administrative duties and the lack of institutional rewards for administrative and service work. Thus, black faculty were more likely than whites in the matched sample to report that administrative and student counseling work reduced their time for research and teaching, and that the institution did not provide enough formal re- wards for the service activities they were performing. This poses a dilemma for many black faculty because they were often recruited with the idea that they would perform a larger service role, or were expected to do so, yet ultimately few rewards accrued to such activities. Third, blacks in addition often must divide their energies between a major disciplinary appointment and an appointment in a black or Afro-American studies program or depart ment. Fourth, among the most consistent observations made about black gradu- ate students and faculty, at least in the social sciences and humanities, are a distinctive set of research interests and a degree of dissatisfaction with pre- vailingresearch paradigms. For example, Prestage (1979:768) nosed that black political scientists are likely to bring an "out-group" perspective to their research; Mommsen (1974:109-111) noted that black sociologists tended to concentrate on social problems and race relations issues; and two large edited volumes have attempted to systematize the work and perspec- tives of black psychologists (Boykin et al., 1979~. These differences in per- spectives are accentuated by the recency of a significant black presence in academia, which is related to a fifth problem: blacks tend to lack the support networks crucial to career development and promotion (Merges and Exum, 1983~. Sixth, there is often a value clash over affirmative action (Dingerson et al., 1985; Elmore and Blackburn, 1983; Exum, 1983; Menges and Exum, 1983; Steele and Green, 1976~. Affirmative action pressures have sometimes been interpreted as a challenge to university and departmental autonomy and as a threat to merit standards of evaluation. But the often heated debates over affirmative action have been overdrawn according to some observers: Exum (1983) concluded that most monitoring and compliance evaluation efforts focused on issues of access (e.g., applicant searches and recruitment), but did not extend to departmental procedures for evaluation and promotion (Berry, 1983; Prestage, 1979~. Research indicates no recent change in the rate of faculty and staff hiring of minorities. Dingerson end colleagues (1985) found no evidence of in- creased hiring of blacks for academic administrative positions. In a study of listed positions, their data indicated that blacks and women of either race were hired when additional resources were committed to recruitment and search efforts. The average cost of the hiring process when the position was filled by a nonwhite male exceeded the cost of a traditional hire by about $2,000. Affirmative action goals are sometimes treated as maximum quotas rather 376

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS than minimum targets. A case study by Steele and Green (1976) of a major research university found that the estimated size of the pool of potential minority applicants was related to the number of offers eventually made to minority candidates only among departments that already "had a good track record," and that in many departments minority hiring ceased after reaching the goal level. As Steele and Green explained, "In the case of minorities, the effect of the policy was limited to quota maintenance" (1976:431-432~. POLICY CONTEXT AND CONCLUSIONS Education in the United States has historically been a state and local obligation. With the exception of its important role in the funding of land- grant colleges and black colleges, the federal role in education, until the mid- 1950s, was generally miniscule. Three developments increased the federal role in the field of education. First were civil rights obligations as required by the Supreme Court in the Brown decision of 1954. This was supplemented by many lower federal court rulings requiring desegregation and by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Second was concern for the quality of American educa- tion, accelerated by the Soviet success in orbiting the satellite Sputnik in 1957. This concern led to the National Defense Education Act and to several types of federal assistance encouraging higher quality in American education, particularly in science and mathematics. Third was the concern for poverty that led to the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which launched a number of programs that attempted to improve the educational performance of the poor. The first and third of these factors bear directly on the education of black children. Desegregation was an attempt to fulfi11 constitutional requirements and to improve the educational environment for black children. Because of the economic differences between blacks and whites, programs designed for poor children were in some part programs for black children. However, federal intervention in state and local school systems never was great enough to alter decisively the administration of those systems. In this context, ac- tions at all three levels of government have affected and will continue to affect the schooling of black Americans. Are black Americans receiving an excellent and equal education' We have six major conclusions that pertain to these questions. First, substantial pro- gress has been made toward the provision of high-quality, equal, and inte- grated education. Whether the baseline period is the 1940s, the 1950s, or even as recently as the mid-1960s, the amount, achievement outcomes, and intergroup context (integrated versus segregated) of black schooling have greatly improved. Second, compensatory education programs-Head Start and Chapter I-have overall positive (although sometimes short-term) effects on the academic achievement of disadvantaged students. Programs for pre- school children have a number of positive and long-term effects on subse- quent educational enrollment, achievement, and attainment. Third, however, there remain persistent and large gaps in the schooling 377

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY quality and achievement outcomes of education for blacks and whites. Black high school dropout rates remain higher than those for whites, black per- formance on tests of achievement lags behind that of whites, and blacks remain less likely to attend college and to complete a college degree. After the mid-1970s, the college-going chances of black high school graduates have declined, and the proportion of advanced degrees awarded to blacks has decreased. Fourth, what the schools do substantially affects the amount of learning that takes place. Differences in the schooling process as experienced by black and white students contribute to black-white achievement differences. These differences are closely tied to teacher behavior, school climate and peer group influences, and the content and organization of instruction. Fifth, blacks' status in higher education, as undergraduates, graduates, and faculty, has worsened or stalled since the mid-1970s. Several indicators, in particular college attendance rates, show signs of slippage, with blacks' status deteriorating relative to that of whites and of other minorities. Finally, separation and differential treatment of blacks continue to be widespread in the elementary and secondary schools and, in different forms, . . . . ,~ . . . . . in institutions ot nlgner 1earnmg. These conclusions are based on many kinds of findings. Foremost among these is the fact that measures of educational outcomes (attainment and achievement) of students and teachers reveal substantial gaps between blacks and whites. Blacks on average enter the schools with substantial disadvan- tages in socioeconomic backgrounds and tested achievement levels. The schools do not compensate for these disadvantages. On average, American students leave the schools with black-white achievement gaps not having been appreciably diminished. At the pinnacle of the educational process, blacks' lower life opportunities are manifest in the fact that the odds that a black high school graduate will enter college within a year of graduation are less than one-half the odds of those for a white high school graduate. The large differences in socioeconomic background between blacks and whites are perhaps the most significant factors in accounting for these black- white disparities in educational status. When background differences are combined with such factors as residential separation of blacks and whites, the cumulative impact is very great. Socioeconomic background differences account for significant percentages of the educational achievement and at- tainment differences between blacks and whites-and virtually all of the difference in high school dropout rates. Furthermore, many of the differ- ences in learning among schools has been attributed to differences in the social background of student populations. Blacks' much lower mean social status levels combined with high levels of school segregation (especially among lower status urban blacks) compounds the negative effects of low socioeconomic status on black attainment and achievement levels. Thus, although substantial progress has been made toward the provision of educational resources to blacks, there remain persistent and large gaps in 378

THE SCHOOLI NO OF BLACK AMERICANS the schooling quality and achievement outcomes of education for blacks and whites. Black high school dropout rates remain higher than those for whites, black performance on tests of achievement shows relative gains but lags behind that of whites, and blacks remain less likely to attend college and to complete a college degree. Since the late 1970s, the college-going chances of black high school grad- uates have declined, and the proportion of advanced degrees awarded to blacks has decreased. While we cannot conclude with certainty that the cause has been the significant decline in (real) financial aid grants to students, other reasonable hypotheses can explain only a negligible component of this change. Segregation and differential treatment of blacks continue to be widespread in schools. This segregation has several consequences for students: although school desegregation does not substantially affect the academic performance of white students, it modestly improves black performance (particularly read- ing); when several key conditions are met, intergroup attitudes and relations improve after schools are desegregated; and desegregation is most likely to reduce racial isolation as well as to improve academic and social outcomes for blacks when it is part of a comprehensive and rapid program of change. REFERENCES Alexander, Karl L., Doris Entwisle, and Maxine S. Thompson 1987 School performance, status relations, and the structure of sentiment: bringing the teacher back in. American Sociological Review 52:665-682. Allen, Walter R. 1980 Preludes to attainment: race, sex, and student achievement orientation. Sociolo,gical Quarterly 21(Winter):65-79. Allen, Walter R., Lawrence Bobo, and Paul Flcuranges 1984 Preliminary Report: 1982 Undergraduate Survey of Black Undergraduate Students Attending Predominantly White, State Supported Universities. Center for Afro- American and African Studies, Ann Arbor, Mich. Anderson, Carolyn S. 1982 The search for school climate: a review of the research. Review of Educational Research 52(3):368~20. Arbeiter, Solomon 1986 Minonty enrollment in higher education institutions: a chronological view. Re- search and Development Update. New York: College Board. Aronson, Elliot 1978 The jigsaw Classroom. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications Inc. Banks, W. Curtis, Gregory McQuarter, and Janet L. Hubbard 1977 Task-liking and intnnsic-extnnsic achievement orientations in black adolescents. Journal of Black Psychology 3:61-71. 1979 Toward a reconceptualization of the social-cognitive bases of achievement orien- tations in blacks. Pp. 29~311 in A. Wade Boykin, Anderson J. Franklin, and J. Frank Yates, eds., Research Directions of Black Psychologists. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 379

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THE SCHOOLI NO OF BLACK AMERICANS Getzlaf, Shelly B., Gordon M. Sedlacek, Kathleen A. Kearney, and lane M. Blackwell 1984 Two types of voluntary undergraduate attrition: application of Tinto's model. Research in Higher Education 20(3):257-268. Gibbs, Jewell Taylor 1973 Black students/white university: different expectations. Personnel G~zdance Journal 51~7~:463~69. Gifford, Bernard R. 1986 Excellence and equity in teacher competency testing: a policy perspective. Journal of Negro Education 55(3):251-271. Glazer, Nathan 1986 Education and training programs and poverty. Pp. 152-173 in Sheldon H. Dan- ziger and Daniel H. Weinberg, eds., Fighting Poverty. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Gordon, Edmund W. 1972 Toward defining equality of educational opportunity. Pp. 423-434 in Frederick Mosteller and Daniel P. Moynihan, eds., On Equality of Educational Opportunity. New York: Random House. Gosma, Erica J., Betty A. Dandridge, Michael T. Nettles, and A. Robert Thoeny 1983 Predicting student progression: the influence of race and other student and insti- tutional characteristics on college student performance. Research in Higher Edz~ca- tion 1842~:209-236. GottEredson, Denise C. 1981 Black-white differences in the educational process: what have we learned? Emery can Sociological Renew 46~0ctober):542-557. Hale-Benson, Janice E. 1982 Black Children: Their Roots, Cz~ltz~re, and Learning Styles. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press. Hailer, Emil J., and Sharon A. Davis 1981 Teacher perceptions, parental social status and grouping for reading. Socioto,gy of Education 54:162-174. Hallinan, Maureen 1984 Summary and implications. Pp. 229-240 in Penelope L. Peterson, Louise Cherry Wilkinson, and Maureen Hallinan, eds., The Social Context of Inspection. New York: Academic Press. Hallinger, Philip, and Joseph F. Murphy 1986 The social context of effective schools. American Journal of Education 94~3~:328 355. Hanushek, Eric ~ ~ A A t · r . 1 ~ t . 1 ~ 1 ~ ~ _ __ Ad_ _ L I __ 1972 Edz~catzon and Face: An Analysis of the L~z~catzonal ltoa~z~ctzon process. camonage, Mass.: Heath-Lexington. 1986 The economics of schooling: production and efficiency in the public schools. Joz~rnat of Economic Literature 24(September): 1 141-1 177. Hare, Bruce H. 1985 Reexamining the central tendency: sex differences within race and race difference within sex. Pp. 139-155 in Harriette Pipes McAdoo and John Lewis McAdoo, eds., Black Children: Social, Educational, and Parental Environments. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications Inc. Hare, Bruce R., and Louis A. Castenell , , ~ 1986 No place to run, no place to hide: comparative status and future prospects of black boys. Pp. 201-214 in Margaret B. Spencer, Geraldine K. Brookins, and Walter R. Allen, eds., Beginnings: The Social and Affective Devel~pfnent of Black Children. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum. 383

A COMMON DESTI NY: BLACKS AN D AMERICAN SOCI ETY Hauser, Robert M., and William H. Sewell 1985 Birth order and educational attainment in full sibships. American Educational Research~o?~rnal 22(1):1-23. Hauser, Robert M., William H. Sewell, and Duane F. Alwin 1976 High school effects on achievement. Pp. 309-341 in William H. Sewell, Robert M. Hauser, and David L. Featherman, eds., Schooling and Achievement in American Society. New York: Academic Press. Hayes, Donald P. 1988 Speaking and writing: distinct patterns of word choice. Journal of Memory and Late 27:572-585. Heyns, Barbara 1974 Pupil selection and stratification within schools. American Journal of Sociology 79(6): 1434-1451. Holmes Group 1986 Tomorrow's Teachers: A Report of the Holmes Group. East Lansing, Mich.: Holmes Group, Inc. Hout, Michael, and William R. Morgan 1975 Race and sex variations in the causes of the expected attainments of high school seniors. American Journal of Sociology 81(2):364-394. Howell, Frank M., and Wolfgang Frese 1979 Race, sex, and aspirations: evidence for the 'race convergence' hypothesis. Sociology of Education 52(January):34~6. Hueftle, S. J., S. J. Rakow, and W. W. Welch 1983 Images of Science: A S?~mma~y of Res?vltsirom the 1981-82 National Assessment in Science. Minneapolis: Minnesota Research and Evaluation Center. Jaynes, Gerald D. 1986 Gramm-Rudman and black education. Black Ent~rtnse (May):39. Jencks, Christopher 1986 Comment. Pp. 173-179 in Sheldon H. Danziger and Daniel H. Weinberg, ads., Fighting Poverty. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Johnson, Martin L. 1984 Blacks in mathematics: a status report. Journalfor Research in Mathematics Education 15(2):145-153. Johnson, Sylvia T. 1987 Extra-School Factors in Achievement, Attainment, and Aspirations Among Junior and Senior High School-Aged Black Youth. Paper prepared for the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. Jones, Lyle V. 1987 The influence on mathematics test scores, by ethnicity and sex, of prior achieve- ment and high school mathematics courses. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education 18:180-186. Jones, Lyle V., Nancy Burton, and Ernest C. Davenport 1984 Monitoring the mathematics achievement of black students. Jo?~rnalfor Research in Mathematics Education 1 5 (2): 1 54- 1 64. Kar~veit, Nancy 1983 Time-on-Task: A Research Review. Report No. 332. Center for Social Organiza- tion of Schools, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. 1986 Elementary Education and Black Americans: Raising the Odds. Paper prepared for the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. 384

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS Kerckhoff, Alan C., and Richard T. Campbell 1977a Black-white differences in the educational attainment process. Sociology of Ed?~ca- tion 50(January):15-27. 1977b Race and social status differences in the explanation of educational ambition. Social Forces 55(3):701-714. Kirsch, Irwin S., and Ann Jungeblut 1986 Literacy: Bob les of American's Found Adults. Princeton, N.J.: Educational Testing ~ . service. Klitgaard, Robert E., and George R. Hall 1974 Are there unusually effective schools? Journal of Human Resources 10~1) :90-106. Leacock, Eleanor 1970 Education, socialization, and the 'culture of poverty.' In Annette T. Rubinstein, ea., Schools Against Children: The Case for Community Control. New York: Monthly Review Press. Levin, Henry M. 1986 The educationally disadvantaged are still among us. Educational Leadership 44(6): 19-21. Lezotte, Lawrence, and Beverly A. Bancroft 1985 Growing use of the effective schools model of school improvement. Educational Leadership (May):23-27. Lightfoot, Sara Lawrence 1983 The Good High School: Portraits of Character and Culture. New York: Basic Books. Linn, Robert L., George F. Madaus, and Joseph J. Pedulla 1982 Minimum competency testing: cautions on the state of the art. Amman Journal of Education 91: 1-35. Longshore, Douglas, and Jeffrey Prager 1985 The impact of school desegregation: a situational analysis. Annual Renew of Sociology 11:75-91. Madaus, George F., and Vincent Greaney 1985 The Irish experience in competency testing: implications for American educa- tion. American Journal of Education 93 :268-294. Marrett, Cora Bagley 1987 Black and Native American students in precollege mathematics and science. Pp. 7-32 in Linda S. Dix, ea., Minorities: Their Underrepresentation and Career Differ- entials in Science and Engineering, proceedings of a Workshop. Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. Massey, Grace C., Asa G. Hilliard, and Jean Carew 1982 Test-taking behaviors of black toddlers: an interactive analysis. Pp. 163-179 in L. Feagans and D. C. Farran, eds., The Lang~e of Children Reared in Poverty. New York: Academic Press. Matthews, Westina 1984 Influences on the learning and participation of minorities in mathematics. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education 1 5 (2~: 84-95 . McDermott, R. P. 1974 Achieving school failure: an anthropological approach to illiteracy and social stratification. Pp. 82-118 in George O. Spindler, ea., Education and Cultural process. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Menges, Robert J., and William H. Exum 1983 Barriers to the progress of women and minority faculty. Journal of Higher Ed?~ca- tion 54~2~:123-144. 385

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY Mercer, Jane R. 1974 Latent functions of intelligence testing in the public schools. Pp. 77-94 in L. Miller, ea., The Testing of Buck Students. Englewood Cliffs, N.~.: Prentice-Hall. Miller, Scott E., and Holly Hexter 1985 How Low Income Families Payfor College. Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education. Mommsen, Kent G. 1973 On recruiting black sociologists. American Sociolo,gist 8(August):107-116. 1974 Black Ph.Ds in the academic marketplace: supply, demand, and price. Journal of H`igher Education 45~4) :253-267. Moore, Elsie G. J. 1982 Language behavior in the test situation and the intelligence test achievement of transracially and traditionally adopted black children. Pp. 141-162 in L. Feagans and D. C. Farran, eds., The Lang~e of Children Reared in Poverty. New York: Academic Press. 1986 Family socialization and IQ test performance of traditionally and transracially adopted black children. Developmental Psychology 22:317-326. 1987 Ethnic social milieu and black children's intelligence test achievement. fo?'rnal of Negro Education 56~1j:11 52. Mosteller, Frederick, and Daniel P. Moynihan 1972 A pathbreaking report. Pp. 3-66 in Frederick Mosteller and Daniel P. Moynihan, eds., On Equality of Educational Opportunity. New York: Random House. Mullin, S. P., and Anita Summers 1983 Is more better? The effectiveness of spending on compensatory education. Phi Delta Kappa 64:339-347. Murnane, Richard. J. 1975 The Impact of School Resources on the Learning of Inner City Children. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger. Myers, David E. 1987 Changes in Achievement Levels and Attendance in Postsecondary Schools: A Technical Note. Washington, D.C.: Decison Resources Corporation. Nettles, Michael T., A. Robert Thoeny, and Erica J. Gosman 1986 Comparative and predictive anaylses of black and white students' college achieve- ment and experiences. Journal of Higher Education 5743) :289-318. Norman-Jackson, Jacquelyn 1982 Family interactions, language development, and primary reading achievement of black children in families of low income. Child Development 53:349-358. Oakes, Jeannie 1982 Classroom social relationships: exploring the Bowles Gintis hypothesis. Sociology of Education 55~4~:197-212. 1983 Limiting opportunity: student race and curricular differences in secondary voca- tional education. American Journal of Education 91~3~:328-355. Ogbu, John U. 1974 The Next Generation: An Ethno,graphy of Education in an Urban Neighborhood. New York: Academic Press. 1978 Minority Education and Caste: The American System in Cross-Cultural Perspective. New York: Academic Press. 1986 The consequences of the American caste system. Pp. 19-56 in Ulric Neisser, ea., The School Achievement of Minority Children: New Perspectives. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erl- baum. 386

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS Olneck, Michael R., and David B. Bills 1979 Family configuration and achievement: effects of birth order and family size in a sample of brothers. SocialP~cholo~py Quarterly42~2~:135-147. Pallas, Aaron M. 1986 Extra-School Factors in the Achievement of Black Adolescents. Paper prepared for the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. 1987 Black-White Differences in Adolescent Educational Outcomes. Paper prepared for the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. Pederson, Eigil, Therese Annette Faucher, and William W. Eaton 1978 A new perspective on the effects of first-grade teachers on children's subsequent adult status. Harvard Educational Renew 48:1-31. Petroni, F. A. 1970 Uncle Toms: white stereotypes in the black movement. Human Organization 29(4) :260-266. Petroni, F. A., and E. A. Hirsch 1970 Two, Four, Six, Eight, When ~0?~ Gonna Integrate? New York: Behavioral Publications. Porter, James N. 1974 Race, socialization and mobility in educational and early occupational attain- ment. Ammcan Sociological Renew 39(June):303-316. Portes, Alexandro, and Kenneth L. Wilson 1976 Black-white differences in educational attainment. American Sociological Renew 41 (June) :414-431. Prestage, Jewel L. 1979 Quelling the mythical revolution in higher education: retreat from the affirmative action concept. Journal of Politics 1:763-783. Purkey, Stewart C., and Marshall S. Smith 1983 Effective schools: a review. Elementary School Journal 83~4~:427-452. 1985 School reform: the district policy implications of the effective schools literature. Elementary School~onrnal 85~3) :353-389. Rist, Ray C. 1970 Student social class and teacher expectations: the self-fulf fling prophecy in ghetto schools. Harvard Educational Redid 40~3~:411-451. Scarr, Sandra, and Richard A. Weinberg 1978 The influence of 'family background' on intellectual attainment. American Socks logical Renew 43~0ctober):674-692. Scheinfeld, Daniel R. 1983 Family relationships and school achievement among boys of lower-income urban black families. American Journal of Orthopsychiany 53~1~:127-143. Scott-Jones, Diane 1987a Black Families and the Education of Black Children: Current Issues. Paper pre- pared for the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. 1987b Mother-as-teacher in the families of high- and low-achieving low-income first graders. Journal of Negro Education 56~1~:21-34. Serow, Robert C. 1984 Effects of minimum competency testing for minority students: a review of expec- tations and outcomes. Urloan Renew 16~2~:67-75. 387

A COMMON DESTINY: BLACKS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY Sewell, William H., and Robert M. Hauser 1980 The Wisconsin longitudinal study of social and psychological factors in aspirations and achievements. Pp. 59-99 in Alan C. Kerckhoff, ea., Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization. Vol. I. Greenwood, Conn.: JAI Press. Shade, Barbara J. 1978 Social-psychological characteristics of achieving black children. Ne,gro Educational Renew 2942~:80-86. 1982 Afro-American cognitive style: a variable in school success? Renew of Educational Research 52~2~:219-244. Shade, Barbara J., and Patricia A. Edwards 1987 Ecological correlates of the educative style of Afro-American children. Journal of Negro Education 5641~:88-99. Sharan, S., and Y. Sharan 1976 Small Group Teaching. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Educational Technology Publications. Sieber, R. Timothy 1982 The politics of middle-class success in an inner-city public school. Journal of Education 16441~:30-47. Skerry, Peter 1983 The charmed life of Head Start. The Public Interest 73 (Fall): 18-39. Slaughter, Diane 1969 Maternal antecedents of the academic achievement behaviors of Afro-American Head Start children. Educational Horizons (Fall):24-28. Slavin, Robert E. 1978 Effects of Student Teams and Peer Tutoring on Academic Achievement and Time- on-Task. Report No. 253. Center for Social Organization of Schools, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. 1980 Cooperative learning in teams: state of the art. Education Psychology 15:93-111. Smith, Donald H. 1981 Social and academic environments of black students on white campuses. Journal of Negro Education 50(3) :299-306. Sowell, Thomas 1972 Black Education: Myths and Tragedies. New York: McKay. Spady, William G. 1973 The impact of school resources on students. Pp. 135-177 in Fred N. Kerlinger, ea., Renew of Research in Education. Vol. I. Itasca, Ill.: F. E. Peacock. Steele, Claude M., and Stephen G. Green 1976 Affirmative action and academic hiring: a case of a value conflict. Journal of Higher Education 47~4~:413-435. Stephan, Walter G. 1978 School desegregation: an evaluation of predictions made in Brown vs. Board of Education. Psychological Bulletin 85:217-238. St. John, N. H. 1975 School Dese,gre,gation: Outcomes for Children. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Summers, Anita A., and Barbara J. Wolff 1977 Do schools make a difference? American Economic Renew 67(September):639-652. Svanum, Soren, Robert G. Bringle, and Joan E. McLaughlin 1982 Father absence and cognitive performance in a large sample of six- to eleven-year- old children. Child Development 53: 136-143. Taylor, Howard F. 1980 The I.Q. Game: A Methodological Inquiry into the Heredity-Environment Controversy. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. 388

THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS Thomas, Gail E. 1987 Black students in U.S. graduate and professional schools in the 1980s: a national and institutional assessment. Harvard Educational Review 5743~:261-282. Thomas, Gail E., Karl L. Alexander, and Bruce K. Eckland 1979 Access to higher education: the importance of race, sex, social class and academic credentials. School Renew 87:133-156. Trent, William T. 1984 Equity considerations in higher education: race and sex differences in degree attainment and major field from 1976 through 1981. American Journal of Education 41 (May) :280-305. Valentine, Charles A. 1971 Deficit, difference, and bicultural models of Afro-American behavior. Harvard Ed?~cationalReriew 41(2):137-157. Wachter, Kenneth W. 1988 Disturbed by meta-analysis. Science 241 (Sept. 16~:1407-1408. Weber, G. 1971 Inner-City Children Can Be Taught to Read: Four S?'ccessfiul Schools. Washington, D.C.: Council for Basic Education. Weinberg, M. 1977 Minority Students: A Research Appraisal. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Education. Willie, Charles V., and Donald Cunnigen 1981 Black students in higher education: a review of studies, 1965-1980. Annual Review of Sociology 7:177-198. Wilson, Kenneth L. 1979 The effects of integration and class on black educational attainment. Sociology of Education 52(April):84-98. Wolfle, Lee M. 1985 Postsecondary educational attainment among whites and blacks. American Ed?~ca- tional Research Journal 22~4~:501-525. Zirkel, Perry A. 1971 Self-concept and the disadvantage of ethnic group membership and mixture. Reproof EducationalResearch 41:211-225. 389

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"[A] collection of scholars [has] released a monumental study called A Common Destiny: Blacks and American Society. It offers detailed evidence of the progress our nation has made in the past 50 years in living up to American ideals. But the study makes clear that our work is far from over." —President Bush, Remarks by the president to the National Urban League Conference

The product of a four-year, intensive study by distinguished experts, A Common Destiny presents a clear, readable "big picture" of blacks' position in America. Drawing on historical perspectives and a vast amount of data, the book examines the past 50 years of change and continuity in the status of black Americans. By studying and comparing black and white age cohorts, this volume charts the status of blacks in areas such as education, housing, employment, political participation and family life.

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