Fall 2008
Interdisciplinary Training Seminar in Education Sciences

Race/Ethnic Inequality in Education:
Causal Mechanisms and Tested Responses

Sociology 875
Fridays, 12:00-1:30 p.m.
Education Sciences bldg

Background Readings (see bottom of page for list of references):

Gamoran, A. (2001). America Schooling and Educational Inequality
KewalRami, A., et al (2007). Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities (NCES 2007-039).

SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS AND READINGS

September 5 : Meeting in Room 259, Ed Sciences

Ruth Lopez Turley, Sociology, "The Role of Familism in Explaining the Hispanic-White College Application Gap"

(Turley's paper available upon request)

September 12 : Meeting in Room 259, Ed Sciences

Lynn Okagaki, Commissioner of Education Research, U.S. Department of Education, "Closing Achievement Gaps: Solution-Driven Research"

Dr. Okagaki will also lead a workshop for faculty and staff on seeking funding from IES, 2:30-4:00 p.m., 259 Ed Sciences building

September 19 : Meeting in Room 1161, Ed Sciences

Sarah Bruch, ITP Fellow, Sociology, "Racial Differences in Educational Outcomes: An Examination of Structure and Process"

September 26 : Meeting in Room 253, Ed Sciences

Samuel R. Lucas, Sociology, UC Berkeley, "Constrained Opportunity! Varied Preferences! Some Evidence Bearing on Two Explanations of Racial Inequality"

October 3: Meeting in Room 259

Angel Harris, Sociology, Princeton University, & WCER Visiting Minority Scholar, "A Search for Oppositional Culture"

Readings:
Harris (2006), "I [Don't] Hate School"
Harris & Robinson (2007), "Schooling Behaviors or Prior Skills? "

October 10 : Meeting in Room 259

Meir Yaish, Sociology, Haifa University, "Palestinian-Jewish Inequality in Education in Israel: Proposal for a Critical Test of Resistance Theory in Education"

October 17 : Meeting in 13th floor boardroom

Megan Andrew and Robert Hauser, Sociology, "Evaluating the 'Strategic' Center: Race-Ethnic Differences in Applying and Updating Educational Expectations"

October 24: Meeting in Room 259

Mark Seidenberg, Psychology, "Language Background and School Achievement"

October 31: Meeting in 13th floor boardroom

Katherine Magnuson, Social Work, "Steady Gains, Stalled Progress: Inequality and the Black-White Test Score Gap"

November 7: Meeting in Room 259

Anna Haskins, ITP Fellow, Sociology, "Effects of Paternal Incarceration on Children's Academic Achievement"

November 14 : Meeting in 13th floor boardroom

Julie Washington, Communicative Disorders, "Emergent Literacy in African American Children"

Reading:
Washington & Thomas-Tate, "How Research Informs Cultural-Linguistic Differences in the Classroom: The Bi-Dialectal African American Child" (distributed to seminar via email).

November 21: Meeting in Room 259

Derek Neal, Economics, University of Chicago, "The Use of Incentives in Education."

Reading:
Neal, "Designing Incentive Systems for Schools"

November 28: NO MEETING--Thanksgiving

December 5: Meeting in 13th floor boardroom

Mustafa Emirbayer, Sociology, "Theories of Racial Domination: Implications for Educational Inequality"

Readings:
Bonilla-Silva, "Rethinking Racism"
Loveman, "Is 'Race' Essential?"
Bonilla-Silva, "The Essential Social Fact of Race"

December 12: Meeting in Room 259

Nicholas Mader, ITP Fellow, Economics, "School Competition and Academic Quality : Evidence from Milwaukee."

Reading:
Mader, "School Competition and Academic Quality"

References

Bonilla-Silva, E. (1997). Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation. ASR 62, 465-80.

Bonilla-Silva, E. (1999). The Essential Social Fact of Race. ASR 64, 899-906.

Desmond, M. & López Turley, R. N. (2009, forthcoming). The Role of Familism in Explaining the Hispanic-White College Application Gap. Social Problems.

Gamoran, A. (2001). America schooling and educational inequality: A Forecast of the 21st century. Sociology of Education, Extra Issue: Currents of Thought: Sociology of Education at the Dawn of the 21st Century, 74: 135-153.

Harris, A. L. (2006). I (Don't) Hate School: Revisiting Oppositional Culture Theory of Black's Resistance to Schooling. Social Forces 85, no. 2 (December): 797-834.

Harris, A. L., & Robinson, K. (2007). Schooling Behaviors or Prior Skills? A Cautionary Tale of Omitted Variable Bias within Oppositional Culture Theory. Sociology of Education 80 (April): 139-157.

KewalRami, A., Gilbertson, L., Fox, M. A., & Provasnik, S. (2007). Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities (NCES 2007-039). National Center of Education Statistics, Institute for Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C.

Loveman, M. (1999). Is 'Race' Essential? ASR 64, 891-898.

Mader, N. (2008, unpublished manuscript). School Competition and Academic Quality: Evidence from Milwaukee.

Magnuson, K., & Waldfogel, J. (2008). Steady Gains and Stalled Progress: Inequality and the Black-White Test Score Gap. Russell Sage Foundation.

Neal, D. (forthcoming). Designing Incentive Systems for Schools. In M. Springer (Ed.) Performance Incentives: Their Growing Impact on American K-12 Education.

Washington, J. A., & Thomas-Tate, S. (book chapter in press). How Research Informs Cultural-Linguistic Differences in the Classroom: The Bi-Dialectal African American Child.