Community influences on E/BD student achievement

No Child Left Behind has mandated that all students reach proficiency by 2014. This mandate places special emphasis on the performance of special education students. The purpose of this study is to use social theory to understand the factors that explain the achievement of emotionally or behaviorally disordered (E/BD) students. Results suggest a differential effect of neighborhood composition on the development of social ties for Black and White E/BD students. The author argues for an increased awareness of the development of within-school social ties that integrate groups. © 2008 Corwin Press, Inc.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Effects of Different-Race Exposure in School and Neighborhood on the Reading Achievement of Hmong Students in the United States

Based on analyses of 1,622 Hmong adolescents in a large urban school district, we illuminate a positive association between school differentrace exposure and Hmong limited English proficient students’ reading achievement. However, we also note a negative association of neighborhood different-race exposure with Hmong students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. These findings suggest that even if school differentrace exposure opportunities are developed through racially diverse schools, this does not necessarily lead to desirable interracial social ties between Hmong students and mainstream English-speaking students. Rather, Hmong students from low SES backgrounds are more likely to benefit academically when they reside in predominantly Hmong neighborhoods

A social network analysis of acting white

Using social network and interview data, this case study illuminates why acting White did not apply to students at a predominantly Somali African American school in the U.S. Specifically, this case study shows that high-achieving Somali working-class students were not isolated from their peer networks in their school. Furthermore, this study suggests that Acting White may be not applicable to schools where schools are structurally small-sized, culturally college-bound, and ethnically-homogenous. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex