ERIC Number: EJ1110235
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1066-5684
EISSN: N/A
Equity Traps Redux: Inequitable Access to Foreign Language Courses for African American High School Students
Schoener, Herbert Joseph, III; McKenzie, Kathryn Bell
Equity & Excellence in Education, v49 n3 p284-299 2016
Although much of the current educational research literature on achievement gaps has focused on core curricular areas in public schools, few have focused on racially identifiable gaps in non-core areas such as high school foreign languages. These achievement, and thus advancement, gaps often result in the under-representation of students of color in higher level foreign language classes. This can have long-range negative consequences for students, such as lacking the foreign language credits needed for admission into major universities. Thus, in this qualitative study, we researched the perceptions of teachers, counselors, and school leaders at a racially diverse urban high school in central Texas concerning the enrollment, achievement, and advancement of African American students in high school foreign language courses. The results indicate that equity traps--deficit views, racial erasure, and paralogical beliefs and behaviors--advanced over a decade ago (McKenzie & Scheurich, 2004) are continuing and even thriving among teachers, counselors, and school leaders in public schools. These equity traps contribute to the foreign language achievement gap, resulting in diminished educational opportunities for African American students. Moreover, we propose that an additional equity trap is at play--organizational constraints--which are the structural obstacles that serve to abet and perpetuate the negative beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, and assumptions exposed in the original equity traps. We conclude this article with recommendations for policy makers and practitioners and offer direction for future research.
Descriptors: African American Students, High School Students, Second Language Instruction, Equal Education, Qualitative Research, Teacher Attitudes, Administrator Attitudes, Counselor Attitudes, Urban Schools, Racial Bias, Access to Education, Achievement Gap, Public Schools, Interviews, Focus Groups, Social Bias, Beliefs, School Policy, Barriers, Ability, Ability Grouping, Counseling Techniques
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Texas
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A