ERIC Number: EJ749493
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 29
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-1245
EISSN: N/A
A Case Study of Teachers' Perceptions of School Desegregation and the Redistribution of Social and Academic Capital
Caldas, Stephen J.; Bankston, Carl L., III; Cain, Judith S.
Education and Urban Society, v39 n2 p194-222 2007
This case study gauges the perceptions of teachers to the "harm and benefit thesis" of Coleman's social-capital hypothesis. The study uses data from one de facto segregated southern school system that hastily implemented a court order in 2000. The study collects the perceptions of teachers at five predominantly middle-class White schools that received 460 lower socioeconomic status African American students ordered bussed when their inner-city schools were closed. Sixty-percent of the teachers feel that the African American students are better off in the White schools. However, only 11% feel that the White students are better off than before the busing. Open-ended responses reveal that most teacher comments are negative, with fully 40% of teachers specifically indicating that busing had increased discipline problems. The study findings undermine the notion that transferring Black students to majority White schools is necessarily a superior pedagogical strategy.
Descriptors: Busing, White Students, School Desegregation, Discipline Problems, African American Students, Case Studies, Teacher Attitudes, Social Capital, Court Litigation, Socioeconomic Status, Student Behavior
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A