Doctoral Dissertation Research: Race, Achievement and Trust in Student-Teacher Relationships

教育方面的种族不平等在美国由来已久。这段历史最持久的表现就是种族成就差距。该项目将从种族隔离、高度贫困学校的黑人学生的角度来解决种族成绩差距问题。更具体地说，本研究探讨了信任如何影响他们与教师的关系质量及其教育成果。这项研究的前提是信任可以成为改善弱势学生的学习经历和学业成绩的杠杆。先前的研究表明，信任是有效和有凝聚力的学校社区的重要组成部分。然而，现有的许多关于这个主题的研究都没有从学生的角度考虑信任。对于对教育中的种族不平等和更广泛的青年不平等感兴趣的研究人员来说，信任应该是一个关注的话题，因为研究表明，普遍的不信任感可能会巩固由更大的中观和宏观层面的力量引发的劣势。认识到信任在塑造一个人的生活机会方面的力量，一项关于黑人年轻人信任老师的倾向（即学生对老师的信任）的研究被认为是他们的教育成果和未来福祉的潜在重要决定因素。本论文的目的有三个。首先，这项工作旨在调查信任对学生个人和学校的学术后果。其次，这项工作将研究学生对老师信任（不）信任的原因，并揭示信任与学生成绩之间的联系机制。最后，通过关注青少年，这项研究将推进有关信任的社会科学文献的发展，迄今为止，信任的社会科学文献一直专注于成人的经历。为了实现这些目标，这项混合方法研究将分两个阶段进行。第一阶段需要对纽约市 (NYC) 公立学校的调查和管理数据进行定量分析。该分析将阐明学生、教师的信任与学校层面的成就之间的关系，并将确定研究第二阶段的比较案例研究学校。第二阶段需要对纽约市四所公立高中的 48 名学生和 20 名教育工作者进行半结构化深入访谈。这些访谈将允许检查人际层面的信任。虽然这项研究以师生关系为中心，但它将提供对青年信任和不平等过程的深入了解，这些过程可以应用于其他制度环境（例如司法系统）。研究结果还将强调教育工作者和其他权威人士如何利用信任作为更好地吸引社会边缘青年的工具。

Racial inequality in education has a long history in the United States. The most persistent manifestation of this history is the racial achievement gap. This project will address the racial achievement gap from the vantage point of black students in racially segregated, high-poverty schools. More specifically, this study examines how trust shapes the quality of their relationships with teachers and their educational outcomes. This research is guided by the premise that trust can be a lever for improving the schooling experiences and academic performance of disadvantaged students. Prior studies demonstrate that trust is a salient component of effective and cohesive school communities. However, much of the existing research on this topic fails to consider trust from the perspective of students. Trust should be a topic of concern for researchers interested in racial inequality in education and youth inequality more broadly, since research suggests that pervasive feelings of distrust can cement disadvantage initiated by larger meso-and marco-level forces. Recognizing the power of trust in shaping one?s life chances, a study of black young people's propensity to trust their teachers (i.e., student?teacher trust) is warranted as a potentially significant determinant of their educational outcomes and future well-being.The aims of this dissertation are threefold. First, this work sets out to investigate the academic consequences of trust both for individual students and schools. Second, this work will examine the causes of students' (dis)trust in their teachers and reveal the mechanisms linking trust to student achievement. Finally, by focusing on youth, this study will advance the social science literature on trust, which to date has been preoccupied with the adult experience. To address these aims, this mixed-method study will proceed in two phases. Phase one entails a quantitative analysis of survey and administrative data on New York City (NYC) public schools. This analysis will illuminate the relationship between student?teacher trust and achievement at the school-level and will identify comparative case study schools for phase two of the study. Phase two entails semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 48 students and 20 educators across four NYC public high schools. These interviews will permit an examination of trust on the interpersonal level. While this study is centered on the student-teacher relationship, it will provide insight into processes of youth trust and inequality that can be applied to other institutional settings (e.g., the justice system). Study findings will also highlight how educators and other authority figures can harness trust as a tool for better engaging youth on the social margins.