Doctoral Dissertation Research: Relational Cultures, Inequality and Belonging: Race, Class and Teacher-Student Relationships in Two U.S. High Schools

研究表明，少数民族学生与教师的关系是美国学校种族成就差距的一个驱动因素。与教师关系密切的学生在学业上表现更好。然而，少数民族学生经历更多的负面和更少的关怀与教师的关系比大多数同龄人。本项目探讨了在师生关系中产生这些种族差异的社会过程。越来越多的研究表明，学校的种族和班级组成起着作用：拥有更多多数和更高SES学生的学校总体上有更强的师生关系，但多数和少数民族学生之间的成就差距也更大，而拥有更多少数民族和较低SES学生的学校总体上关系较弱，但差距也较小。目前的方法无法解释：（1）占主导地位的少数民族学校和占主导地位的多数民族学校在发展师生关系方面有何不同;（2）在这些不同的环境中，多数民族学生和少数民族学生与教师的关系有何不同。本项目通过对一所以多数民族为主的高中和一所以少数民族为主的高中进行民族志比较来解决这些关键因素。这项研究将扩大不平等的知识，展示如何形成，保持关系，并在学校环境中给予不同的结果为多数和少数民族学生的意义。该项目将通过确定支持或限制师生关系发展的具体学校和课堂机制，为教育改革的设计和实施提供信息。该项目虽然侧重于学校中的关系文化和不平等现象，但也对刑事司法系统和工作场所等其他组织环境中的青年-成人关系产生影响，从而也涉及这些环境中的政策。这个项目认为，学校有一个关系文化，包括共同的期望和实践塑造教师和学生之间的互动。该项目分析了教师和学生之间看似平等的关系如何在不同的学校采取不同的形式，对学生的成绩产生重要影响。本研究透过学校间的比较，分析：1）关系文化是如何被种族化并因社会阶层而有所差异; 2）关系文化是如何造成多数族群与少数族群学生与教师关系的差异; 3）学生与教师的关系是如何影响他们的学校经验与成果。为了解决这些问题，本项目利用8个月的日常观察和深入访谈教师（N=40），学生（N=96），和管理人员（N=20）在一个多数白色高中和一个多数少数民族高中。使用Atlas.TI对数据进行分析，以获得编码和主题，捕捉案例之间和案例内部的相似性和差异性。 该项目的研究结果将为关系文化、不平等制度和组织流程方面的社会学理论提供信息，特别是对于多数-少数集中度不同的组织。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Research identifies minority students’ relationships with teachers as one driver of racial achievement gaps in American schools. Students with strong teacher relationships perform better academically. However, minority students experience more negative and less caring relationships with teachers than majority peers. This project addresses the social processes producing these racial disparities in teacher-student relationships. A growing body of research suggests the race and class composition of schools plays a role: schools with more majority and higher SES students have stronger teacher-student relationships overall but also wider achievement gaps between majority and minority students while schools with more minority and lower SES students have weaker relationships overall but also less disparity. Current approaches cannot explain 1) how predominantly minority and majority schools differ in developing teacher-student relationships overall and 2) how majority and minority students’ relationships with teachers vary within these differing environments. This project addresses these crucial factors through a comparative ethnography of a predominantly majority high school and a predominantly minority high school. This study will expand knowledge of inequality by showing how relationships are formed, maintained, and given meaning in school environments with varying outcomes for majority and minority students. The project will inform the design and implementation of educational reforms through identifying specific school-and classroom-level mechanisms that either support or constrain the development of teacher-student relationships. While focusing on relational cultures and inequality in schools, this project also has implications for youth-adult relationships in other organizational settings, such as in the criminal justice system and the workplace, thus implicating policies in these settings, as well. This project argues that schools have a relational culture, encompassing shared expectations and practices shaping interactions between teachers and students. The project analyzes how seemingly equivalent relationships between teachers and students can take varying forms in different schools with important implications for student outcomes. Through comparing across schools, this project analyzes: 1) how relational cultures are racialized and differentiated by social class, 2) how relational cultures produce differences in majority and minority students’ relationships with teachers, and 3) how students' relationships with teachers impact their school experience and outcomes. To address these questions, this project utilizes eight months of daily observations and in-depth interviews with teachers (N=40), students (N=96), and administrators (N=20) at one majority white high school and one majority-minority high school. Data are analyzed using Atlas.TI to derive coding and themes capturing the similarities and differences across and within the cases. Findings from the project will inform sociological theories regarding relational cultures, inequality regimes, and organizational processes, particularly for organizations varying in majority-minority concentration.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.