RAPID: The Critical Ninth Grade Transition: Opportunities and Risks

本研究的目的是跟踪一大批不同种族的初中生从关键的中学到高中的过渡过程。因为九年级的成绩往往对预测年轻人是留在高中还是辍学至关重要，所以该项目的首要目标是捕捉学生在这个重要关头的经历。大样本(n=1900)包括拉丁裔、非裔美国人、亚洲/太平洋岛民、白人和将于2012年秋季过渡到高中的多种族青年。这些高中预计将包括种族/民族多样性，以便在高中过渡期间测试种族/民族多样性的社会和学术益处以及挑战。将收集三个与成就有关的进程的数据。第一个过程是九年级的学术课程模式，包括成绩和获得的学分。由于高中数学在很大程度上是完成高中学业和准备上大学的门户，因此将特别关注9年级的数学课程(例如，学生是否参加了代数I，因此是否按时进入大学，以及他们是否在9年级通过了这门课程)。第二个过程是学术经历的种族主义程度，特别是选课可能会将学生按种族/民族区分开来的方式。已经开发了新的措施，可以准确估计个别学生在多大程度上与相同的同龄人进行学术指导，以及他们的学术课程在多大程度上代表了高中的种族/民族多样性。第三个过程是通过接触跨种族/民族同龄人提供的社会资本。据推测，非裔美国人和拉丁裔学生在不同的高中可能表现得更好，因为他们通过跨种族的联系获得了关于学术机会的重要知识(例如，参加什么课程，SAT准备)。因此，跨种族关系可以作为同龄人的社会资本，促进重要的教育信息跨越种族/民族边界的流动。通过研究这三个与成就相关的过程(选课模式，选课是否将学生按种族/民族隔离，并将同龄人作为社会资本)，这项研究可以为有色人种青少年在谈判高中过渡时面临的挑战，以及在何种条件下更大的学校种族多样性可以缓冲其中一些挑战提供新的见解。该项目从三个方面阐述了NSF衡量更广泛影响的标准。首先，这项研究试图了解如何组织大型城市多族裔公立高中，以增加或阻碍种族和少数民族青少年获得能力和培养对STEM相关主题的兴趣的机会。如果学生在高中期间没有足够的准备和信心，他们在大学攻读STEM领域的可能性就会大大降低。其次，该项目将特别关注适应力强的年轻人，以及成功完成高中学业的先驱，即使是那些有高辍学风险的人。这样的结果可能会对发展实践产生有益的影响，以促进所有学生的学术参与和大学准备。第三，这项研究可以提供变革性的方式来思考种族/民族多样性的含义和衡量标准，以及即使在不同的环境中也有机会与不同种族/民族背景的同龄人互动。这一观点可用于其他社会环境中的研究，在这些社会环境中，增加种族多样性的影响是一个主要问题，并有助于对多样性科学进行新的思考。

The purpose of this research is to follow a large and ethnically diverse sample of middle school students across the critical middle school to high school transition. Because ninth grade achievement is often critical in predicting whether youth stay in or drop out of high school, the overarching goal of the project is to capture students' experiences at this significant juncture. The large sample (n = 1900) is comprised of Latino, African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, White, and multi-racial youth who will transition to high school in Fall of 2012. These high schools are expected to range in racial/ethnic diversity, allowing for tests of the social and academic benefits and challenges of racial/ethnic diversity during the high school transition. Data will be gathered on three achievement-related processes. The first process is academic course-taking patterns in ninth grade, including grades and credits earned. Because high school math largely functions as the gateway to high school completion and college readiness, there will be a particular focus on math course-taking in 9th grade (e.g., whether students are enrolled in Algebra I, and thus "on time" for college and whether they pass that course in 9th grade). The second process is the degree to which academic experiences become racialized, particularly the ways in which course-taking might segregate students along racial/ethnic lines. New measures have been developed that allow precise estimates of the degree to which individual students are teamed or clustered with the same peers for academic instruction and the degree to which their academic courses are representative of the racial/ethnic diversity of the high school. The third process is the social capital provided by exposure to cross-race/ethnic peers. It is hypothesized that African American and Latino students may fare better in diverse high schools because they gain access to important knowledge about academic opportunities (e.g., what courses to take, SAT preparation) through their cross-race ties. Thus cross-race ties can function as peer social capital, facilitating the flow of important educational information across racial/ethnic boundaries. By studying these three achievement-related processes (course-taking patterns, whether course-taking segregates students along racial/ethnic lines, and peers as social capital) the research can provide new insights into the challenges that adolescents of color face as they negotiate the high school transition as well as conditions under which greater school ethnic diversity can buffer some of those challenges. The project addresses NSF criteria for broader impact in three ways. First, the research seeks to understand the ways in which large, urban multi-ethnic public high schools are organized to increase or hinder the opportunities of racial and ethnic minority adolescents to acquire competence and develop interest in STEM-related subject matter. If students do not have adequate preparation and confidence during high school, their likelihood of pursuing STEM fields in college is greatly compromised. Second, the project will have a particular focus on resilient youth and the precursors of successful pathways to high school completion even among those at high risk of dropping out. Such results can have useful implications for developing practices that promote academic engagement and college readiness for all students. Third, the research can offer transformative ways to think about the meaning and measurement of racial/ethnic diversity and opportunities to interact with peers of different racial/ethnic backgrounds even in diverse settings. This perspective can be useful for research in other social settings where the implications of increasing ethnic diversity are a primary concern and for new thinking about a science of diversity.