2. The
phenomenon of educational settings
being re-segregated by race, socioeconomic class, and/or gender, often as a
result of geographic segregation and
zoning laws which govern where students
live and go to school
3. The
purpose of this study is to investigate
the negative effects that neo-segregation
has on minority and non minority students’
academic, social, and emotional
experiences in the public school setting in
Western Kentucky.
4.
I chose this research topic after seeing close
personal friends experience the struggle of neosegregation in educational settings, and listening
to their accounts of the negative ramifications this
phenomenon had had on their children. After
listening to their accounts, I began to notice that
the phenomenon they reported was happening
within the school I was teaching at as well. My
long-term goal with this study is to document my
findings, publish them, and raise awareness so
that this practice can be stopped.
5. Discrimination
• Academic writing that has begun to concentrate
on segregation in educational settings usually
surfaces in the form of “post- Jim Crow
narratives.” Describing specific cases or instances
of discrimination and/or segregation, these
narratives are useful for documenting the
frequency at which discrimination and segregation
occur, but not for offering solutions to the problem.
6. Geographic influences
• When zoning laws funnel children from certain
communities into separate schools, the result is a
“black” school, a “Hispanic” school, a “white”
school, etc. where the student bodies have little to no
diversity. Since the majority of teachers graduating
from universities are white females, it is no surprise
that they are hesitant and even scared to take jobs in
these schools. This results in weakened studentteacher relationships, and consequently, lowered
student self-esteem and grades, and higher dropout
rates (Tosolt 2010).
7. Student
perceptions
• Minorities—both racial and socio-economic—often
make the transition between middle and high
school with much more difficulty than white
students do. This difference in transition ability
had a great deal to do with how well students felt
they fit in with the student population around
them, and how accepted they felt by the student
body and teachers alike.
Akos and Galassi (2004)
8. This
study was based on qualitative
data, using personal interviews in order to
gain an extensive view into public school
students’ perceptions of neo-segregation.
9. Data
was evaluated by finding parallels
between interviewees’ answers to
interview questions then compiling that
information into the categories of
“positive, negative, and indifferent”
perceived effects.
10. Overall,
over half of students interviewed
believed neo-segregation had a negative
effect on their educational experience.
These students cited personal preference
for a diverse student body as one reason
for this perceived negative effect.
11. The
results of this study imply that neosegregation is not only an obvious and
expanding issue in educational settings; it
is also negatively affecting the students
who experience it first-hand. Students
reported feeling negatively effected in all
three areas of research: academics, social
life, and emotional health.
12. Further
study for this research topic will be
to expand and interview students in
several different schools in the surrounding
area, to determine if the effects of neosegregation are widespread. Also, use of a
more standardized tool for data collection
would be beneficial, as interviewing each
student individually is time consuming and
data analysis is tedious.
13.
Akos, P., & Galassi, J. P. (2004). Gender and race as variables in
psychosocial adjustment to middle and high school. Journal of Educational
Research, 98(2), 102-108.
Dotterer, A. M., McHale, S. M., & Crouter, A. C. (2009). Sociocultural factors
and school engagement among African American youth: The roles of racial
discrimination, racial socialization, and ethnic identity. Applied
Developmental Science,13(2), 61-73. doi:10.1080/10888690902801442
Fan, W., Williams, C. M., & Wolters, C. A. (2012). Parental involvement in
predicting school motivation: Similar and differential effects across ethnic
groups. Journal of Educational Research, 105(1), 21-35.
doi:10.1080/00220671.2010.515625
Frankenberg, E., & Siegel-Hawley, G. (2011). Choice without equity: charter
school segregation and the need for civil rights standards. Education
Digest, 76(5), 44-47.
Rothstein, R. (2013). Why our schools are segregated. Educational
Leadership, 70(8), 50-55.
Tosolt, B. (2010). Gender and race differences in middle school students'
perceptions of caring teacher behaviors. Multicultural
Perspectives, 12(3), 145-151. doi:10.1080/15210960.2010.504484
