Year: 2006
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The way race works to shape politics is changing as demographic patterns alter\nthe traditional dynamic of race relations throughout the United States. One pattern is the\nincreased tendency of African-Americans and Latinos to reside in the same locality.\nWhile popular opinion suggests that such contexts should result in the formation of\n“rainbow coalitions,” several scholars have found evidence that inter-minority relations\nare characterized by high levels of political competition. One of the policy areas in\nwhich competition has been observed most often is education.\nThis dissertation examines the conditions under which African-American/Latino\nrelations are likely to be characterized by cooperation or conflict within the education\npolicymaking process. It utilizes a survey of 1800 school districts, containing 96% of all\nurban districts in the United States. The results produced by this study, therefore, are\napplicable to nearly the entire universe of urban educational systems. Another unique\naspect of this project is that, rather than focusing on relations at one stage of the policy\nprocess, it attempts to trace this dynamic through each stage. Thus, the dissertation\nbegins with a look at the circumstances under which Black/Brown electoral coalitions\nwill form in school board elections. The findings suggest that coalition formation is contingent upon structural contexts, specifically the presence of partisan elections, and\nupon the citizenship status of the Latino population within a district. The dissertation\ngoes on to trace the cooperative and competitive forces that affect the hiring of African-\nAmerican and Latino administrators and teachers. Lastly, I use theories of bureaucratic\npolitics and racial context to study the quality of education received by minority\nstudents. I find that, controlling for other factors, more diverse school districts have\nmore equitable educational policies. I also find evidence to support the contention that\nmore diverse teaching faculties tend to result in beneficial outcomes for both African-\nAmerican and Latino students.
Author: Rene R. Rocha
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2287395217