Are there differences in ethnic majority and minority adolescents’ friendships preferences and social influence with regard to their academic achievement?

Research has established that adolescents both befriend peers based on their academic achievement and adjust their own achievement to that of their friends’ over time. However, these processes may be different for ethnic minority students, because some of them may adhere to an oppositional culture that rejects striving for academic success. We examine respective differences between self-identified ethnic minority and majority students using longitudinal social network analysis (stochastic actor-oriented models) in a sample of 1175 students (aged 13) from 12 grade-level networks in Germany secondary schools. Among the students, we find that academically successful students in particular prefer friends with high grades, but that students with poor grades exert more social influence on their friends to adjust their performance. Moreover, while minority students are indeed less inclined to select friends with higher grades, both ethnic majority and minority youth prefer friends with similar academic achievement and are similarly influenced by their friends’ achievement. However, social influence is stronger from same-ethnic than from inter-ethnic friends. In sum, there is mixed evidence for an oppositional culture among ethnic minority students in our sample.     

Differential Influence of Same- and Cross-Ethnic Friends on Ethnic-Racial Identity Development in Early Adolescence

Recent research has shown that peers influence ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development during early adolescence. Arguments based on social identity theory, however, suggest that only same-ethnic but not cross-ethnic friends are important for ERI development. Using longitudinal social network analysis, we examined peer influence of both same- and cross-ethnic friends on ERI attachment and private regard. Data were drawn from six ethnically diverse schools in Western Germany (N = 1,349; M_age = 13.3). Our results provide empirical evidence for early adolescents’ ERI being influenced by same- but less by cross-ethnic friends. Considering peers’ ethnicity therefore is crucial for understanding peer influence on ERI development.     

Making links: on situating a new web site

Visual ethnographers increasingly use hypermedia for research, representation and teaching and learning. This article discusses these uses by reflecting on Visualising ethnography, a teaching and learning ‘gateway’ web site about the visual in the ethnographic process housing interviews, authored works, exhibitions, introductory texts and links. Here I situate the web site in relation to other visual anthropology web sites, discuss key characteristics of hypermedia for teaching and learning and representation and analyze both how authors, the web developed and I constructed our contributions, and users' responses. Finally I discuss the role and potential of such web sites for contemporary representation, teaching and learning in visual ethnography. Many new web sites are developing; how might they ‘live together’ and interrelate online? And what are the implications for the sorts of teaching and learning sites that might be developed in the future?     

Building community-school programs in two cities

With the loss of population and industry, public school systems in Midwestern cities such as Cincinnati and Kansas City now face increasing demands while suffering severe fiscal constraints. Rising educational costs, declining revenues and enrollments, and rising proportions of minority students, along with increased programmatic demands and pressures related to desegregation litigation, conspire to make school systems recaptive to community involvement and assistance. This paper explores the development of three types of community-based groups which show promise of enhancing the democratic governance of the schools, as well as increasing the school system's resource base.     

Facilitating change at the school level: A missing factor in school reform

This paper argues that how a school improvement reform is implemented at the school level is a critical factor affecting the impact of that reform. In developing this position, the paper does four things. First, it notes the omission of a discussion about program implementation in the many recent national reports and studies of schooling. Second, it discusses the key components of program implementation ignored by the reports and studies. Third, it details three case studies of schcol improvement programs that are seriously compromised because of inadequate attention to implementation. Fourth and, finally, the paper outlines six reforms which would facilitate the implementation of school improvement programs.     

Academic failure,student social conflict,and delinquent behavior

This paper reviews key literature from several disciplinary and theoretical perspectives in exploring the relationship between various forms of academic failure in schools and a range of critical student attitudes and behaviors. It is argued that both the process of schooling, and the taken-for-granted assumptions which support this process, serve to manufacture, in large part, negative student attitudes and anti-social behaviors. The seeming conflict between survey and ethnographic data concerning the impact of academic failure is discussed within the context of competing explanatory paradigms. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ways in which differing data-gathering strategies might be combined to generate a more complete view of the everyday process and outcomes of schooling.A revision of a paper presented at the 1980 meeting of the American Psychological Association, Montreal, CanadaThe work contained herein has been funded by the National Institute of Education. However, the opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the position or policies of the Institute, and no official endorsement should be inferred.