Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Volume 8

SOCIOLOGICAL

STUDIES

OF CHILDREN

VOLUME

AND

YOUTH

8

SOCIOLOGICAL S TUDIES OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH EDITED BY

DAVID A. K I N N E Y Central Michigan University, Michigan, USA

2001

JAI An Imprint of Elsevier Science Amsterdam

-

London - New York - Oxford -

Paris - Shannon - Tokyo

INTRODUCTION David A. Kinney On Valentine's Day I returned home after dinner with a friend and I was greeted by a terrific telephone message from my four-year-old nephew. In his delightful and sincere voice he said: "Hi Uncle, this is John. Happy Valentine's Day! I am sorry I couldn't give you a Valentines, 'cause I gave 'em all to my friends. Bye." I smiled and said to myself "Wow, what a nice nephew thinking of his uncle 700 miles away. He sounds so happy and carefree." Then I thought about how his message suggests that at four years old John is already juggling family and friends; a crucial aspect of human development. And then I wondered how long his happiness and carefree attitude will last in a society where growing up can be a harsh or less harsh experience depending on one's social class, race, age, and gender. This volume of Sociological Studies of Children and Youth includes chapters that examine socialization processes among children and youth as they interact with friends and family in social contexts structured by gender, class, age, and race. It is a pleasure to introduce Volume 8 of Sociological Studies of Children and Youth. In 1999, Spencer Cahill (former Guest Editor) and Susan Oppenheim (former JAI Press Publishing Editor) invited me to become Series Editor. Since publication of the Volume 7 of Sociological Studies of Children, the series has undergone several significant changes. First, JAI Press, Inc. has become an official imprint of Elsevier Science, increasing the potential international attention given to the volume. Second, I created an Editorial Board for the series, comprised of well-known and respected colleagues in the field. Finally, with consultation from members of the Editorial Board, I changed the name of the series to Sociological Studies of Children and Youth. I hope these changes will increase the readership of the series and the numbers of people exposed to sociological research findings and theories regarding children and youth. It is important to note that the field of sociological studies of children and youth continues to build momentum and gain visibility in professional circles based on the increasing numbers of scholars conducting research and publishing in this area. This momentum has been sustained and nurtured by the following ix

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developments during the 1990s: the American Sociological Association Section on Sociology of Children was established (and recently renamed Section on Sociology of Children and Youth), the International Sociological Association started a Sociology of Childhood thematic group, and an international joumal: Childhood: A Global Journal of Child Research was launched. Moreover, a number of important research articles and books on children and youth were published such as: Barrie Thorne's (1993) Gender Play, Qvortrup and associates' (1994) Childhood matters, Donna Eder's (1995) School Talk, William Corsaro's (1997) The Sociology of Childhood, Patrica and Peter Adler's (1998) Peer Power, Schneider and Stevenson's (1999) The Ambitious Generation, and Katherine Brown Rosier's (2000) Mothering inner-city children to name a few. In addition, sociological research articles on children and youth regularly appear in academic journals such as: Sociology of Education, Journal of Contemporary

Ethnography, American Journal of Sociology, Social Psychology Quarterly, New Directions for Child Development, and Youth and Society. The current volume focuses on issues of race, gender, and public policy as they relate to children and youth. Contributors range from "young" social scientists to established scholars. A number of the chapters contained in this volume share substantive, theoretical, and methodological concerns, and I pondered numerous chapter configurations. The sequence contained in this volume represents my best attempt to link these chapters based on their conceptual loci. The volume is subdivided into five sections: (1) Children, Race, and Social Institutions; (2) Youth and Gender; (3) Youth, Theory, and Methods; (4) Urban Youth and Identity; and (5) Policy, Politics, and Theory. Section one, Children, Race, and Social Institutions, contains chapters written by Katherine Brown Rosier, Colin Sacks, and Sheryl Tynes. Rosier begins this volume with an insightful chapter on two topics that have received substantial attention by social scientists: (1) how parent participation in education impacts children's achievement, and (2) the role of teachers' expectations in children's performance. Rosier cogently argues that it is high time to merge the aforementioned bodies of literature, and notes that "teachers' expectations for children may be strongly influenced by their perceptions of meanings inherent in parents' behavior." By deftly drawing upon rich ethnographic data, Rosier illustrates the dynamic interplay between teachers' expectations, parents' involvement, and children's school performance. Her case studies of two children growing up in economically distressed neighborhoods highlights how parents' resources and contact with teachers strongly shape teachers' expectations and evaluation of the parents' interest in their child's education. Interestingly, Rosier shows how teachers' perceptions of parental behaviors impact their expectations for children and subsequently shape their behaviors

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toward children in the classroom. In addition, by drawing extensively on two different cases, Rosier importantly illuminates the diversity of parents' and children's experiences among those growing up in similar economic circumstances. Colin H. Sacks conducted a participant observation and interview study of an urban mother-and-child rehabilitation program. This particular program allows mothers recovering from substance abuse habits to be reunited with one or more of their children. In this setting, Sacks focuses on the children's (and mothers') social relations with members of different racial groups, and how these interactions shape the women's and children's racial identities. Sacks worked as a child counselor in this program for three years prior to a one-year observation period that provides detailed data, primarily in the form of "vignettes" of recurrent interaction patterns, for this chapter. Extensive time spent reading and playing with the children, and helping older children with their homework contributed to the high levels of trust and rapport he developed with the children. After the observational period, Sacks also led parenting groups with the women, and conducted interviews with the mothers and program staff after the observational period to better capture the experiences and interpretations of these adults regarding themes from everyday interactions. This chapter demonstrates how certain adult-child interactions and children's peer relations contribute to positive race relations. Sacks' findings also suggest that for younger children, race was not a salient concept in their daily lives; however older children (e.g. by 7 or 8 years old) were beginning to differentiate and label others according to their perceptions of "race." This finding is consistent with research with larger numbers of children presented in the next chapter by Tynes. Overall, Sacks provides readers with an interesting investigation of interracial interactions and formation of racial identities among children and adults in a specific social setting, and these findings suggest implications for socialization in other contexts. Sheryl R. Tynes examines children's racial self-classifications. Drawing on interviews with 88 children and their caregivers (e.g. mother, father, or grandparent) in an urban area, Tynes explores children's and adults' perceptions of race. Findings reveal that younger children (under the age of 10) have a diverse set of responses to the question, "What race or color do you consider yourself ?" or they do not understand the question (sometimes responding "what does that mean?"). As children age, their responses begin to mirror those of their caregiver's, a pattern similar to Sacks' finding on adults' impact on children's use of labels. Tynes takes up other important issues as well, such as, children not attaching hierarchical value to any one skin color, and adults' diverse responses to the open-ended question about what race they consider themselves to be. In addition, Tynes' data suggest factors that children consider

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most salient in their selection of friends. She reports that children are "relatively unprejudiced" in this social arena, and again her findings are similar to those reported by Sacks. Overall, Tynes argues that young children generally have healthy conceptions of race which have not yet been shaped by the racism so prevalent in American society. In the next section, the chapters by Robert Crosnoe, and by Peggy Giordano, Monica Longmore, and Wendy Manning examine youth's participation in athletics and romantic relationships respectively. First, Robert Crosnoe examines the social worlds of male and female athletes in high school. Specifically, he investigates the differential impact of athletic involvement on academic achievement and drinking behaviors for females and males. In this longitudinal study, Crosnoe wisely controls for previous levels of alcohol use and academic performance, therefore avoiding over-estimating the effects of friendships and athletic participation. He finds that for girls, the primary benefit of involvement in athletics was its connection to friendship groups with strong academic orientations. Athletic boys, like girls, benefitted from being more likely than non-athletes to have academically-oriented friends. However, male athletes' academic performances also suffered from their greater likelihood of associating with socially active friends. With regard to alcohol use, Crosnoe found a strong relationship between friends' social activity and adolescent alcohol use for male athletes, but female athletes were found to be somewhat protected from alcohol use by their greater commitment to school and more positive friendships. Overall, male and female high school athletes have more academically-oriented friends, more socially-active friends, and drink more alcohol than non-athletes. Athletic boys, however, are more susceptible to the negative influences of socially-active friends, they exhibit higher levels of drinking, and they receive lower grades than athletic girls. Crosnoe closes with some insightful comments on future directions for research on gender differences, and the characteristics and consequences of adolescent athletic participation. Peggy C. Giordano, Monica A. Longmore, and Wendy D. Manning focus on the nature and significance of five qualities they consider unique to romantic relationships among adolescents. These researchers compare adolescent friendships to romantic relationships, drawing on qualitative interviews, focus groups, and handwritten notes and messages from adolescents. Using these rich data sources, the authors illustrate the following qualities of romantic relationships: communication awkwardness, heightened emotionality, asymmetry, power, and exclusivity and commitment. In addition, Giordano, Longmore, and Manning cogently argue that these unique qualities of romantic relationships provide the foundation for future research on adolescent dating that would significantly

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xiii

increase understanding of this salient aspect of the second decade of life. Moreover, the authors make a strong case that our understanding of adolescent problem behaviors (e.g. early sexual behavior, drug use, delinquency, teenage parenthood) will be enhanced by increased research attention to the features of romantic relationships identified in this chapter. The third section of the volume contains two chapters that focus on important substantive topics; however both chapters also highlight key theoretical and methodological issues for the sociological study of children and youth. Drawing on the work of William Corsaro and James Youniss, Manuela du Bois-Reymond, Janita Ravesloot, Yolanda te Poel, and Elke Zeijl argue that children and youth actively create peer groups and cultures to deal with the increasingly diverse and rapidly changing world they encounter. In this chapter, the authors focus on the innovative, productive capacities of peer groups in dealing with parents and teachers. Using focus group interviews as a setting in which to observe adolescents' social interaction, the authors specify the learning experiences of European youth ages 14 to 16 within 30 pre-existing peer groups (21 nativeDutch, 2 Moroccan, 2 culturally mixed non-native groups, and 5 heterogeneous groups of native and non-native youth). Recurrent themes in the data indicate that these youth generally learn to treat their parents with respect and to negotiate with them when necessary to have fun with their friends. On the other hand, youth consistently held disrespectful and calculating attitudes toward teachers. In addition, the authors' findings show how youth from different demographic groups develop peer cultures that provide diverse orientations to learning in school, risk behaviors, and a sense of how to succeed in society. Du Bois-Reymond, Ravesloot, te Poel, and Zeijl conclude with an insightful discussion of the "old and new functions of the peer group," which has implications for future research and theoretical development in this area. Tyrone A. Forman uses data from the 1998 Monitoring the Future Survey, a nationally representative sample of white high school seniors, to address a timely question: what are the social factors that shape white youth's racial attitudes today? Forman examines three factors that earlier researchers have found to influence white youth's racial attitudes (social background, social values, and academic orientation). Moreover, he proposes and implements an alternative way to measure racial attitudes, with indicators of more subtle and covert forms of prejudice that are widely thought to have supplanted earlier overt expressions of whites' negative racial attitudes. Overall, Forman's findings support his central hypotheses. For example, while the social demographic (e.g. males), social value (e.g. politically conservative), and academic orientation (e.g. frequently truant) variables still relate to traditional negative racial attitudes, a more pervasive existence of covert or laissez-faire prejudice is emerging among white youth.

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Forman's broader measures of racial attitudes make a significant methodological contribution to the literature, and his findings provide support for the increasingly important theory of "laissez-faire racism" or "color-blind racism." In the fourth section of this volume, Prudence Carter and Deanna Wilkinson provide insight into the social worlds of youth growing up in urban areas. Carter focuses on how gender identity shapes African American and Latino adolescents' daily peer interactions and school experiences. Carter draws on interview and survey data with low-income teenagers to address how race, class, and gender simultaneously shape the future life chances of youth growing up in economically distressed urban areas. Specifically, she delineates how gender identity differentially conditions the impact of structural features such as tracking, curricular limitations, and low teacher expectations on the school behaviors of young women and men. Carter illustrates how males' gender identity centers on being "hard" and females' create a "soft," but not too soft, identity. In addition, Carter reports that girls also had to appear "hard" at times to deal with their daily struggles. Being "hard" involves fighting, assertive interpersonal comments, and exhibiting a tough demeanor. Moreover, Carter discusses how gender identity differences influence males' and females' perceptions of and experiences with job employers. Overall, Carter shows how the daily behaviors that constitute these different gender identities impact males' and females' schooling and occupational attainment behaviors. Deanna Wilkinson investigates the link between violent events and social identity formation by focusing on young males living in a large city. She uses in-depth interviews with active violent offenders to illustrate how everyday social interaction on the street has important implications for identity development. Her findings are consistent with Carter's report on males' propensity to project a "hard" and "tough" stance in social situations. Wilkinson paints a comprehensive and detailed portrait of the daily peer interactions that virtually require gun violence by young men as they assert a positive identity and protect themselves from physical attacks. She specifies three prominent social identifies; "being 'crazy,' .... holding your own," and "being a 'punk' or a 'herb'" and presents data that shows how males maintain or change these identities through the use of violence. Overall, Wilkinson's chapter vividly illustrates the reciprocal relationship between the lack of opportunities at the macro-level and micro-level social processes where inner-city males find that violence is one of the only available strategies for gaining status in their social worlds. The final section of this volume contains two chapters regarding policy, politics, and theory. Sudhir Venkatesh details how the politics of labeling urban youth differentially involved in problem behavior significantly impacts social policy and service delivery. He draws on observations, informal interviews, and

Introduction

xv

conversations over time to delineate the interactions of local community service providers, youth, residents, and actors in the larger policy-making community. Venkatesh provides a comprehensive case study of how hierarchy in the social service field in one urban community reflects different "tiers" of service providers who focus their respective efforts on working with youth who exhibit varying degrees of "trouble." He illustrates how service providers at different tiers have different agendas and expertise and these differences undermine the cooperation and sharing the community had hoped to achieve in order to help the greatest numbers of youth in need. His findings have implications for addressing the adversity faced by the youth discussed in Wilkinson's chapter. Venkatesh highlights the importance of foundations calling for preliminary research on the various youth groupings in a community, the agencies that service the respective groups, and the opportunities for cooperation based on the extant networks and services to promote effective community-based funding initiatives. This chapter makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the dynamics between providers, policy, and politics that ultimately shape development programs for children and youth. In the last chapter of this volume, Gary Alan Fine, Wendy Espeland, and Dean Rojek cogently argue for a more prominent position of children in communitarian theory. The authors note that while children are symbolically positioned in many current policy debates, they are not given the same level of consideration in the popular theory of communitarianism that is influential in contemporary American politics. Communitarian theory (as explicated by Amitai Etzioni and others) notes that a "good society" needs a mix of individual rights and social responsibility; however, Fine and his associates argue that this theory lacks serous and systematic attention to processes of socialization through which children learn individuality and community. The authors persuasively present a number of justifications for accommodating children into communitarian theory. Fine, Espeland, and Rojek close by proposing five steps, based on recent sociological research on children and families, to modify the theory so that eventually the policy it shapes will allow children to become both autonomous actors and community citizens. In closing, I would like to acknowledge members of the Sociological Studies of Children and Youth Editorial Board for generously giving their time to review papers for this volume. Members of the Board include Patricia A. Adler, Peter Adler, Spencer E. Cahill, William A. Corsaro, Donna Eder, Gary Alan Fine, Sandra L. Hofferth, Jens Qvortrup, and Alford A. Young. I would also like to thank five other colleagues who provided constructive comments and suggestions regarding several papers: Nancy J. Herman, Melissa Landers-Potts, Bernard N. Meltzer, Robert G. Newby, and Katherine Brown Rosier. In

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addition, I am pleased to acknowledge the efforts of the contributing authors. Their chapters enhance our understanding of children and youth from a sociological perspective, and their insightful efforts are greatly appreciated by this first-time editor and proud uncle. Finally, I would like to dedicate this volume to my nephews, David and John, who frequently remind me of the joy and promise of childhood. REFERENCES Adler, P. A., & Adler, P. (1998). Peer Power: Preadolescent Culture and Identity. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Corsaro, W. A. (1997). The Sociology of Childhood. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, A Sage Publications Company. Eder, D. (1995). School Talk: Gender and Adolescent Culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Qvortrup, Jens., Bardy, M., Sgritta, G., & Wintersberger, H. (Eds) (1994). Childhood Matters: Social Theory, Practice, and Politics. Brookfield, VT: Avebury. Rosier, K. B. (2000). Mothering inner-city children: The Early School Years. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Schneider, B., & Stevenson, D. (1999). The Ambitious Generation: America's Teenagers Motivated but Directionless. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Thorne, B. (1993). Gender Play: Girls and boys in school. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

"WITHOUT THE PARENT YOU LOSE THE CHILD": TEACHERS' EXPECTATIONS AND PARENTS' (NON-)INVOLVEMENT Katherine Brown Rosier

THE INSTITUTIONALIZED STANDARD OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT Over the last two decades, parent participation in children's schooling has been increasingly viewed by educators, researchers, policy-makers, and the lay-public alike as essential for children's academic success. Educational researchers and theorists have produced a voluminous, and overwhelmingly enthusiastic, literature on the positive benefits of parents' involvement. The extensiveness of treatment of this issue is illustrated by Lareau and Shumar's (1996) note that over 2000 citations on "parent participation and school" are available from ERIC for the year 1994 alone. In line with this literature, policies implemented at national, state, and local levels now strongly encourage parent involvement. In fact, the idea that parents can and should be involved in their children's education..has attained the level of an institutionalized standard . . . espoused by a wide variety of social institutions [with] very little opposition to the idea (Lareau, 1989, p. 34).

Parents' active participation in their children's education is encouraged for a variety of reasons, including both improvement of schools and parental Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Volume 8, pages 3-42. Copyright © 2001 by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISBN: 0-7623-0051-5

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KATHERINE BROWN ROSIER

empowerment (for examples, see Fine, 1993; Winters, 1993). More often, the primary objective of parent participation is to increase parents' familiarity with teachers' requirements and therefore enhance their ability to assist children in meetings those requirements. Increases in parents' knowledge and skills are expected to translate into in-home practices that directly contribute to children's achievement. While direct effects such as these are clearly desirable, educators also frequently stress more indirect, symbolic benefits of participation. School personnel widely assume parents' involvement and participation in their children's schooling is indicative of their valuation of education (see, e.g. Lareau, 1987, 1989; Lareau & Shumar, 1996; Toomey, 1989). Furthermore, widespread agreement exists that parents' valuation of education - as reflected in their participation - affects children's own values, and in turn their aspirations and motivation to achieve. Such beliefs are illustrated by Van Galen's finding that the teachers and principals she studied felt they understood both the attitudes of parents with whom they had little contact as well as the impact these attitudes had on children. For example, one teacher reported that parents who don't get involved don't really seem concerned,and that's the attitudeyou see [amongthe children] at school. It's like they don't really have any motivation(Van Galen, 1987, p~ 87; see also Clark, 1983; Epstein & Becket, 1982; MacLeod, 1987; Seeley, 1984; Wahlberg, 1984).l Finally, motivation to achieve has long been associated with children's school success (e.g. see Lipset & Bendix, 1962). Thus a four-step model of the indirect effects of parents' participation is assumed, whereby: (1) parent participation reflects, and symbolizes to children, parents' valuation of education; (2) children's attitudes and values concerning education come to reflect to a great extent those demonstrated by their parents; (3) children's attitudes and values concerning education impact upon their motivation to succeed in school settings; and (4) motivation to achieve directly affects academic outcomes. As I demonstrate in a later section, teachers involved in my own research placed great emphasis on these symbolic, indirect effects when discussing parents' involvement in children's schooling. In the context of near-universal acceptance and enthusiasm for policies aimed at increasing parent involvement, possible negative consequences have received little attention. However, several researchers who question the advisability of such policy emphasis have highlighted this neglect (Fine, 1993; Lareau, 1989; Larean & Shumar, 1996; Toomey, 1989). In particular, Lareau and Shumar (1996) argue that evidence of positive child outcomes associated with parent

Without the Parent You Lose the Child

5

involvement is very weak but much heralded, while negative effects on the affective quality of parent-child relationships - especially in middle-income families - are strongly suggested by qualitative studies but apparently disregarded. Studies also reveal feelings of threat and embarrassment many lower-income parents experience when their attempts to comply with school requests for involvement reveal their own less-than-optimum educational skills (Larean, 1987, 1989; Lareau & Shumar, 1996; Rosier, 2000). In addition to differential educational skills, parents also bring to family-school encounters different economic resources, occupational flexibility, access to private transportation, and access to knowledgeable social networks. Lareau and Shumar argue that parent involvement policies often fail to take these class-based group differences in parental resources into account; all these differences tend to privilege middle-class parents' participation, while compliance with school requests for involvement is "hampered by the conditions and resources connected to [lower-income parents'] social-class positions" (1996, p. 29). These group differences in circumstances and resources likely account for much of the differential participation of middle- versus working- and lowerclass parents. Unfortunately, as Toomey argues, parent involvement policies may actually exacerbate already existing inequalities that put children from lower-income families at a disadvantage: Teachers... invite [parents] to come into the school to take part in activities... The parents most fikely to respond are those who are more confident in dealing with the school, those more confident in their own role in their children's education, those culturally less distant from the teachers, and those who have the time. Parents of this kind are already more likely to be giving support to their children's education at home... As a result of their contacts with the school, these parents are likely to learn more about their child's learning in school and how they can assist it. . . . [and] in this way, their children become doubly advantaged (1989, p. 286). In light of such processes, researchers such are Lareau and Shumar (1996; also see Lareau, 1987, 1989) and Toomey (1989; also see Fine, 1993; Van Galen, 1987) - who are clearly in the minority - suggest that parent participation policies have the potential to be more harmful than beneficial. Publication of such concerns and misgivings has done little to dampen enthusiasm for parent participation. That is not to say, however, that leading advocates are oblivious to such issues. Epstein and her collaborators, for example, have long acknowledged there are problems as well as promise inherent in the wide range of parent-involvement strategies currently being negotiated and instituted in school systems across the country. They recognize, for instance, that teachers often believe certain practices will benefit only "some chilch'en" because "some groups of parents" are less able and less willing to

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comply with requests (Epstein & Becker, 1982, p. 106; see also Epstein & Dauber, 1991), and that some teachers are poor candidates for building parent-teacher "partnerships" because they "blatantly blame families for children's failures" (Epstein, 1993, p. 714). I return to this latter issue of "blaming families" in my concluding remarks. For now, I merely note that despite acknowledging potential problems that may accompany the growing emphasis on parent involvement, advocates strongly believe the possible benefits are far more weighty. And in line with these beliefs, virtually all school systems - as well as teacher training programs - now stress the importance of involving parents in their children's schooling. In the following section, I turn to discussion of another - again relatively new but now extensive - area of research that few new teachers escape at least cursory exposure to before leaving their training institutions (Jussim, Madon & Chatman, 1994): the effects of teachers' expectations.

TEACHER EXPECTATIONS Over three decades ago, Rosenthal and Jacobson's study Pygmalion in the Classroom (1968) introduced what would become the widely-researched issue of effects of teachers' expectations for students' achievement on actual achievement outcomes. Despite considerable controversy that has surrounded this issue, Good asserts that findings from numerous studies have led to "a consensus that teachers' expectations can and sometimes do affect teacherstudent interaction and [thus] student outcomes" (1987, p. 33; see also Jussim et al., 1994). Rosenthal and Jacobson examined the effect of teachers' positive expectations (i.e. teachers were falsely led to believe that certain students would experience large gains in achievement), but the literature is dominated by studies which focus on negative expectations and processes (for an early study of this latter bent, see Rist, 1970, 1973). In fact, this emphasis is apparently quite appropriate, as Brophy (1983) concludes from his review of the teacher-expectations literature that sizable effects are considerably more likely when teachers' expectations for student achievement are low rather than high. Any thoughtful discussion of teacher expectation effects should acknowledge that in most cases there are likely no effects, primarily because teachers' expectations tend to reflect relatively accurate perceptions of children's abilities (e.g. see Doherty & Hier, 1988; Jussim et al., 1994). 2 However, that said, it is also important to recognize that even relatively small effects on the academic achievement of some children are cause for serious concern. Three general forms of expectation effects have been identified and examined: the effects of teachers' perceptual bias; self-fulfilling prophesy effects; and

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sustaining expectations effects. These range respectively from being based in least to most accurate teacher perceptions, and from least to most often demonstrated in the research literature. First, researchers have examined the possible direct effects of teachers' perceptual bias. Farkas et al. describe this as a process whereby "teachers perceive lower levels of performance when evaluating poor, African American, or female students, and give lower grades even when the students' actual performance is no different from that of children with more favored characteristics" (1990, p. 128). Evidence of such clear teacher bias based on students' ascribed characteristics, however, is increasingly difficult to find. It is likely most practicing teachers have received at least some information and training to sensitize them to their possible biases, and this may help prevent such blatant discrimination against students. Even several decades ago such clear bias may have been overstated: recent reconsiderations of earlier studies that found direct effects of teacher bias on student grades have concluded that models were mis-specified - i.e. researchers failed to control for student behavior and interaction patterns between students and teachers (see Alexander, Entwisle & Thompson, 1987; Farkas et al., 1990). 3 The second two explanations for teacher-expectation effects are more complex and consider both the variable accuracy of teacher perceptions and the interaction processes neglected in earlier studies. The self-fulfilling prophesy explanation proposes that, first, teachers' originally develop false perceptions of students' abilities. 4 These perceptions set in motion a feed-back loop whereby low expectations are communicated to students in the form of differential treatment and demands for achievement, students perceive and interpret teachers' differential behaviors, and in response to these perceptions alter their own "self-concepts, achievement motivation, levels of aspiration, classroom conduct, and interactions with the teacher" (Good, 1987, p. 33). In the end, of course, teachers' originally false perceptions are confirmed - thus the self-fulfilling prophesy. Finally, researchers have also examined sustaining expectation effects (Cooper, 1979; Cooper & Good, 1983; Good, 1987; Saracho, 1991). These essentially accurate expectations act to sustain established patterns of student achievement, because teachers take previously developed behavior patterns for granted and "fail to see and capitalize on changes in student potential" (Good, 1987, p. 32). Sustaining expectations effects are clearly less dramatic than self-fulfilling prophesy effects, because they are associated merely with the maintenance - rather than change - of achievement patterns. As suggested above, sustaining expectation effects apparently occur more often than either self-fulfilling prophesy or perceptual bias effects, and of the three,

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sustaining expectation effects are more solidly grounded in accurate initial perceptions. Distinguishing between these three types of effects is important, because studies that fail to uncover direct evidence of teachers' bias or self-fulfilling prophesy effects may well be missing the more subtle sustaining expectations effects. These effects are in all likelihood most common (see Cooper, 1979), and deserve greater consideration and scrutiny despite their lessor drama. As Cooper notes, the acceptance of a sustaining, as opposed to altering, performance role for expectations hardly diminishes the significance of the phenomenon. Even the maintenance of below-average performance through teacher-expectation effects ought to be the focus of societal concern (1979, p. 393).In the following section, I argue that important actors may be missing from all our various conceptualizations of teacher expectation effects. That is, I argue that parents' behavior may be a critical - and rarely considered - variable that can profoundly influence the development of teachers' perceptions of, and resultant expectations for, children.

LINKING PARENT INVOLVEMENT AND TEACHER EXPECTATIONS In his oft-cited review of research on teacher expectations, Good describes processes that "set the stage" for both self-fulfilling prophesy and sustaining expectations effects: [1] Teachers form differential expectations for various students, [2] teachers act on these expectations by treating students differently, and [3] the students perceive this differential treatment and infer implications about what is expected of them. The stage is [thus] set for teacher expectation effects on student achievement (1987, p. 37). • . .

As noted earlier, Good argues that these effects are mediated through effects on children's "self-concepts~ achievement motivation, levels of aspiration, classroom conduct, and interactions with the teacher" (1987, p. 33). In much the same way as parents' behavior is assumed to affect children's beliefs, values, motivation, and resultant behavior, the literature suggests that teachers' definitions of the situation (i.e. their perceptions and expectations) are also: (1) communicated symbolically to children through their differential behavior; (2) children's self-attitudes and expectations for success in educational settings come to reflect to some extent those demonstrated by their teachers;

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9

(3) these attitudes and expectations concenting their academic ability impact upon children's motivation to succeed in school settings; and finally, (4) motivation to achieve directly affects academic outcomes. It is hardly novel to argue that children perceive symbolic meanings inherent in the behaviors of others and often incorporate these meanings into their self-concepts, with behavioral consequences. This relatively simple theory of socialization lies at the heart of both the "teachers' expectations" literature as well as much that is said about the importance of parents' involvement in children's schooling. What is apparently somewhat novel, however, is to argue that teachers' expectations for children may be strongly influenced by their perceptions of meanings inherent in parents' behavior. That is, teachers may expect children of obviously involved and concerned parents to be highly motivated and to do well, while their expectations may be considerably lower for children whose parents' concern is not apparent. In the remainder of this paper, I draw on data from a longitudinal study of low-income children's transition into the early years of schooling to examine this proposition. METHODOLOGICAL

CONTEXT

OF THE STUDY

For several years (1990-1993) I followed the families of nine black children from low-income, inner-city neighborhoods in a large Midwestern city as the children moved from a Head Start program, to kindergarten, and on into the early elementary grades. As Head Start participants during the 1989-1990 school year, the children and their classmates were part of a year-long ethnographic study of preschool children's peer cultures conducted by William A. Corsaro (see Corsaro, 1993, 1994, 1995), and I assisted him with the project. As the school year drew to a close, we made plans to complete interviews with some of the parents in hopes of increasing our understanding of the children' s complex social worlds. With the assistance of Head Start teachers, I contacted ten children's mothers, and nine agreed to participate in this extension of the original study. In June of 1990, I completed the first set of lengthy, open-ended taped interviews with these mothers. All the mothers are black, all but one had some history of AFDC receipt in the previous five years, and each had a five-year-old child expected to begin kindergarten in the Fall of 1990. The women varied, however, in terms of their age, educational background, household composition, and employment status and occupational history (for a detailed description of the sample, see Rosier & Corsaro, 1993; Rosier, 2000). In addition to obtaining demographic information, questions in the first round of interviews prompted the mothers to talk extensively about their families'

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circumstances and their children's daily lives, and they responded with insight and candor. We were so pleased with the enthusiasm the mothers displayed and the quality of data produced in these initial interviews, I quickly made plans to extend the project even further and follow these families as the children moved into the early elementary grades. Before terminating formal data collection at the end of the 1992-1993 school year, I completed three more rounds of interviews with the mothers - during the children's kindergarten, first grade, and second grade years. I also participated with the families in a variety of school- and church-related activities, and visited and observed in their homes on less formal occasions. Interviews with mothers were wide-ranging and to some extent interviewee directed, but always included mothers' discussion of: (1) their child's typical day; (2) their child's experiences and performance in school; and (3) mothers' contact with their children's teachers. I also completed interviews with the children's kindergarten and first grade teachers, as well as half-day observations in several first grade classrooms (Bill Corsaro accompanied me on all observational visits and participated in approximately half the teacher interviews). Interviews with teachers were also lengthy, open-ended, and covered many topics. I began with questions about the teachers' careers, their teaching philosophies, what they found most and least pleasing about teaching, and how they organized their classrooms. More relevant to this paper, mid-way through the interviews I asked teachers to discuss their views on parental involvement. Then, in the latter part of interviews, teachers were asked to describe their "over-all assessment" of the particular child, including discussion of his or her academic and social strengths and weaknesses. Finally, I asked them to "describe the participation of [the particular child's] mother this year? What are your feelings about the role she's playing in [the child's] education?" At times I deviated from my planned schedule, phrasing questions differently or asking them in a different order, in response to teachers' own spontaneous introductions of topics I planned to pursue at later points. These interviews took place in the teachers' classrooms, either at the close of the school day, or in the case of several kindergarten teachers, during their lunch hours. As was true for the children's mothers, the teachers participated with considerable enthusiasm, and most produced extended responses to questions at all stages of the interview. In nearly every case, we exceeded the one hour I had prepared them to expect. These teachers uniformly displayed sincere concern for and dedication to their students, as well as genuine interest in our research on children's transition into schooling. 5 In the following sections, I first provide numerous examples from these data to demonstrate that teachers do indeed use information (or the lack of information) about parents' involvement in their children's schooling to help

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shape their expectations for children's achievement. I then present abbreviated narratives depicting two children's transitions into schooling to illustrate how differential parent involvement can impact both teachers' perceptions of particular students and their resultant behaviors toward those children.

ARE TEACHERS' EXPECTATIONS AFFECTED BY PARENTS' INVOLVEMENT? Much attention has been devoted to uncovering just what (academic and non-academic) information enters into teachers' early perceptions and definitions of individual children, and their consequent expectations for those children (see note nOo 4). Below 1 present data from teacher interviews to demonstrate that parents' behavior appears to contribute mightily to this definitional process. In particular, these data demonstrate that teachers' expectations are heightened when parents are obviously and actively involved, and expectations are lowered when parental involvement is not apparent. When asked directly how they would "describe the role of parents in encouraging their children's success in education?" the teachers I interviewed unanimously agreed on the great importance of parents' involvement. The following remarks begin to illustrate how highly such involvement was valued, and they are typical of teachers' initial responses to this question: I would say it's very important, and probably the earlier you can get parents to start to working with their children [the better] [Ms Sampsel, Kindergarten]. Its the pivot point - parent involvement- and that's what this school was based upon [Ms Weston, Kindergarten]. Ahh! [Parent involvementis] the most important thing in the world! [Ms Garfield, 1st grade]. These very brief excerpts illustrate the great value teachers place on parental participation. It could be argued, however, that such statements are hardly surprising. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine teachers meeting such a question with assertions that parents' role is unimportant and makes little difference to children. However, I want to point out that six teachers (i.e. over 40% of the teachers I interviewed in person 6) spontaneously introduced the topic of parent involvement before I initiated this discussion, while answering other questions posed earlier in the interview. In most of these cases (5), parent involvement was mentioned as part of teachers' descriptions of the "most pleasing" and "least pleasing" aspects of their jobs. Four of the teachers bemoaned a lack of parent involvement that was for them among the least pleasing aspects. These included Ms Bancroft] who identified

12

KATHERINE B R O W N ROSIER some of the parents that don't give a hoot. [laugh] You know, its really sad when some of the kids are so fired up, and they want to come to school and, I don't know, the parents just - they won't help 'em at a l l . . . I really try to build up their self-confidence that, you know, they can do things. And so many of them are, I don't know, beaten down. Parents just don't take time with 'em like I feel they should.

O n l y o n e t e a c h e r ( M s N o r t h ) d e s c r i b e d a high l e v e l o f i n v o l v e m e n t a n d c o o p e r a t i o n as s o m e t h i n g t h a t c o n t r i b u t e d greatly to t h e p l e a s u r e s h e d e r i v e d f r o m h e r w o r k . O n e other, a k i n d e r g a r t e n t e a c h e r w h o s e s t u d e n t s w e r e all b l a c k a n d r e s i d e n t s o f a v e r y l o w - i n c o m e s e c t i o n o f t h e city, also i n t r o d u c e d the i s s u e o f p a r e n t a l s u p p o r t m o r e g e n e r a l l y p r i o r to a n y specific q u e s t i o n a b o u t this f r o m me. In this case, t h e t e a c h e r i n t r o d u c e d t h e t o p i c w h i l e d i s c u s s i n g c o n t a c t s h e w o u l d h a v e w i t h h e r s t u d e n t s ' f u t u r e t e a c h e r s . W i t h i n this c o n t e x t , s h e n o t e d t h a t s h e also s t a y e d in t o u c h w i t h h e r f o r m e r s t u d e n t s ' p a r e n t s as well, a n d t h e n w e n t o n to d e s c r i b e the " p a r t n e r s h i p " s h e a t t e m p t e d to f o r g e d w i t h p a r e n t s (see also M s H i l l ' s r e m a r k s b e l o w ) . It is i m p o r t a n t to n o t e t h a t in t h e s e i n s t a n c e s , discussion of parental participation was initiated by the teachers with virtually n o e n c o u r a g e m e n t f r o m me. T h i s s e r v e s to f u r t h e r u n d e r s c o r e t h e s a l i e n c e o f this i s s u e f o r t e a c h e r s . I n a d d i t i o n to e x p r e s s i n g a g e n e r a l h i g h v a l u a t i o n o f a c t i v e p a r e n t i n v o l v e m e n t in c h i l d r e n ' s s c h o o l i n g , t e a c h e r s w e r e at t i m e s v e r y e x p l i c i t a b o u t t h e i r b e l i e f t h a t p a r e n t i n v o l v e m e n t w a s e s p e c i a l l y critical b e c a u s e it affects c h i l d r e n ' s attitudes a n d m o t i v a t i o n . C o n s i d e r t h e f o l l o w i n g : [Parents' role is] extremely important. I think that if the parents don't encourage their children, more than likely the child is not going to put forth a lot of effort. A few children are self-motivated.., but most children, unless the parents stress the importance of education and show the child that they feel that the education is important, I think the kids are not going to do anything much with it [Ms Nelbert, 1st grade]. It would be nice if they [parents] would come to visit ... and spend time and let them know that they're special and that education is an important thing... Even if the parents didn't come to help as such, if they just came to visit once in awhile and to really show the children that school is important and you need to do a good job and you can't - you know, you come to school to learn and not to goof around and disrupt everybody" [Ms Bancroft, Kindergarten]. I feel that parents should b e . . . coming up to see what's goin' on in the classroom rather than just waitin' for report card time to come h o m e . . . I have about four parents that come in and help o u t . . . And I think that is very important. It helps the child with - you know, the children whose parents come, they feel very good when Mom comes in the door [Ms North, 1st grade]. I think its extremely important that parents instill in their children the attitude that school is their work ... The children that I have, whose parents have come in and worked, I feel have a totally different attitude and investment in the class [Ms Parson, 1st grade].

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S o m e teachers went even further, and m a d e it quite clear that their perceptions of particular parents' i n v o l v e m e n t did indeed influence their expectations for individual children. A l t h o u g h no one said "I expect kids whose parents are i n v o l v e d to do better," this sentiment is i n d e e d suggested in the interview excerpts below: I guess because of my strategies ... and with hard work, [my students] achieve. I think they really, really achieve. So - and you know, parental support means so much. I tell my parents at the beginning of the school year, 'I can't do it alone, its a team effort.' And that's what I expect. I have expectations for parents as well as for the children. And it makes a big difference, at the end of the year I can really telt those students whose parents have been supportive and cooperated with me during the year [Ms Hill, Kindergarten]. I feel probably the largest problem facing American education is getting the parents involved with the education of their children ... developing some sort of way to bring the parents more closely into the school to help the child. Many parents do help their children. And you can readily pick those out [Ms Holden, Grade 1J. Many times if there's not a caring parent in the family, you know, they don't do as well. But children who's parents care, they do great in here [Ms Fulton, Kindergarten]. Finally, I present one last excerpt from m y data on teachers' general beliefs about parent i n v o l v e m e n t . Here Ms Garfield, a first grade teacher in an all-black Catholic school, succinctly s u m m a r i z e d the arguments I make in this section: Ahh! [Parent involvement is] the most important thing in the world! Without the parents' participation, you almost lose the child ... because parents have to provide the environment, they have to provide the incentive, for them to learn [Ms Garfield, 1st grade]. With this brief c o m m e n t , Ms Garfield expressed the views I feel were shared b y all the teachers i n v o l v e d in this research. That is: (1) teachers highly value parent i n v o l v e m e n t ; (2) they value this i n v o l v e m e n t in large part because they believe it motivates children; and (3) teachers believe children whose parents are not i n v o l v e d are to some extent "lost" regardless of teachers' efforts. These m a y seem quite reasonable beliefs; they are certainly very m u c h in line with the current popularization and "standardization" of p a r e n t - i n v o l v e m e n t initiatives that have swept the n a t i o n ' s schools in recent years. If we ask, however, w h y it is that teachers lower their expectations for c h i l d r e n ' s performance w h e n they perceive lack of parental participation and concern, the answer reveals m u c h irony in this situation. That is, teachers quite reasonably believe and act u p o n the idea that parents' actions c o n v e y values and expectations to their children, children perceive and incorporate these values and expectations into their o w n developing self-concepts, and c h i l d r e n ' s self-concepts in turn affect their motivation to achieve. Yet teachers i n v o l v e d

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in this research seemed unaware that their own attitudes about these matters e.g. 'this student whose parent doesn't care won't put forth much effort' - may be similarly communicated to children through daily interaction and can be expected to have similar impact. Once again the issue of accuracy of teachers' perceptions becomes critical at this point. Just as teachers' expectations are less problematic if based in accurate perceptions of students, teachers' beliefs concerning the critical nature parents' involvement might not be as problematic if their perceptions of parents were always accurate. Unfortunately, teachers' perceptions of parents' educational values - and of their activities in support of those values - can be quite mistaken for a variety of reasons, and these false definitions of the situation can lay the foundation for a very unfortunate chain of events. It is just such a process that I highlight in the following narratives of two children's transitions into the early years of elementary schooling. These narratives demonstrate how particular teachers use and interpret information (or lack of information) about particular parents' involvement to help shape their expectations for those parents' children. Excerpts from teacher interviews presented above already offer convincing evidence that teachers' expectations are indeed influenced by parents' (apparent) involvement, and to some extent the narratives merely lend additional support to this finding and show in some detail interactive processes that can contribute to the development of expectations. In addition, however, the narrative analyses permit me to take these arguments a bit further. As Doherty and Heir correctly point out, teacher expectations are not "automatically self-fulfilling" [or, I would add, "sustaining"]: to become so, they must be translated into behavior that will communicate the expectations to the student and shape his behavior accordingly" (1988, p. 333). In addition to illustrating how teachers at times incorporate perceptions of parental behaviors into their expectations for children, then, the following narratives also demonstrate how these expectations, once formed, are translated into differential achievement-related communication and behaviors. It is these words and deeds - not the expectations themselves - that have the potential to impact upon students' actual achievement.

J E R E M I A H A N D ZENA: S I M I L A R S T U D E N T S , DIS-SIMILAR EXPECTATIONS Jeremiah Stevens and Zena Worthy were similar in many ways, but their situations differed dramatically in others. Both were students in the Head Start center we studied; Jeremiah attended the morning class and Zena attended in the afternoon. They were therefore not classmates, and since then have not

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attended the same school, nor do they live in the same neighborhood. However, several factors make them well-suited for comparative analysis. First, both attended kindergarten at neighborhood schools within walking distance from their homes. This was true for most children in the city, but since attendance in kindergarten was optional, parents occasionally chose to enroll their children in schools more convenient to work or sitters. Second, both Jeremiah and Zena attended kindergartens which met for only half-days. Again, this was the norm both throughout the school district and within my sample. However, the several children involved in this study who attended full-day kindergartens programs seemed to have an easier time adjusting to the rigors of first grade. Third, beginning in first grade, both Jeremiah and Zena joined the 25% of public school students in the city who were required to participate in mandatory, court-ordered busing designed to achieve desegregation in the city's public schools. Both spent 20-30 minutes in transit to overwhelmingly white communities outside the central city, and both entered classrooms where white children far out-numbered black. Busing introduces different challenges into this important transition period, and especially appears to affect children's peer relations and parents' involvement in schooling (see Calabrese, 1990). In this analysis, I examine parental involvement within this controversial, challenging, and understudied context. Finally, Zena and Jeremiah were very comparable students, experiencing similar levels of academic success in their early school careers. Each entered kindergarten judged slightly superior to their average classmates, but neither was described as a "top" or "excellent" student by their kindergarten or first grade teachers. Instead, Zena's and Jeremiah's teachers described them both as "solid" and "average" students who typically received Bs and Cs on report cards, often "just missing" honor roll status (which requires a B average, with no more than one C in academic subjects). All these similarities make the two cases ideal for comparison and examination of how parents' involvement-related behavior may be interpreted by teachers, how teachers' expectations for children can reflect these interpretations, and how teachers' behavior toward children can then in turn reflect these expectations. Jeremiah's mother Amy, and Zena's mother Marissa, also resembled one another in important ways. Both mothers believed strongly in the importance of education, and - prior to their children's entry into elementary school - both expected they would be excellent students (see Stevenson, Chen & Utal, 1990, and Alexander & Entwisle, 1988, who report that such high expectations among low-income black parents are quite common). As they began to receive feedback from kindergarten and first grade teachers, both mothers were

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KATHERINE BROWN ROSIER

dissatisfied, and believed their children should do better. But important differences in the two mothers' behaviors - which I will argue were more reflective of differential resources than differential values - seemed to influence teachers' expectations for their children's achievement, and teachers' behaviors in line with those expectations. Below, I describe each child's transition into public schooling in turn, highlighting their mothers' involvement and their teachers' responses to that involvement. I begin with Jeremiah.

Jeremiah and Amy Stevens: Intense Involvement and High Expectations Jeremiah Stevens was the only child of Amy Stevens, and he lived with his mother, grandmother, and two uncles since his birth, in the same rented duplex where Amy spent most of her own childhood. Jeremiah's father was active in his early life, but died in an accident before Jeremiah' s second birthday. Amy, a high school graduate, briefly attended college but left during her first year to care for her seriously ill mother. Amy was 24 years old when Jeremiah was born, and although she briefly received AFDC after his birth, she soon began the family day care business which provided her income since that time. As Amy's mother's health improved, the elder Miz Stevens also joined this enterprise, and together they cared for well over a dozen children most days throughout the year. Although Jeremiah was always eligible for free lunch and textbook assistance in public school, Amy's income remained relatively stable - though modest throughout our acquaintance. Beyond income stability, Jeremiah also enjoyed a very stable home life in other important respects. His place of residence, relationships with adults, and his own and his mother's daily routines were all sources of continuity in his life. Amy often described her own past as a school child, and her mother's diligent monitoring of her school work and social life. She described Miz Stevens' high expectations for her seven children, and the strict rules she enforced despite working both day and evening jobs throughout most of Amy's childhood. Amy recalled how she and her siblings were allowed little freedom to socialize with other children, and she described her routine as a school child: "You come straight home, you come straight in the house, you do not let nobody in the house, you do not open the door." They were expected to find friendship in church and school activities, and with one another, and they were to make education their top priority. Amy connected her mother's attitude with her own achievement in school: "I kept good grades, my Momma don't believe in bad grades. And too many "Cs" is a bad grade to her, back then." Later, Amy clearly attempted to reproduce this atmosphere of intense control and high expectations. She, too, severely restricted Jeremiah's interaction with

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neighborhood children, and the many "babysittin' kids" provided him with ready-made playmates comparable to the companionship his mother had found among her brothers and sisters. Amy repeatedly told me she would not permit Jeremiah to interact with any in the community, because I just don't trust 'era . . . This neighborhood is just too rough. As Jeremiah got older, he increasingly resisted these restrictions. Amy responded by involving him in structured activities like swimming lessons (paid for by one of Amy's brothers), a summer garden club at the neighborhood school, and a church drill team. She thereby addressed his desire for interaction with other children while insuring adult monitoring and control over these contacts. Amy also diligently supervised Jeremiah's schooling. Although every mother involved in this research monitored her child's educational activities somewhat, none matched the in-depth knowledge of classroom routines and materials, nor the constant monitoring and direction, that Amy displayed. In each of our interviews, Amy responded to my requests for description of Jeremiah's typical day in part by providing remarkable (and at times quite tedious) detail about her routine activities in support of Jeremiah's education. For example, before he entered school, Amy described how she worked with Jeremiah to learn his letters, colors, and numbers: I just put all the letters on there, and then I give him twenty-six colors and he has to go and circle the ABCs in order, with a different color, so I make sure he knows them when he sees them. So we started on that, when he had to circle the letters, with colors. And that's how he learned his colors very well, too. And when we got that down, we went to the numbers . . . . So, as far as the studying goes, we pretty much got it down. Now, even though he knows them, he gets mad sometimes when it comes time that he has to write the same thing every day, over and over again. But I say "You eat three meals a day, too, but you never get tired of eatin"!

Again, Jeremiah resisted his mother's practices, but Amy did not relent, nor did her diligence decline when Jeremiah began school. When he entered kindergarten, she continued to demand a set amount of time spent on educational activities each day, despite the fact that Jeremiah's required homework was often easily completed in a fraction of that time. Amy also believed Jeremiah should have more homework (see Stevenson, Chen & Utal, 1990, who found this was common among black and Hispanic - but not white - parents they studied), and she occasionally demonstrated higher standards and expectations for his work than his teachers. Amy also attempted to be highly involved with Jeremiah's teachers and classrooms. She occasionally visited Jeremiah's classroom during Head Start, but the distance of the center from their home prohibited her from doing so on

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KATHERINE B R O W N ROSIER

a r e g u l a r basis. D u r i n g k i n d e r g a r t e n , h o w e v e r , J e r e m i a h a t t e n d e d a s c h o o l s e v e r a l b l o c k s f r o m t h e i r h o m e , a n d A m y i n t e r a c t e d w i t h his t e a c h e r daily as s h e d e l i v e r e d h i m to s c h o o l a n d r e t r i e v e d h i m e a c h day. S h e w a n t e d to k n o w o f a n y p r o b l e m s , e s p e c i a l l y m i s b e h a v i o r s , as s o o n as t h e y o c c u r r e d , a n d t h e teacher kept her appraised during their brief interactions. Amy's responsibilities at h o m e k e p t h e r f r o m v o l u n t e e r i n g i n t h e c l a s s r o o m e x c e p t o n rare o c c a s i o n s , b u t she d i d at t i m e s s p e n d s h o r t p e r i o d s o b s e r v i n g t h e class. Jeremiah's kindergarten teacher, Ms Sampsel, was a white woman who had t a u g h t for t w e n t y y e a r s in s e v e r a l d i f f e r e n t s c h o o l s y s t e m s , a n d in a v a r i e t y o f e l e m e n t a r y grades. T h e g r e a t m a j o r i t y o f h e r c u r r e n t s t u d e n t s w e r e b l a c k c h i l d r e n f r o m t h e s u r r o u n d i n g l o w - i n c o m e n e i g h b o r h o o d . In o u r i n t e r v i e w , M s S a m p s e l v o i c e d a t h e m e a p p a r e n t in i n t e r v i e w s w i t h m o s t k i n d e r g a r t e n a n d s o m e first g r a d e t e a c h e r s ; t h a t is, she e x p r e s s e d p l e a s u r e in s e e i n g m o s t p a r e n t s o n a r e g u l a r b a s i s as t h e y b r o u g h t t h e i r c h i l d r e n to the n e i g h b o r h o o d s c h o o l e a c h day. M s S a m p s e l c o n f i r m e d m u c h o f w h a t A m y h a d said a b o u t h e r activities in s u p p o r t o f J e r e m i a h ' s e d u c a t i o n . T h e t e a c h e r ' s p r a i s e for A m y ' s h i g h i n v o l v e m e n t , h o w e v e r , w a s m i x e d w i t h c a u t i o u s c o n c e r n t h a t this m o t h e r m i g h t b e o v e r - d o i n g it s o m e w h a t . F o r e x a m p l e , as M s S a m p s e l d i s c u s s e d J e r e m i a h ' s performance, she commented: His attendance is excellent. His Morn is very much into his [laugh] performance, probably to a fault. I - you know, I think that he's becoming very - I think while he's doing a task, on the top of his mind is "I've got to - if I don't get this done right, I'm gonna be in deep trouble." ... I think he knows if he - like if he misses something, maybe Amy won't let him play for a couple days ... She kind of does over-kill on things. So I think he does become very uptight, he doesn't want to fail. Later, M s S a m p s e l a r t i c u l a t e d a "fine l i n e " s h e felt A m y w a l k e d b e t w e e n p r e s s u r e a n d c o n t r o l t h a t w o u l d e n c o u r a g e J e r e m i a h ' s success, a n d p r e s s u r e a n d c o n t r o l t h a t m i g h t i n s t e a d c o n t r i b u t e to d e s t r u c t i v e rebellion: She obviously takes very good care of this little guy. And she's just putting a lot of herself into his upbringing... I don't think Jeremiah's one of these kids who can grow up Topsylike, and they still know everything, and tow the line, and do fine. I think if he would have not gotten into Head Start, if Amy would not work so hard with him, I think that he would be having some struggles. And I don't know how that's gonna work itself out . .. And I think a lot of these black mothers see also what happens to little black boys when they get about fifth grade. They start - well, and I think that she's determined that this is not gonna happen. She's not gonna let it happen.., there's a fine line. And I think even at this point he is rebelling against that, and you can see it in his reaction to her. And sometimes I'll try to balance that a little bit in the classroom, I'll cut him a little slack sometimes. Or say to her "be sure and compliment Jeremiah, he did a good job doing this." Because I think often she does bear down on things, [and] I wouldn't want to see him become so paranoid about that that he really is afraid to take a guess, take a gamble on an answer.

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She concluded, however, that "if she's consistent in it, that's better than somebody who doesn't give a rip." And despite Jeremiah's apparent anxiety, the teacher noted that he "works hard," is "persistent" and "finishes tasks," and "is just right up there with the kids that know what they need to know." Ms Sampsel had a great deal of knowledge about Amy's practices with Jeremiah, and she shared my own concern that perhaps this mother pushed too hard and was too concerned about every facet of his education (see also Lareau & Shumar, 1996; Wexler, 1992 for discussions of teachers' similar concerns). It was fascinating to hear how Ms Sampsel acted on her concerns by attempting to offset what she perceived as excessive pressure at home by cutting Jeremiah "some slack" in the classroom, and making a special effort to encourage Amy to acknowledge his positive accomplishments. At other times, it was clear she chose to down-play Jeremiah's frequent though minor misbehaviors - especially his tendency to become over-excited and rambunctious - in light of fear Amy might over-react. The following Fall, Jeremiah was bused to a distant school located in a working-class white neighborhood. He entered a class of only 14 students where he and two other bused children were the only black students. As he made this transition, Amy recalled her own experiences as a bused student in seventh and eighth grade, when she "didn't have to worry about Momma walkin' up to school and checkin' on me, she couldn't get way out there!" Furthermore, I wouldn't say I was a problem child, but I got away with as much as I could. Without you know, you know what buttons to push, you know what you could do or couldn't do. You do somethin' too bad, they gonna call your parents. I would never cross that line. I ' d never want M o m m a to know what I be doin' in school.

Amy drew on these memories to help her make sense of Jeremiah's situation, and they strengthened her resolve to continue keeping close tabs on Jeremiah despite the physical distance that would now separate her from his school. She was, however, forced to change the routine she'd established to stay informed about Jeremiah's activities at school. She could no longer regularly converse informally with his teacher, nor drop in unexpectedly for brief periods. While she was able to arrange a ride to the Parent/Teacher conference in the Fall, lack of transportation prohibited her from routinely attending other daytime school events, or activities in the evenings. Despite the ways the school's distance limited her participation, Amy kept informed and involved through frequent phone calls and written correspondence with Jeremiah's teacher, Ms North. Written communication was especially common, and notes originating from both Amy and Ms North typically concerned Jeremiah's performance on academic tasks (although his behavior

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was a frequent topic as well). Amy also remained involved through intense supervision of Jeremiah's work. In our interview mid-way through Jeremiah's first grade year, Amy provided amazing detail about every aspect of Jeremiah's schooling - his performance, his behavior, his teacher, his interaction and friendships with classmates, and his homework schedule. Beyond supervising homework and requiring additional work, Amy also attempted to influence the teacher's standards for acceptable work. Early in the school year, Amy used her one opportunity to interact with Ms North in person at the Parent-Teacher conference to stress the high standards she held for her son, and to complain that the teacher at times gave high marks for shoddy performance. She recalled telling Jeremiah: Your teacher accept this sloppy stuff? And you got a smiling face on this? Well, I don't like it. You don't ride your bike today. According to Amy, Ms North responded to these complaints by telling her to "be hard, but don't be that hard, 'cause he's doing very well compared to some of the kids." Ms North also later recalled this conversation and said that while Jeremiah's work might appear "not good to her, judging him by the class he's doing good." This is an important example of A m y ' s activities, because she did more than just support and reinforce school learning; she also tried to shape the teacher's expectations of Jeremiah to more closely match her own. Such attempts to "customize" children's schooling experiences have been found to be more common among middle and upper-middle income parents than among lower income parents like Amy (see Lareau, 1987). Ms North was a black woman in her early 30s who had taught first or second grade in IPS schools for seven years. Earlier, she taught briefly in an all-black, inner-city school in a major Northeastern city. Ms North's response to one of my interview questions set her apart from all other teachers involved in this study: She was the only teacher to mention parents' support in the context of describing the m o s t pleasing things about her work. Furthermore, as part of a lengthy description of classroom routines, she commented: "One good thing about this class, I get to see my parents almost every day, because most parents pick up their kids . . . I get to see almost all of 'em, except for my bused children." Later, she returned to difficulties inherent in busing: The children whose parents come, they feel very good when Mom comes in the door ... [At] this school, we get a lot of parental help. Now, I haven't had any from my bused children, you know, which is understandable. All the parents that come out and help are the neighborhood parents. Like Jeremiah's kindergarten teacher, Ms North saw real disadvantages to busing young children away from neighborhood schools. Amy, however, seemed

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to overcome those disadvantages; while she was rarely able to visit, Ms North was impressed with her consistent involvement. She recognized A m y ' s fight control over Jeremiah's schooling ("she's hard on him when it comes to school"), but unlike Ms Sampsel gave no indication she felt A m y ' s strategies might be excessive. In fact, she argued that "she needs to be [hard on him], especially with the boys, today." When I asked her to elaborate, she continued: She doesn't let 'ira get away with things as far as, when he know he's supposed to do somethin', she makes him do it. No "ands" "ifs" or "buts" about it. . . . she just makes sure he's doin' what he's supposed to do when its supposed to be done... When I was teachin' all black kids I was a lot harder on my class, because I didn't want them goin' out here and endin' up bein' a statistic. Either dead, or in jail, or on drugs. With her, she's gonna make sure he's gettin' a education. You know, he's not gonna be a drop-out, 'cause she's not gonna let 'im. Although Jeremiah's ldndergarten and first grade teachers felt somewhat differently about the appropriateness of A m y ' s intense monitoring and control, both believed her tactics might help Jeremiah avoid negative outcomes all too common for "black boys" from low-income families and neighborhoods. Both also believed that without his mother's constant pushing, Jeremiah would likely have more difficulties. Jeremiah's transition into schooling was, on the whole, quite positive and laid a foundation for future achievement and productive collaboration between home and school. A m y ' s consistent involvement and concern prepared him well for school and helped to offset the potentially unsettling and alienating effects that too often accompany mandatory busing to distant schools (Calabrese, 1990). In addition, A m y ' s involvement also clearly affected Jeremiah's teachers. The kindergarten teacher's perception concerning A m y ' s perhaps over-zealous participation contributed to her development and enactment of strategies she hoped might buffer and shield Jeremiah from parental control she feared might otherwise overwhelm or immobilize him. His first grade teacher saw no need for such tactics, perhaps because her interaction with A m y was much more limited, s These teachers' awareness of A m y ' s devotion to her son, concern for his success, and extremely high valuation of educational achievement seemed also to affect their evaluations of his abilities. In particular, Ms Sampsel interpreted Jeremiah's reluctance to offer answers and his delays in completing his work as nervousness about his mother's potential disapproval and consequent punishments that might ensue should he do poorly. She did not seem to consider the possibility he simply might not have the ability or motivation to do better. Similarly, Ms North stated several times she was convinced Jeremiah could achieve at a level higher than the Cs and Bs he typically earned. She reportedly

22

KATHERINE BROWN ROSIER

"told him often, that you can do better than this. And I ' v e written to his mother that I don't think I ' m gettin' his best effort." Again, like Ms Sample, this teacher also did not consider that Jeremiah's (really quite decent) grades might truly reflect his abilities. Both teachers' reported behavior toward and communication with Jeremiah consistently conveyed their beliefs he was capable of high achievement. Part of the explanation for the teachers' beliefs that Jeremiah was a more capable student than he typically demonstrated could certainly lie in their strong beliefs about the important effects parents' educational values have on children's motivation to achieve. Their awareness of Amy's hard work and her intense desire for Jeremiah's success may help to explain these teachers' convictions that this was a child who could be an excellent student, despite his failure to demonstrate such academic aptitude. As the following narrative of Zena's movement into schooling will illustrate, other children who perform very comparably can be evaluated quite differently. At this point, I move on to examine Zena's much more rocky transition into early elementary school.

Zena, Marissa, and Ms Majors: "To Me, it's a Signal When They Don't Come" Zena and Jeremiah had many common experiences as they negotiated the transition from Head Start into the early grades. However, while Jeremiah's home life was characterized by stability and continuity, Zena's family context was quite different. Zena is the oldest of three children of Marissa Dunbar and Duane Worthy, who were 17 and 18 years old when Zena was born. Neither parent graduated from high school, and both had been sporadically employed in low-paying jobs throughout their adult lives. Marissa and Duane never married or cohabited, but they maintained their relationship through many hard times, and cooperated in raising their children. Marissa and I met for our initial interview at Duane's mother's home, which Mrs. Worthy shared with Duane and two other sons. Marissa cleared away suitcases to make room for us at the table, then explained her living situation: "I don't really stay here. I don't have a place, we don't have a place now. So we're like stayin' anywhere we can." This was the first indication of the severe problems this family faced; I later learned much more about their troubled history. For example, Marissa told of how she and the children became homeless, their movement "from shelter to homes to shelter to homes," and Marissa's eventual success finding a home for the family. Zena had been absent for much of the winter from the Head Start center we studied, and I eventually learned

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that Marissa had been unable to keep up the bills where she was living, and had moved with the children to a homeless shelter and transferred Zena to another Head Start center. Zena returned to her original classroom when Marissa left the shelter several months later to stay with her grandmother, but the elderly woman soon lost patience with this arrangement. As Zena's Head Start year came to a close, the family was moving among the homes of several relatives. Although Marissa had kept her housekeeping job throughout most of this period, shortly prior to our first interview she was fired. She then began another stint on welfare; despite considerable work experience, she had been on and off AFDC at least four times since Zena's birth. In November of 1990, Marissa finally succeeded in renting a duplex with the aid of a Section VIII housing grant, after spending several more months in a different shelter. Although Zena's parents' personal relationship was often strained to near-breaking, once Marissa was settled in her new apartment, Duane resumed his co-parenting practices, spending most free time with the family but continuing to live with his mother. Given Marissa and Duane's many difficulties, concerns about their children's schooling at times took a backseat to more pressing problems of poverty and homelessness, unemployment, lack of transportation, and personal traumas that plagued the family. Nonetheless, it was clear that both parents maintained concern for Zena' s education, and they acted on these concerns. This is apparent first in the mere fact that Zena consistently attended Head Start, albeit in two different centers, throughout the 1989-1990 school year. Beyond this, Marissa's and Duane's strategies were much less focussed and specific than Amy's, but they did what they could when they could. For example, during our first interview Marissa said she'd missed opportunities to work with Zena because she had always been working. But, she said, Duane would "teach her things when he can," and "now I don't have a job, [so] we sit down and have her learn things, and she's really anxious to learn. She'll cry if we don't sit down with her and teach her." Marissa also reported visiting the Head Start center several times (Corsaro once met both Marissa and Duane at the center), and she described her interaction with teachers there: We sat down and we talked about what she had learned and what I think she needed to lem:n. And I told them, her colors, she needs to really practice on her colors and on her shapes. And to this day, since she got in school, she knows those colors and she knows those shapes. They tell you to work with her at home when you can. And they will work with her in school, and you put it together and it stays up there.

Marissa thus expressed a notion of parmership with Zena's teachers. At a later point in our first interview, this theme of partnership was again apparent, but

24

KATHERINE BROWN ROSIER

Marissa's words were tempered by a pessimism that seemed to emerge from memories of her own educational career (see also Rosier, 2000; Corsaro & Rosier, 1992). W h e n I asked Marissa "what do you think public schools are like as far as offering opportunities for Zena and for your other kids?" her reply suggested both hopeful expectations for Z e n a ' s future as well as enduring bitterness about her own youthful experiences: Public school is just - if it's like when I was growin' up, it's nothin'. Well, I guess - well, I just want to see them stay in school, 'cause I think school is the best thing for 'em. I don't want to see them drop out like I did, 'cause you don't have anything. I want to see them go on, whereas when they get to a certain age, its really hard to keep a child in school. But I would like for them to stay in school, we're gonna help 'em as much as possible. We probably don't know everything,we probably don't know that much, but what we do know we'll teach them so they'll know. And someoneelse will come along like the teachers, and teach them more. And put all that together, it could be a smart kid. Marissa rarely mentioned childhood experiences, but when she did her recollections were primarily negative. Both Marissa and Duane remembered school as unstimulating and unsupportive. And despite their parents' urgings, as teenagers they made their own decisions: My mother, she thought educationwas the best for all of us. I mean, we was up there, with a broken leg or whatever, we was in school. But as we got older - I didn't graduate, and he [Duane] didn't, so that's why I want to see them graduate. But when they get to a certain age, and they think they know it all, and they're out of your control, you can't really do nothin' but tell 'em, you know, sit down and tell 'em that school will help you get through life. Marissa reported that her own mother had "gone through the same thing I have just went through," (homelessness) and had also moved her family between the homes of various relatives. Marissa described a chaotic childhood much like her own children's early years. The dislocations and insecurity of her early life had been exacerbated by Marissa's mother's seeming indifference, and a gruff and punitive parenting style. Later, as a young adult, Marissa became increasingly estranged from her mother, grandmother, and other family members. When she'd needed them most, they'd declined to help, and Marissa recalled such remarks as "well, we got somethin' to do," or "I c a n ' t help you, I ' m busy fillin' my jars with jelly," and she noted that "my mother, she's got every excuse in the world." Marissa understandably had a desperate desire to do better, in terms of both the material and emotional needs of her children. She was convinced that facilitating their success in school was the best way to help them break the family pattern of poverty and insecurity. In stark contrast to Amy, however, Marissa's experiences had provided her with few tools to work with towards

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this goal, and continual stress and changing family circumstances worsened her difficulties. While the two mothers shared similar values and goals, translating these into specific strategies was much more problematic for Marissa. In spite of all this, Zena's experiences in Head Start were remarkably positive and she competently and confidently adjusted to classroom routines. She was somewhat reserved in structured activities, but when called upon proved herself among the brighter children in the classroom. It was, however, in the area of peer relations that Zena excelled. She had a flamboyant, exaggerated style which the other children admired, and she demonstrated much skill in the oppositional, argumentative discourse that was enjoyed by many of these children (see Corsaro, 1993, 1994). Zena's success in both academic and social areas provided her with a sound foundation to build on as she entered kindergarten and the public schools. When Zena began kindergarten, her family had just completed a very uncertain and rocky year. Things were looking up, however, after Marissa found an apartment and took a new job working days. It was only at this point, nearly three months after the school year began, that Zena started kindergarten at a neighborhood school four blocks from her new home. Zena was now quite far behind, and Marissa visited the teacher to learn how she could help her daughter catch up. Ms Hill gave Marissa materials to work with at home, and she and Zena regularly complied with the teacher's suggestions - especially on weekends when there was no homework. Marissa's efforts soon began to pay off: In February she reported that while Zena's first report card "wasn't bad, but it wasn't good neither," her second report "was outstanding, she had improved on just about everything." Continuity between certain features of Zena's Head Start and kindergarten classrooms seemed important in her recovery from her late entry into kindergarten. First, Zena again attended an afternoon session, which allowed her to begin her day at a leisurely pace. The class size was also almost identical, and Zena was one of only 13 students. Finally, all of Zena's classmates were black, and she again had a black teacher. Ms Hill had taught at this school for eight years, and she enjoyed working with the economically disadvantaged children and families in this neighborhood. She demonstrated understanding and concern for her students, but had a no-nonsense style and was a strict disciplinarian (again, similar to Head Start teachers). She responded to the constraints of the half-day schedule by allowing almost no free-play, believing students should utilize every moment preparing for the academic emphasis of first grade. Ms Hill was impressed with Zena's progress during the year, and described her as an. attentive student who was good at listening and following directions.

26

KATHERINE BROWN ROSIER

She also believed Zena was "very capable of doing good work," and she commented on Z e n a ' s motivation to succeed: I've never gotten a "I can't do," OK? She will try, and put forth the effort, and to me, that means so much because those children tell me "Yes, I want to do, just show me how." That in itself says so much to m e . . . We may be workingon a paper and it may take her a little bit longer but she doesn't get frustrated or anything,its like "I'm gonna do it until I finish." Finally, when I asked about the involvement of Z e n a ' s parents, Ms Hill said simply: They're concerned, I know her morn is. She has asked me, you know, "how is she doing, what can I do to help her?" She's very supportive also. Ms Hill was uncritical of Marissa's level of involvement, and although her comments were brief, they were meaningful in light of earlier remarks she'd made about "expectations for parents as well as for the children." This was not a teacher who was satisfied with perfunctory participation, and Ms Hill's characterization of Marissa indicated she had met the high expectations Ms Hill held for all her students' parents. During her kindergarten year, then, Zena appeared to have overcome significant family-related problems which resulted in her late entry, and her parents and teacher were pleased with her progress and anticipated a smooth transition and continued achievement in first grade. That Fall, Zena was subject to mandatory busing, and she began first grade at a n e w school miles from her home. Like other children in this study, Zena had some difficulty adjusting to a full-day schedule after two years in half-day programs, and the 30 minute bus ride each morning and afternoon further lengthened her day. Other aspects of the classroom presented new challenges as well, especially that Zena was one of only a handful of black children among the 22 children in the classroom, and for the first time she had a white teacher. Ms Majors had taught for nine years in another school, and was completing her fourth year in her current position. She described the neighborhood where the school was located as a very low-income, "very transient" white neighborhood, and she was one of several teachers who mentioned parents' lack of concern when describing the least pleasing aspects of their work. Ms Majors' concerns went beyond the neglect of children's schooling to include the more general neglect she felt was common among her students' parents: T: ... Its very rewarding, the children are - they're the best part. The worst part is dealing with parents. Urn,l/ K: //Oh, actually, this is my next question. What are some of the things about your work that you find the most rewarding or pleasing, and what do you find the least//pleasing?

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T: //because you want to slap some of them. You just wanna slap 'era. Yon just wanna say "why don't why feed your kid, and why don't you love 'era, and why don't you dress them right, and why don't yon reinforce things?" And you just can't say what you really think. And you also [want to] say, "welt, why did you have this child if you're not gonna take care of him?" You know, and I always think, I could do a better job. That's the worst moments, when I start thinking bitter things like that. And there are children in this room I take better care of my dog than some of these children are taken care of.

-

She went on to describe various ways she felt many of her students were neglected; most "don't have bookbags . . . they d o n ' t have crayons, they d o n ' t have scissors. They d o n ' t have the things that we take for granted - glue and paint, and magazines." Perhaps partially because she felt many students were severely deprived, Ms Majors reportedly placed much emphasis on developing close and caring relationships with the children. Ms Majors' teaching style was decidedly more flexible than the no-nonsense styles of Z e n a ' s kindergarten and Head Start teachers. While students were granted much freedom, they were also expected to interact together in cooperative and kind ways, and Ms Majors hoped they would come to feel that " w e ' r e a family here." None of this fit well with Zena' s past experiences or her personality, and Ms Majors reported that Zena had had many problems throughout the year. For example, Zena was an "outsider" who did not fit in with the other "sweet and innocent" girls. Her "attitude" was a major issue, and the teacher complained that Zena was often "so moody," "unhappy," and "she kind of fusses, pouts and slides her feet a r o u n d . . , its a little belligerence, a little chip on her shoulder." In addition, Ms Majors noted that several children had complained that Zena "said things, like ' y o u ' r e white and I d o n ' t like you.' " While Zena had previously excelled in peer relations, the take-charge, dramatic, and confrontational style that had served her well was now quite problematic and unappreciated by her new classmates and teacher. Ms Majors' affectionate style also apparently made Zena uncomfortable, and she reportedly remained somewhat Stand-offish. In addition, her academic performance clearly declined. Although Ms Majors reported that she remained a "solid" student, behavioral problems had hampered her ability to complete work conscientiously and on time. Earlier conversations with Marissa had prepared me to expect such reports from the teacher. Marissa had not attended the Fall Parent-Teacher conference, but said she "had the conference over the phone with her." During this and other telephone conversations, Ms Majors had complained about Z e n a ' s "attitude." There had also been notes on Z e n a ' s report cards. All the communications Marissa described between herself and the teacher were basically the same - they focussed on Z e n a ' s negative behavior and attitude. For example, Marissa reported that

28

KATHERINE BROWN ROSIER Her teacher called me, and she wrote a note on the back of Zena's report card. Said Zena's a terrific student but behavior in school - she likes to mess with the other k i d s . . , and she say bad things - bad words [quiet laugh] - bad things to the other kids.

Marissa also said the teacher had questioned whether Zena was getting enough sleep. When Marissa and I met for an interview that year, it was apparent she had taken Ms Major's complaints quite seriously, and she took several concrete actions in response. First, she began enforcing an earlier bedtime; all three children were now in bed by 8:00 p.m. Second, to allay problems Zena had forgetting her homework, Marissa designated a spot near the door where Zena was to deposit her completed homework each evening. And finally, Marissa began to talk with Zena about controlling her anger. Marissa related Zena's difficulties getting along with her classmates to problems she had in the workplace. She said that "Zena' s got a bad temper, and I used to be like that." Marissa noted that her own temper had formerly flared when she felt mistreated at work, but she had taught herself to think "I need this job. So, I can't nothin' but take this. And you just keep s m i l i n ' . . . " T h e crux of the matter for Marissa was that "it's all about self-control." When I asked if she had just recently begun to focus on teaching Zena self-control, her reply again suggested the importance she placed on Ms Majors' communications: Yes, ever since her teacher sent me a note, tell me her attitude - that's what did it. 'Cause see, I don't never get up there to the school, so I don't know what's goin' on, so I ' m glad she did write that down, so I know what's goin' on.

Although Marissa was disappointed with Zena's behavior, she thought her daughter was doing excellent in school. "Especially in math," she said, "the only papers she brings home is a happy face with a A." Before the first marking period ended, Mafissa had anxiously waited to see if Zena would make the honor roll, but unfortunately, she did not. Marissa said, however, that "the report card was outstanding, I don't know why she didn't, I can't get out to Zena's school to talk to her teacher, it's so far out." Moments later, she concluded that "If you're gonna make honor-roll, it's more than gettin' As on all your papers, it's got somethin' to do with your personality, how do you act toward other kids." While the concern Marissa communicated to me was clear, the teacher, however, had perceived this mother much differently. As Ms Majors discussed Zena's various behavioral and attitudinal problems, she noted her communication with Marissa: T: . . . As a child, how do you get out of being an angry child? They don't know how. I don't know, I ' v e called her mother a few times about it, and her mother's just "well, that's the way she is at home." And I don't know where to go from there. I ' v e never met the

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mother. She's never been in, for conferences or open house or anything like that. It's a real loss when I don't meet a parent, it really - I always think: "wouldn't they want to meet me, wouldn't they want to see what kind of ogre is teaching their child all day?" That bothers me, when I don't know all the parents. K: Yeah, well, I was gonna ask you about how you felt about the role that Zena's parents were playing in her education... Um, yeah, what kind of contact have you had with Zena's morn over the last year? T: The school system provides a day where the children are released and it gives you all day to have parent conferences and she did not respond to that. I don't know what more I can do than that. And although I realize with our bused children, they do live on the other side of town, and if they don't have transportation, it's hard. But I always think: I'd hitch a ride somehow. I mean, I can't believe they wouldn't want to meet me and just see what I'm like and size me up, good or bad. Well, anyways, to me, it's a signal when they don't even come for that. I know there are reasons sometimes, but we usually get a pretty good turnout on that. I - I really can't sing the benefits of integration whole-heartedly. There's a lot of plusses, but I don't know if it's worth it, losing the neighborhood schools. Because maybe her Morn - maybe it would be a different story if she was still at school no. XX. M s M a j o r s h a d m a d e s i m i l a r r e m a r k s d u r i n g o u r earlier p h o n e c o n v e r s a t i o n to a r r a n g e t h e i n t e r v i e w . A t t h a t time, s h e h a d c o m m e n t e d o n Z e n a ' s attitude, said she f o u n d M a r i s s a u n c o m m u n i c a t i v e , a n d h a d " b a s i c a l l y g i v e n u p o n g e t t i n g h e l p f r o m t h e f a m i l y . " I m p o r t a n t l y , d u r i n g this call s h e also s u g g e s t e d t h a t b o t h Z e n a ' s b e h a v i o r a n d the l a c k o f p a r e n t a l s u p p o r t h a d c o n t r i b u t e d to a d e c i s i o n s h e m a d e c o n c e r n i n g tactics s h e w o u l d u s e w i t h Z e n a . S h e h a d c o n c l u d e d , s h e said, " t h a t it's best not to push Zena into something that she doesn't want to do, b e c a u s e s h e is j u s t n o t g o i n g to d o it." I h a d a p p r o a c h e d o u r i n t e r v i e w , then, h o p i n g to s h a r e s o m e o f m y o w n k n o w l e d g e o f M a r i s s a ' s c o n c e r n a n d activities, a n d this p o i n t in the i n t e r v i e w p r o v i d e d t h a t o p p o r t u n i t y . W h e n M s M a j o r s w o n d e r e d i f t h i n g s w o u l d b e differe n t i f Z e n a w e r e n o t b u s e d , I t o l d h e r M a r i s s a h a d i n d e e d m e t w i t h earlier t e a c h ers, e s p e c i a l l y d u r i n g h e r k i n d e r g a r t e n year. M s M a j o r s t h e n n o t e d t h a t she i n t e r a c t e d w i t h n e i g h b o r h o o d p a r e n t s w h e n s h e w a l k e d h e r s t u d e n t s o u t at the c l o s e o f e a c h day, a n d f r o m this p o i n t in t h e i n t e r v i e w , s h e b e g a n to r e c o n s i d e r h e r earlier a p p r a i s a l s o f b o t h m o t h e r a n d d a u g h t e r . S h e c o m m e n t e d t h a t the i n t e r v i e w was "helping me think of more positive things about Zena, and that's good." Other c o m m e n t s s u g g e s t e d a l t e r a t i o n s in h e r t h i n k i n g a b o u t M a r i s s a . F o r e x a m p l e , s h e said: The mother has responded on the report card. I try to write a comment on everybody's report card, every time. And the mother usually will write back. And that's good. And that's a rari.ty here, most of my parents don't. And when Zena's out, I'll usually get a note, too. And I don't always get that from all of the kids, usually I don't. And I have called her when Zena went on one of her little spells

30

KATHERINE BROWN ROSIER of bein' fussy for days, and she said she would talk to her. So I really guess I can't complain, you know, she said "well, she's like that at home." In a way that makes me feel better that she's not acting up just at school, but she was having some of the same problems. Zena brings a bag every day, bless her heart. So she doesn't lose it, so that's a really good thing she does... So that's another plus about her mother that I hadn't even thought about. Because I know that bags don't come out of the air. The parents are providing them.

Finally, Ms Majors noted that Z e n a ' s grades were sometimes "marked down" for not turning papers in on time. I mentioned Marissa was surprised Zena had not made honor roll the first marking period, and Ms Majors responded: "Oh, wonderful! I ' m glad her mother wanted her to! That's neat" (her clear surprise seemed to suggest she supposed Z e n a ' s mother cared little about such matters). A t this point, Ms Majors said: Zena's a good, solid student, but there are some that are better than her, and those are the ones that are on the honor roll. And it can't be for - I wish it could be for everybody. During the last several minutes of our interview, then, Ms Majors clearly questioned her attitudes towards this mother she had previously "given up on getting help from." She mentioned that school can be an intimidating place for parents, especially if their children have difficulties and they receive only negative reports from school personnel. She seemed surprised at herself, then, when she observed: "the only time I have contacted Z e n a ' s mother has been negative, now that I think of it, and how awful of me." Ms Majors' communications with Marissa had indeed been overwhelmingly negative. For parents like Marissa whose memories of their own schooling are primarily negative as well, withdrawal from contact with teachers is a common reaction to consistent negative reports about their children (see, e.g. Comer & Haynes, 1991; Toomey, 1989). This suggests that Marissa's earlier experiences could contribute to reluctance to involve herself in her daughter's schooling, but she did not interpret her behavior as withdrawal. Rather, she believed the distant location of the school, coupled with her own lack of resources to overcome this obstacle, precluded her physical presence at school. At the same time, her activities at home demonstrated that she remained concerned and involved in Z e n a ' s education. Ms Majors, on the other hand, can hardly be faulted for failing to incorporate information she had no access to into her definition of the situation; she had no way to know, for example, about strategies Marissa enacted at home such as the earlier bedtime, the routine placement of homework, and the conversations aimed at helping Zena control her temper. Other evidence of Marissa's concern that Ms Majors w a s privy to, however, went unnoticed or discounted prior to our interview. By her own admission, Ms Majors placed tremendous importance

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on parents' presence at school as a symbolic indicator of parents' values ("to me it's a signal when they don't even come"), and this symbol apparently over-shadowed contradictory evidence. Ms Majors' perception that Marissa was unconcerned seemed to contribute to both her expectations for Zena's achievement, and her behavior toward Zena in the classroom. There was little indication the teacher was dissatisfied with Zena's academic performance. Rather, although Ms Majors' believed Zena was a "good, solid student," other students were simply "better," and they were "the ones on the honor roll." Zena's grades, however, were such that with only minor improvement in one or two subjects she would indeed receive honor roll recognition. Despite this, Ms Majors had decided "not to push Zena into something that she doesn't want to do," in part because she had "given up on getting help from the family" to deal with Zena's at times obstinate behavior. DISCUSSION Teachers' expectations can be affected by more than the characteristics and behaviors of individual children. In addition, parents' behavior - and in particular, parents' apparent involvement in children's schooling - can also help to shape teachers' expectations. Far too little attention has been paid by both researchers and educators to this connection between parent involvement and teachers' expectations for children. The passive and resigned stance Ms Majors adopted towards Zena's achievement contrasts sharply with the one taken by Jeremiah's first grade teacher. With grades almost identical to Zena's, Jeremiah also routinely "just missed" making honor roll, and Ms North reportedly "told him often, you can do better than this." She also wrote notes to his mother, conveying that "I don't think I ' m gettin' his best effort." The teachers' expectations for the two children were clearly very different, and this narrative analysis strongly suggests that the teachers' perceptions of the children's mothers contributed to their differential expectations for the children. On the one hand, Amy's clear involvement and concern seemed to lead Jeremiah's teachers to assume his achievement would - at some point - come to reflect his family's supposed high valuation of education. On the other hand, Marissa's absence from symbolic school functions and her limited communication with the first grade teacher appeared to contribute mightily to Ms Majors' development of an expectation for mediocrity that reflected, she believed, the ambivalence of Zena's family toward educational pursuits. It is important to stress here that it was the mothers' actions (or inaction), rather than their "values," that appeared to influence the teachers in this regard.

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Teachers involved in my own as well as others' studies (e.g. Lareau, 1987, 1989; Lareau & Shumar, 1996; Van Galen, 1987), however, assume that parents' involvement-related behaviors reflect their values. In so doing, they interpret the absence of information about parents and families as immensely meaningful. Researchers repeatedly note that teachers report negative perceptions of low-income parents they have not met and do not know (e.g. see Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Toomey, 1989; Van Galen, 1987). In such cases, teachers apparently rely on negative stereotypes to fill in missing information or to shape their interpretations of ambiguous information. Explanations for parents' lack of contact with teachers other than a low valuation of education, however, are certainly plausible, and it is to just such alternative explanations that I now turn. As I noted earlier, Marissa and Amy were similar to one another in certain respects, but striking differences were also apparent. As Lareau and Shumar (1996) argue is often the case, I believe the mothers' differential access to resources offer the best explanation for the vast differences in both the patterns of communication they established with their children' s teachers, and the manner in which teachers perceived them. First, looking at the mothers' personal histories, we see that Amy's history both in the family and in school provided her with important experiential "capital" she could draw upon in formulating her own child-rearing strategies. Amy had experienced quite high levels of achievement as a student, and she thus knew herself to be a competent actor in matters of public schooling. Unlike some mothers involved in this research, she was at ease in school environments, and her interaction with teachers and other school personnel (which I observed on several occasions) reflected her feelings of competence and confidence. In addition, Amy often linked her own educational success to the practices of her mother, who exercised tight control over her children's lives and demanded good grades and commitment to education. Amy thus had a clear model for parenting that she felt had proved successful in the past, and she often noted her purposeful attempts to reproduce the parental role she had observed her mother enacting. Marissa's task, on the other hand, was much more difficult and complex. She had been an unsuccessful student, with little interest in school, who had dropped out after her sophomore year. She rarely mentioned her family of origin, but when she did she focussed on the instability of her life as a child, or the ineffectiveness of her mother's tactics. With no model of effective parenting to draw on, Marissa attempted to construct a parental role supportive of her children's educational achievement with little more to go on than her desire to do things differently. She knew she wanted to do all she could to encourage

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her children's success, yet her frustration over her own ineffectiveness was often apparent as she made remarks such as "Zena thinks she know it all already" and "she doesn't listen to me - it takes someone else to do it." It was also clear that differing levels of stability and stress in these mothers' lives impacted their differential ability to consistently and effectively parent. The circumstances of Amy's household remained remarkably stable, and the routines Amy established early on were never threatened by the kinds of changes in employment, residence, financial resources, and relationships that plagued Marissa's family. Both Amy and Jeremiah could contend with and negotiate changes and demands related to Jeremiah's schooling within the context of a consistent and stable home environment. For Marissa and Zena, however, family life was not nearly so reliable. While Marissa did attempt to enforce activities like daily discussions of Zena's day when she returned from school, and requiring homework be completed before Zena could watch television or play with neighborhood friends, Marissa's ever-changing and always demanding schedule and circumstances made these somewhat less-than-routine activities. Finally, although neither woman had access to personal transportation which would have permitted them to travel more easily to their children's distant schools, Amy had supportive relatives and friends who could and did provide her with rides on the most important occasions. It is no exaggeration to say that Marissa had n o o n e she could call on for similar assistance. She was understandably estranged from family members she felt had abandoned her in the past, and although Duane provided her with much emotional and instrumental support, like Marissa he was sporadically employed, worked for very low wages, and did not have a car. Despite their surface similarities (for example, both were unmarried mothers who met the poverty-level criteria for participation in Head Start and who resided in low-income, inner-city neighborhoods), A m y ' s social resources clearly advantaged her participation in Jeremiah's schooling while Marissa's lack of resources hampered her ability to do the same. Although I easily observed these vast differences in the social resources available to the two mothers, Lareau and Shumar argue that such differences are "generally invisible to educators, who, using an individualist model, interpret parents' efforts to attend school functions as an index of their level of concern" (Lareau & Shumar, 1996, p. 26). 9 It should be noted here that nearly all teachers involved in this study did, in fact, show some awareness of the effect of less individualistic factors on parent involvement. In particular, these teachers - including Ms Majors - were very ambivalent about mandatory busing because they felt it limited the routine involvement of parents' of bused children. However, Ms Majors and other teachers I spoke with believed parents could and should find

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KATHERINE BROWN ROSIER

a way to participate at least in parent-teacher conferences despite this policy-created obstacle. When they did not, teachers interpreted their absence as lack of concern. In the early pages of this article, I presented two rather standard models: first, a model of indirect effects of parental participation on children's academic outcomes, and second, a similar model of the effects of teachers' expectations. In each of these models, adults' behavior is observed and interpreted by the child, the meanings attributed to the behavior are incorporated into the child's own developing attitudes and values, and this in turn directly affects academic outcomes. Throughout this piece, I have suggested that these presumed processes are not necessarily distinct. Instead, all three actors - parent, teacher, and child - should be considered in any consideration of either the effects of parent involvement, or the effects of teacher expectations, on children's motivation to achieve. That is, (1) Characteristics of parents influence their involvement in their children's schooling. While I would include here both parents' values and their resources, along with Lareau (1987, 1989; Lareau & Shumar, 1996; see also Kerbow & Bernhardt, 1991; Van Galen, 1987) I would argue that much of the variation in parent involvement can be explained by parents' differential access to resources. (2) Parents' (apparent) involvement influences teachers' expectations. Teachers interpret parents' involvement as indicative of parents' valuation of education, and they adjust their expectations for children in line with this interpretation, and in line with beliefs that children incorporate parents' values into their own emerging value system. (3) Teachers' communicate their expectations for individual children through differential behavior. In particular, differential communication concerning satisfaction with present work, and differential encouragement to do better, are apparent in the narratives presented above. (4) Children perceive, interpret, and to some extent incorporate teachers' expectations into their own self-attitudes and behavior. In particular, teachers' expectations can reasonably be assumed to affect children's motivation to succeed. (5) Finally, Children's attitudes and behavior play a role in their academic outcomes, lo Such a conceptualization is a marked improvement over the simplistic, individualistic models presented earlier. However, it is also important that these processes not be divorced from the overall ideological and political contexts within which they occur. Lareau and Shumar (1996) are highly critical of

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teachers' use of an individualist model to shape their perceptions of parents' values, and we should not be similarly guilty of over-individualizing teachers' situations. In fact, consideration of larger social processes renders Ms Majors' and other teachers' stance quite understandable. I want to stress here that although Ms Majors can be interpreted as the villain of this piece, she was not an intentionally discriminating, or even unthinking, person. On the contrary, she appeared intelligent, kind and sympathetic, and concerned for all her students. That she also appeared so clearly influenced by her interpretations of Marissa's behavior should not be viewed as malicious, or as surprising. Instead, Ms Majors' perceptions of Zena and her family were very much in line with - and very reasonable in light o f - both the parent involvement bandwagon that virtually all school systems have climbed aboard and the accompanying enthusiastic literature that is in fact largely targeted at educators. Rather than placing blame on individual teachers, it is more productive as well as more accurate to point the finger at processes that have helped to usher in the new "institutionalized standard" of stressing parental involvement. The push for parental involvement should be viewed within the context of a larger, complex ideological struggle over the causes of persistent inequalities and poverty. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, we have witnessed increasing gaps between the "haves" and the "have-nots," and these trends have been accompanied by growing conservatism and the final dismantling of the "War on Poverty" in favor of policies perhaps more aptly described as the "War on the Poor." New refrains of the old "culture of poverty" tune have encouraged the American public to discount systemic causes of inequalities, including inequality of educational achievement, and focus instead on personal responsibility and accountability for differential outcomes (see Fine, 1993; Mickelson & Ray, 1994; Polakow, 1995; Swadener & Lubeck, 1995). At first blush, this trend might seem to summarily absolve school personnel of responsibility for low levels of achievement among certain groups of students (i.e. minority and lower-income students), but educators know this is not necessarily the case. The stepped-up inclination to blame individuals has tended to include - r a t h e r than absolve - teachers, who along with parents have increasingly been viewed as personally accountable for students' failures. As Lareau and Shumar note, Family-school policies, which often shift responsibility for educational and social problems from the state back to families and individual teachers, have been particularly popular educational reforms (Lareau & Shumar, 1996, p. 35).

Teachers are not blind to societal discontent over declining overall educational achievements and persistent or increasing gaps between educational outcomes

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for mainstream versus non-mainstream students, nor are they oblivious to the movement for teacher accountability. A n d it is within this context that they receive and interpret information on the critical role of parents' involvement in children's education. W e must at least consider the self-protective nature of teachers' apparently wide-spread beliefs about parents' involvement: If parents who are not involved do not particularly value education, and if parent involvement is critical for children's education, then in the absence of parent involvement, teachers can hardly be blamed for their students' failures. In addition, there is a more positive (self-serving rather than self-protective) side to this same coin. Van Galen notes that the belief that poor and under-educated parents do not care about education served the educators she studied "by allowing them to take exclusive credit for whatever learning the students did experience." "Even while these children achieved at levels far below those the staff expected of wealthier children," their accomplishments "boosted the self esteem of the staff" by providing evidence of what they could accomplish "in spite of the poor homes" (1987, p. 87). How much either teachers or parents can accomplish in terms of ensuring low-income and minority children's achievement within the resource-strapped schools that typically serve them is certainly questionable. As Kerbow and Bemhardt point out in their conclusion to an analysis that revealed disproportionately high levels of parent involvement among low-income minority parents whose children attended inner-city schools, no matter how active the parents may be, a very complex and strong set of factors continue to work against the students. These are parents with very few resources, schools with impoverished families and limited funding. Both confront severe problems that are intimately linked to the communities and environments in which they are located. That they persevere in the face of these problems shows compelling concern for their children. But this effort cannot negate the reality that there is a substantial discrepancy between the resources held by urban schools and their minority parents and those held by affluent suburban schools and their white parents (1991, p. 25). However, when teachers blame parents and parents - as is also often the case - blame teachers, the blame-game remains on an individual level, and scrutiny of systemic causes for lack of educational achievement is effectively avoided.

CONCLUSION As Jussim et al. conclude their review of teacher expectations and student achievement, they note without further elaboration that parents can convey to teachers a commitment to their child's education by attending teacher conferences, school activities, and so on. In addition, some teachers may feel more accountable

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to parents whom they see regularly than to those they rarely see. This is important because accountabilityfacilitatesmoreaccuratejudgementsof all kinds and may be especiallylikelyto help when parentsbelieveteachershold inaccuratelylow expectationsfor their children (1994, p. 329). In line with this reasoning, it is likely wise to recommend that parents increase their involvement even if only to manipulate teachers' expectations and feelings of accountability. I do so here, but with considerable ambivalence. In addition and more importantly, it is critical that teachers be informed of findings reported here and elsewhere concerning first, the influence of family resources on parents' involvement-related behavior, and second, the potential impact of parent involvement on teachers' expectations. As I am confident was true for Ms Majors, the great majority of teachers are caring and concerned, and readily welcome information that will help them to better serve their students and encourage high achievement. Teachers need access to information that will help them think more critically about the implications of both the recent push for parent involvement and their own beliefs concerning this development. My findings and those of others (e.g. Kerbow & Bernhardt, 1991; Lareau, 1987, 1989; Lareau & Shumar, 1996; Toomey, 1989; Van Galen, 1987) underscore the need for further research that examines how teachers' perceptions of parents' attitudes and values affect the development of teacher expectations and their consequent interaction with students. Ethnographic studies specifically designed to uncover and clarify the interactive processes through which the apparent relationships between parent involvement, teacher expectations, and teacher-student interaction may be constituted would be especially valuable. In addition, larger scale, quantitative studies could also be immensely helpful. While I leave it to others to imagine and design such large-scale quantitative research, I close by suggesting that a particularly meaningful potential dependent variable measure is already widely used and readily available for such studies. Many report card systems employed at various grade levels include the option of supplementing course grades with numerical comments. For example, teachers can assign a number interpretable as "the student is working up to his/her potential" or "is capable of doing better." This seems a clear indicator of teacher expectations, which - when examined in conjunction with teachers' reports of parent involvement - m i g h t prove especially enlightening and valuable for ascertaining the prevalence and significance of this phenomenon. H

NOTES 1. Such beliefs on the part of school personnel clearly reflect the Wisconsin Status Attainment Model, developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and its emphasis on

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the importance of attitudes and aspirations (e.g. see Hailer & Portes, 1975; Sewell, Haller & Ohlendorf, 1970; Woelfel &Haller, 1971). 2. Jussim et al. (1994) estimate that 70-80% of the correlation between teacher expectations and student achievement is explained by accuracy, while expectation effects account for the remaining 20-30% of the correlation. 3. On the other hand, failure to find evidence of teacher bias may be due to neglect of self-fulfilling prophesy feedback loops as Farkas et al. (1990) also note. 4. False expectations may be based on a variety of different student characteristics such as gender, race, social class, attractiveness, and diagnostic or special education labels - and stereotypes associated with those characteristics. Duseck and Joseph (1983) completed a meta-analysis of the relative impact of these variables on teacher expectations and found that social class and diagnostic labels have more powerful influence, while ethnicity and physical attractiveness play a minor - but apparent - role in the development of expectations. The impact of gender was judged to be insignificant. In addition to these student characteristics, Good (1987) includes social variables such as popularity with peers and classroom behavior, as well as past-performance indicators such as test scores, grades, performance on assignments, or tract placement as potentially important influences on the development of teacher expectations. Importantly, expectations may also have their basis in a mismatch between the teacher's and student's interactional styles - which may, of course, be related to their different genders, ethnicities, or social class (see, e.g. Rowser, 1994; see also Epstein & Dauber, 1991). 5. Although interviews with mothers and teachers were similar in many respects, it is important to note that while I have extensive information about the mothers, their families, and many aspects of their lives both past and present, my familiarity with teachers is quite limited. In contrast with the mothers, I had no extended relationships with teachers, and came to know them only briefly and only in their role of educators of young children. I clearly have much more contextual information within which to place and interpret the mothers' words, beliefs, and practices. This fact certainly impacts upon my analysis, as I routinely discuss mothers and children in terms of the various contexts of their lives but cannot treat teachers in a similarly holistic manner. While the teacher interviews successfully prompted them to reveal much about their personal beliefs, histories, and practices as teachers, my knowledge of them as family members, members of communities, or former students, for example, is extremely limited. 6. I interviewed a total of 14 teachers in person in their classrooms. Because one kindergarten teacher taught three of the target children and another had two of the children in her class, only five interviews with kindergarten teachers were necessary in the Spring of 1991 for eight of the children. These same children's eight first grade teachers were interviewed in person in the Spring of 1992. One child, Sheila, was a year behind the others because her mother did not enroll her in kindergarten until the Fall of 1991. Her kindergarten teacher was interviewed in person in the Spring of 1992, but I was unable to meet with her first-grade teacher because I did not have permission to conduct research in the schools the following year. I therefore interviewed this teacher by telephone in the Spring of 1993. 7. The others were Ms Parson, Ms Nelbert, and Ms Majors. 8. It could be argued that busing itself, though viewed quite negatively by Amy and by Jeremiah's teachers, provided Jeremiah some freedom from his mother's intense scrutiny that may have contributed positively to his development.

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9. Like my own research, Lareau's important and influential work is qualitative in nature, and thus always somewhat vulnerable to questions concerning generalization of results. However, quantitative research also lends support to these arguments. Using a nationally representative eighth-grade cohort sample from the NELS:88 data set, Kerbow and Bernhardt completed a rare quantitative analysis of the relative importance of social resources (including income, work schedules, number of parents in the home, and number of siblings) and "parental expectations for the child's future education." They concluded that "the direct effect of resources clearly outweighs the values or motivational aspects of parental involvement" ,(1991, p. 7). 10. My characterization of these processes obviously ignores numerous other factors that influence teacher expectations, parent involvement, and child outcomes. For example, teacher expectations are certainly heavily influenced by characteristics of the child (including past performance; behavior; and ascribed characteristics such as race, class, gender, and physical attractiveness - see note (4). The model also does not consider the importance of teacher characteristics; research has demonstrated that certain types of teachers are more prone to expectation effects, and certain types of teachers are more prone to stereotypical definitions of parents and families (Beady & Hansell, 1981; Brophy, 1985; Cooper, 1979; Epstein, 1993; Good, 1987; Jussim et al., 1994; Weinstein et al., 1987). Finally, because I neglect important features of the social context within which parents, teachers, and children are imbedded, this conceptualization is overly simplistic and incomplete.. We know, for example, that characteristics of schools have considerable influence on both parent involvement and teachers' requests for such involvement (Becker & Epstein, 1982; Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Hoover-Dempsey, Bassler & Brissie, 1987; Kerbow & Bernhardt, 1991), on teachers' expectations for children and on their behavior toward children (e.g. see Anyon, 1980; Beady & Hansell, 1981; Wexler, 1992), and on children's developing attitudes and behaviors (Calabrese, 1990; Wexler, 1992). Full consideration of the impact of school characteristics on these processes is beyond the scope of this article, but I acknowledge here the importance of such considerations. 11. I have in mind here examination of parent involvement prior to the first report. After the first report card is distributed, this measure of teacher expectations could just as likely inspire parent involvement as reflect it.

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Brophy, J. (1983). Research on the Self-Fulfilling Prophesy and Teacher Expectations. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 631-661. Brophy, J. (1985). Teacher-Student Interaction. In: J. Duseck (Ed.), Teacher Expectancies (pp. 303-328). Lawrence Erlbanm. Calabrese, R. L. (1990). The Public School: A Source of Alienation for Minority Parents. Journal of Negro Education, 59(2), 148-154. Clark, R. (1983). Family Life and School Achievement: Why Poor Black Children Succeed or Fail. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Comer, J. P., & Haynes, N. M. (1991). Parent Involvement in Schools: An Ecological Approach. The Elementary School Journal, 91(3), 271-277. Cooper, H. M. (1979). Pygmalion Grows Up: A Model for Teacher Expectation Communication and Performance Influence. Review of Educational Research, 49(3), 389-410. Cooper, H., & Good, T. (1983). Pygmalion Grows Up: Studies in the Expectation Communication Process. New York: Longman. Corsaro, W. A. (1993). Interpretive Reproduction in Children's Role Play. Childhood, 1, 64-74. Corsaro, W. A. (1994). Discussion, Debate, and Friendship Processes: Peer Discourse in U.S. and Italian Nursery Schools. Sociology of Education, 67, 1-25. Corsaro, W. A. (1995). Transitions in Early Childhood: The Promise of Comparative, Longitudinal Ethnography. In: A. Colby, R. Jessor & R. Shweder (Eds), Essays on Ethnography and Human Development (pp. 419-457). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Corsaro, W. A., & Rosier, K. B. (1992). Documenting Productive-Reproductive Processes in Children's Lives: Transition Narratives of a Black Family Living in Poverty. In: W. A. Corsaro & P. Miller (Eds), Interpretive Approaches to Children's Socialization (pp. 67-91). New Directions for Child Development, 58. Doherty, J., & Hier, B. (1988). Teacher Expectations and Specific Judgements: A Small-Scale Study of the Effects of Certain Non-Cognitive Variables on Teachers' Academic Predictions. Educational Review, 40(3), 333-348. Duseck, J., & Joseph, G. (1983). The Bases of Teacher Expectancies: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 327-346. Epstein, J. (1993). A Response (to M. Fine [Ap]parent Involvement: Reflections on Parents, Power, and Urban Public Schools). Teachers College Record, 94(4), 710-717. Epstein, J., & Becket, H. (1982). Teachers' Reported Practices of Parent Involvement: Problems and Possibilities. Elementary School Journal, 83, 103-113. Epstein, J., & Dauber, S. L. (1991). School Programs and Teacher Practices of Parent Involvement in Inner-City Elementary and Middle Schools. The Elementary School Journal, 9•(3), 289-305. Farkas, G., Grobe, R. P., Sheehan, D., & Shuan, Y. (1990). Cultural Resources and School Success: Gender, Ethnicity, and Poverty Groups within an Urban School District. American Sociological Review, 55, 127-142. Fine, M. (1993). [Ap]parent Involvement: Reflections on Parents, Power, and Urban Public Schools. Teachers College Record, 94(4), 682-710. Good, T. L. (1987). Two Decades of Research on Teacher Expectations: Findings and Future Directions. Journal of Teacher Education, 38(4), 32-47. Haller, A. O., & Portes, A. (1975). Status Attainment Processes. Sociology of Education, 46, 51-91. Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., Bassler, O. C., & Brissie, J. S. (1987). Parent Involvement: Contributions of Teacher Efficacy, School Socioeconomic Status, and Other School Characteristics. American Educational Research Journal, 24(3), 417-435.

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Jnssim, L., Madon, S., & Chatman, C. (1994). Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement: Self-Fulfilling Prophecies, Biases, and Accuracy. In: L. Heath (Ed.), Applications of Heuristics and Biases to Social Issues (pp. 303-334). New York: Plenum Press. Kerbow, D., & Bernhardt, A. (1991). Limits of Parental and School Intervention: The Context of Minority Involvement. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Cincinnati Ohio. Lareau, A. (1987). Social Class Differences in Family-School Relationships: The Importance of Cultural Capital. Sociology of Education, 60, 73-85. Lareau, A. (1989). Home Advantage: Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary Education. London: Falmer Press. Larean, A., & Shumar, W. (1996). The Problem of Individualism in Family-School Policies. Sociology of Education, 69 ("extra issue"), 24-39. Lipset, S. M., & Bendix, R. (1962, 1987). Psychological Factors in Social Mobility: Intelligence and Motivation. In: C. S. Heller (Ed.), Structured Social Inequali~ (pp. 282-292). New York: MacMillan. MacLeod, J. (1987). Ain't No Makin' It: Leveled Aspirations in a Low-Income Neighborhood. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Mickelson, R. A., & Ray, C. A. (1994). Fear of Failing From Grace: The Middle Class, Downward Mobility, and School Desegregation. Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization, 10, 207-238. Polakow, V. (1995). Epilogue. Naming and Blaming: Beyond a Pedagogy of the Poor. In: B. B. Swadener & S. Lubeck (Eds), Children and Families "'at Promise": Deconstructing the Discourse of Risk (pp. 263-270). Atbany NY: SUNY Press. Rist, R. C. (1970). Student Social Class and Teacher Expectations: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Ghetto Education. Harvard Educational Review, 40, 411--451. Rist, R. C. (1973). The Urban School: A Factory for Failure. Cambridge MA: The M.I.T. Press. Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the Classroom. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Rosier, K. B. (2000). Mothering Inner-city Children: The Early School Years. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Rosier, K. B., & Corsaro, W. A. (1993). Competent Parents, Complex Lives: Managing Parenthood in Poverty. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 22(2), 171-204. Rowser, J. F. (1994). Teacher Expectations: The Forgotten Variable in the Retention of African American Students. College Student Journal, 28, 82-87. Saracho, O. N. (1991). Teacher Expectations of Students' Performance: A Review of the Research. Early Child Development and Care, 76, 27-41. Seeley, D. (1984). Educational Partnership and the Dilemmas of School Reform. Phi Delta Kappan, 65, 383-393. Sewell, W. H., Hailer, A. O., & Ohlendorf, G. W. (1970). The Educational and Early Occupational Attainment Process: Replications and Revisions. American Sociological Review, 35, 1014-1027. Stevenson, H., Chen, C., & Uttal, D. (1990). Beliefs and Achievement: A Study of Black, White, and Hispanic Children. Child Development, 61, 508-523. Swadener, B. B., & Lubeck, S. (1995). Children and Families "'at Promise": Deconstructing the Discourse of Risk. Albany NY: SUNY Press. Toomey, D. (1989). How Some-School Relations Policies Can Increase Educational Inequality: A Three-Year Follow-up. Australian Journal of Education, 33(3), 284-298.

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Van Galen, J. (1987). Maintaining Control: The Structuring of Parent Involvement. In: G. W. Noblit & W. T. Pink (Eds), Schooling in Social Context: Qualitative Studies (pp. 78-92). Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Wahlberg, H. J. (1984). Families as Partners in Educational Productivity. Phi Delta Kappan, 65, 397-400. Weinstein, R. S., Marshall, H. H., Sharp, L., & Botkin, M. (1987). Pygmalion and the Student: Age and Classroom Differences in Children's Awareness of Teacher Expectations. Child Development, 58, 1079-1093. Wexler, P. (1992). Becoming Somebody: Toward a Social Psychology of School. London: Falmer Press. Winters, W. G. (1993). African American Mothers and Urban Schools: The Power of Participation. New York: Lexington Books. Woelfel, J., & Haller, A. O. (1971). Significant Others, the Self-Reflexive Act, and the Attitude Formation Process. American Sociological Review, 36, 74-87.

INTERRACIAL RELATION SHIPS AND RACIAL IDENTITY PROCESSES IN AN URBAN MOTHER-AND-CHILD REHABILITATION PROGRAM Colin H. Sacks

A woman sits on the living room floor, gently cradling a young girl's right foot in her left hand. The young girl leans back in a bean bag chair and smiles blissfully. The woman carefully applies the young girl's favorite color of nail polish, a bright pink, to the big toe of her right foot and fans it with her fingers, the applicator brush waving in the air. Across the small room, about five feet away, another woman watches closely as a second young girl practices her arithmetic. "Five plus two - it's OK to use your fingers - equals seven! Very good! Now write your seven in the box there," she says. The first woman applies polish to the little girl's second toe, the one next to her big toe, and the little girl giggles and wiggles her toes. "Be careful, 'Nia!" says the woman. "You don't want me to mess up!" "Sorry, Megan!" says 'Nia, smiling warmly at the woman and straining not to be ticklish. 'Nia's small feet and Megan's smooth hands are a study in affection and familiarity, and also a study in contrast, because 'Nia's feet are dark in color, while Megan's hands are pale, though both will soon be adorned with bright pink nail polish.

Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Volume 8, pages 43-68 Copyright © 2001 by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISBN: 0-7623-0051-5 43

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Antonia, a 7-year-old African American girl, is the daughter of Barbara, the woman across the room. Sara, the (almost) 6-year-old European-American girl practicing her math with Barbara is the daughter of Megan, the woman applying nail polish to Antonia's toes. All four are residents of Project Hope, a residential treatment facility for mothers with substance abuse problems and their children. Project Hope is one of several substance abuse treatment programs for mothers and children that began to emerge in the 1990s. Such programs are designed to allow mothers to recover from substance abuse habits, while at the same time reuniting with one or more of their children. At Project Hope, some of the clients were referred by friends or relatives. Others were mandated by Child Protective Services to seek treatment or lose their children. A third group comes from area prisons, part of a new program which allows non-violent offenders to complete part of their sentence while reuniting with their children. Approximately 80% of the program's clients are African-American, while the rest are mostly European-American or Latino. The adult clients spend their days attending therapeutic groups led by one or more Adult Counselors. Groups include Anger Management, Substance Abuse Recovery, and Parenting. The children, ranging in age from infancy to twelve years, attend a "Child Enrichment" program designed to further their social, emotional and intellectual growth. The older children also attend head start, preschool, or elementary school, during the day. Megan, the European-American woman applying nail polish to Antonia's toes, was in prison for fraud before coming to Project Hope. Barbara, the African-American woman helping Sara with her arithmetic, was in prison for felony drunken driving and hit and run before coming to Project Hope. Both women had histories of substance abuse, and both had come from what each described as "racist" backgrounds. Megan said, "When I was living in (a mostly white suburb in a large West Coast metropolitan area), I w a s . . . I didn't choose to hang out with black people. My brother, who I looked up to, had a swastika tattooed on his stomach." Barbara, who grew up in a mostly black part of a medium sized West Coast city, said, "I was taught that white folks won't accept you. For the most part, race wasn't talked about in my house, but I knew not to trust white people." Both women carried their prejudices with them to Project Hope. Given these backgrounds, how did Barbara and Megan wind up as suitemates, willingly and lovingly attending to the needs of each others' daughters? And what was the nature of their relationship? Was it a partnership based on necessity? Or a true friendship?

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Study Overview This chapter is an examination of the lives of the women and children of Project Hope~ with an emphasis on two interrelated questions: (1) How do the children's (and women's) interactions with members of different racial groups manifest themselves within the context of Project Hope? (2) How do the children's (and women's) racial identities develop within the context of Project Hope? Because these questions are so open ended, and because there is little or no research available on mother and children rehabilitation programs, a naturalistic observation method was employed in this study (Sommer, 1977; Corsaro, 1997), supplemented by semi-structured interviews with several of the participants. I had worked for three years as a Child Counselor at Project Hope prior to the one-year observation period which forms the basis for this chapter. In my capacity as Child Counselor, I formulated treatment plans for each of the children, implemented these plans, and also led Parenting Groups for the women, in which parenting issues were discussed. Much of my time was spent playing with the children, reading to the children, and helping the older children with their homework. I also led an evening "Big Kid Group," which will be described later. When making detailed observations, I employed what Corsaro (1997) calls the "reactive method" of observation/interaction, sitting on the floor or in a small chair, and allowing the children to involve me in their games and conversations at their pace. Of course, because the children knew me well, it was impossible not to sometimes become a part of their conversations and interactions. By taking dally notes and entering these notes periodically on a computer, I was able to generate an extensive store of "vignettes," or situations relevant to the questions examined in this chapter. These vignettes, like the one that begins the chapter, will be used to provide a feel for the day-to-day lives of the women and children at Project Hope. In addition they will serve as "lead-ins" to segments of the interviews which will make up much of the chapter. Most interviews were conducted after the observation period, and several interview questions were designed to refer directly to questions raised by the incidents captured in the vignettes. I interviewed the following participants: "Megan", a European-American client of Project Hope "Barbara", an African-American client of Project Hope "Aimee", a European-American Child Counselor at Project Hope "Tiffany", an African American Child Counselor at Project Hope.

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During the one-year course of this study, the number of Child Counselors at Project Hope varied from four to six. Most were African American, with the rest being either Latino or European American. Female Child Counselors outnumbered male Child Counselors by an average ratio of two to one. The number of Adult Counselors also varied from four to six. All were African American women, with the exception of one Native American woman and one Latina woman, during the course of the study. The number of adult clients varied from 16 to 22 during the course of the study. The number of children (including infants) varied from 20 to 28. The average length of stay was one year, with a range of three months to three years. As mentioned previously, approximately 80% of the clients were African American, while 20% were European American or Latina. Clients were varied in other aspects of their demographic backgrounds, with most coming from urban areas, and some coming from smaller towns. The treatment center itself was located in an urban neighborhood of a large West Coast City. All vignettes presented in this chapter are reconstructed based on my observations and on the recollections of the four interviewees. All names have been changed to protect the participants in this study.

Review of Relevant Research Two areas of research are briefly reviewed: research on racial identity formation, and research on race relations.

Racial Identity Development Several studies suggest that children can identify their own racial group as early as three years of age (Durrett & Davy, 1970; Hraba & Grant, 1970). Further, some studies have found same-race friendships to be more common than crossrace friendships, although many cross-race friendships are found in preschool and elementary school children (Shaw, 1974). Hirschfeld (1996) suggests that young children learn to identify groups by verbal labels, and possibly by associated affect, at a relatively early age, but it is not until middle childhood that affiliation preferences reflect these distinctions. If young children have been exposed to other children of diverse racial backgrounds for much of their lives, or if children of different racial backgrounds share similar status, social class, and educational levels, then the likelihood of cross-race friendships is increased (Clore, Bray, Itkin & Murphy, 1978; Singleton & Asher, 1977). Presumably, children with more cross-race friendships at an earlier age would be less likely to construe their own racial identities in terms of what they are not, or whom they must avoid.

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Some conceptualizations of racial identity development may be more suited for describing adult development than child development. For example, Cross (1971, 1991) proposes a five-stage model of racial identity development in black Americans. In the first stage, the individual has absorbed many of the beliefs of the dominant culture, including the notion that black is somehow less desirable. In the second stage, a precipitating event or events forces the individual to acknowledge and confront the presence of racism in our culture. In the third stage, there may be an immersion in black culture, coupled with a rejection of the dominant culture. In the fourth stage, there is a greater acceptance of diversity, coupled with black pride. In the fifth stage, acceptance of own and other cultures translates to a commitment to further black pride, and to fight racism. Helms (1990) has proposed a similar set of stages through which, she argues, white Americans proceed. In the first stage, the white individual is relatively naive about the presence of racism in our culture. In the second stage, awareness of racism may lead to guilt or shame about being white. In the third stage, the white individual can decide to associate primarily with members of her own culture, to avoid the guilt and shame of the second stage. Conversely, she might "try too hard" to affiliate with blacks, and to identify with the black cause, the result often leading to awkwardness and/or perpetuation of some of the very stereotypes she is trying to "unlearn." In later stages, the white individual achieves acceptance of her own white identity, while at the same time striving to avoid stereotyping and other negative behaviors toward minority individuals. Race Relations Does mere association with persons of different races lessen prejudice? In a review of studies examining the effects of school desegregation on racial attitudes, Stephan (1986) found little evidence that racial attitudes have been substantially affected by forced integration. Others (e.g. Cook, 1984) have found some reduction in stereotyping and prejudice. More fruitful is an examination of the conditions under which cross-race interaction produce positive race relations and reductions in stereotyping and prejudice. Sherif's famous (1966) studies of boys at an Oklahoma summer camp have demonstrated the importance of working together to achieve super-ordinate goals for reducing out-group prejudice. Subsequent studies have demonstrated similar results with adults (e.g. Blake & Mouton, 1979). Educators have applied the findings of these studies directly in the classroom. Aronson and his colleagues divided elementary school children into culturally diverse groups and had them work on problems which could only be solved if group members worked collaboratively. The so called "jigsaw" technique yielded uniformly positive results, with children in jigsaw classrooms reporting more positive race

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relations, higher self-esteem, better school performance, and a greater liking for school than children in more traditional classrooms (Aronson & Bridgeman, 1979; Aronson & Gonzalez, 1988). Wilder (1984) suggests that for contact between members of different groups to reduce prejudice, several conditions must be met. These include the following: (1) the groups must be relatively equal in social, economic or task-related status; (2) the situation in which they interact must involve cooperation and interdependence; (3) the contact situation must allow casual one-on-one interaction; (4) contact must occur in a setting where existing sub-cultural norms favor equality and association between members of diverse groups; (5) the settings in which members of various groups associate must allow for dis-confirmation of existing stereotypes; (6) the persons involved must perceive members of other groups as representative of their groups, so prejudice-dis-confirming interactions can not be discounted. Although the relevant research reviewed above served to focus the observations gathered during the course of this chapter, an attempt was made to gather all information which could be seen as pertinent to race relations and the development of racial identity.

A GLIMPSE OF PROJECT HOPE Young Children Address Race; Child Counselors Respond Two 4-year-old children are fighting over a tricycle. "It was my turn next," says one. "Devin said I could ride it next," says the other. A scuffle ensues. "Nigger," says one little boy, who is part Latino and part white, to the other little boy, who is part black and part white. Later, the mother of the child who used the offending word says, "I never taught him to talk like that. I don't know why he'd be prejudiced. Some of the other people around the house might have used words like that, but I told him never to say stuff like that." Some staffers are alarmed, thinking that parents might divide themselves along racial lines about the incident. Two days later, the same little boy is in a struggle over a tricycle, this time with a white child. Again, a scuffle ensues. "Nigger," says the little boy to the white child.

Although racial slurs were rarely used by the children at Project Hope, I was not surprised by this incident, nor was I surprised to hear the young Latino boy use the word "nigger" to express anger at a white child. The four-year-old children with whom I worked seemed to have little understanding of adult concepts like "race" or "ethnicity." This little boy had evidently heard adults use that term in a negative way, and so he used to express anger toward children with whom he was arguing. I remember noticing a collective sigh of relief among the staff when they learned that he had used the same word to describe a white boy.

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Tiffany, a black female Child Counselor, agreed. "Children learn what they live. They're like little sponges. It's not until they're older that they associate words like 'nigger' with images. When I ' m with the kids, it's generally not about race as far as who is in their 'club' on a given day. It's about their personalities. 1 was glad that people didn't make too big a deal of this incident." Like Tiffany, I think that these children's patterns of speech - what they say and how they say it - are modeled after the people around them. A fouryear-old child who uses the racist terminology so casually when he is angry has seen adults around him do the same. I also think that this little incident provides some basic insight into the early development of racial attitudes. It strongly suggests that this little boy grew up in a racist environment, and that if he stays in that environment for long, he will grow up modeling his caregivers' racist attitudes. His mother's comment ("I never taught him to talk like that") appears to suggest a lack of understanding of the importance of modeling in raising children. The next scenario suggests that even at 51/2 years of age, the notion of "race" can be confusing to children. Sharronda, a 5q2-year-old black girl, and I are tightly bonded. Sharronda's father had been murdered, beaten to death with a baseball bat in an argument over drugs at a local park. One day, Sharronda and I are sitting quietly on the floor of Child Enrichment, while I read "The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear" (a children's book by Don and Audrey Wood) to her out loud. This is her favorite book, and the book is such a powerful symbol of our relationship that she is visibly upset when I read it to another child. When the story is over, we get up to go join the other children and adults in the next room. Suddenly, Sharronda, asks, simply, "Are you white?" I pause, looked briefly at my own arm, and say, "Yes, I guess I am." The little girl looks slightly perplexed, says, "Oh," and then goes out to join the other children and adults. The incident was never mentioned again, and my relationship with Sharronda continued as it had before.

Like the previous incident, Sharronda's innocent question illustrates that children's sense of race is still developing and differentiating prior to the grade school years. That Sharronda would ask whether I was white after working with me for several months did surprise me. It appeared to suggest that she had not previously considered my race or ethnicity, and that something came up, perhaps in conversation with her mother or other adults, that led her to be interested in whether I was, indeed, white. Because I did not know what she had heard about white or black people, my strategy was to take her question in stride. We had a good relationship, and we had never discussed race in all the time I'd worked with her. Aimee, a white female Child Counselor at Project Hope, said, "My guess would be that the little girl heard others talking about 'white people' and didn't know what they meant. When she first heard white, she probably thought of

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something like a white piece of paper. I doubt she knew what they were talking about when she heard someone talking about a 'white man.' " In another incident, Anthony, an 8-year-old black boy, asked me why I was so hairy while his own skin was so smooth and dark. My response was to take out a world-globe and say something like, "My great-great-great-great grandparents came from up here (I pointed to England), where it's really cold. My hair protects me from the cold. I bet yours came from here (pointing to Africa) where it tends to be warmer. Darker skin protects people from the sun." In fact, I knew that Anthony's father lived in Africa at that time, so that explanation was satisfying to him. I also knew that Anthony was old enough to understand concepts like "black" and "white;" my intention was to satisfy his curiosity about black and white people in as objective a fashion as possible. Tiffany, Aimee and I also noted that we rarely or never saw children basing their play partner choices on race or ethnicity, though Tiffany noted a preference for same-sex groupings starting at approximately age five. "I want my children to be culturally competent," Tiffany summarized. " I ' d like them to be aware of different cultures, and respectful of different cultures. But I don't want to force it on them." Overall, our actions reflect what I would call a "common sense approach" to helping children from various backgrounds achieve a positive racial identity, while avoiding overt discussion of race unless it is brought up by the children. It is important to note that each of us had considerable experience working with young children, each of us had substantial training relevant to Early Childhood Education, and that the three of us had openly discussed our desire to foster positive relations among children from different backgrounds. Although this would seem to be an obvious goal among individuals working with young children, some Child Counselors at Project Hope were observed engaging in (what we considered to be) inappropriate behaviors, including one Latino male counselor who mocked the names of some of the black children.

Barbara Confronts Me Over a Negative Black Stereotype Antonia, the daughter of Barbara, is sitting in "Evening Big Kid Group," the therapeutic and educational group for children ages 3 through 12 that I lead for an hour-and-a-half every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening at Project Hope. On this night there are seven children in the group, quietly coloring. After about a half-an-hour of coloring and quiet conversation, I declare, "Who wants to play musical chairs?" All hands simultaneously shoot up, and the children are dispatched to set up the chairs, a routine with which they are they are quite familiar. I take out my guitar and play an upbeat melody while the children circle the chairs. After a few of the younger children have been eliminated (they come back to the table where puzzles are waiting for them), there are three children left, Antonia and two others.

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The next time the music stops, Antonia is caught far away from the remaining two chairs, but she gives a smaller child a rather strong "hip check" and knocks that child to the floor, sitting victoriously in one of the two remaining chairs. I say, "No hip checks, 'Nia. Danielle is smaller than you are. Come over and sit with us. You'll have a chance to win next time." Antonia, who had been calm and confident, suddenly scowls, threatens to leave the room, and says, "I hate you and this stinky old game." She sits at the table and throws a puzzle on the floor. Two days later, I ask Barbara, Autonia's mother, to look over and sign Antonia's "Treatment Plan", a one-page document which all Counselors complete every three months for each child. The treatment plan chronicles each child's cognitive, emotional and behavioral development, as well as goals for the next three months. Barbara notices that I have written, "Allow Antonia to discover more appropriate ways to express her anger" under "Emotional Development/ Goals." Barbara suddenly says, "What is this about anger? That's not OK with me! Antonia is not angry! I'm so tired of people saying black people are angry every time they act a certain way. They have a fight to be angry, but that's just not OK with me." I try to tell Barbara about what happened in Child Enrichment, and that it had happened severn times before, but Barbara does not want to hear about it. She signs the document and storms out of the room. This was an e x t r e m e l y important incident, because it o p e n e d up c o n v e r s a t i o n b e t w e e n Barbara and m y s e l f about racial issues. Initially, I felt kind o f stuck, because I w a n t e d to ask her about h o w she w o u l d label A n t o n i a ' s behavior, but I d i d n ' t want to put Barbara on the defensive. Later, Barbara told m e that she had b e e n processing her o w n anger and racial issues in her groups and with her primary counselor, and that this incident served to "bring up those issues." She said, "I w a s n ' t O K with the w a y black p e o p l e w e r e treated. I n e v e r really got to deal with m y o w n anger before c o m i n g (to Project Hope), and what y o u said just brought all that up for m e . " A f t e r this incident, Barbara and I, w h o had b e e n m u t u a l l y respectful but a bit distant toward each other, w e r e m o r e able to openly discuss racial issues together.

A Brief Description of "Big Kid Group" A n t o n i a ' s "hip c h e c k " o f a y o u n g e r child occurred in " B i g Kid Group," a group I led for 3- through 12-year-old children each Tuesday, W e d n e s d a y , and T h u r s d a y e v e n i n g at Project H o p e during the course o f the study. M y intent was to p r o v i d e an e x p e r i e n c e for the children w h i c h was both educational and therapeutic, while also e n c o u r a g i n g positive interaction a m o n g the children, regardless o f race. B i g Kid G r o u p served as a sort o f " h u b " for the children o f Project Hope, so a b r i e f description is in order. I generally began by reading a story or two to the children, w h o w o u l d gather around m e on the carpet. F o l l o w i n g this, w e w o u l d spend about half an h o u r

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in quiet conversation while coloring at the tables. Older children were told they could work on their homework "if they wanted to," but they were not required to do so. I also usually asked the older children to make up arithmetic problems for me, so I could "practice my math." This usually led to them asking me to make up some problems for them, which was, of course, my intent. Following this, we would usually work on a puzzle together. I generally gave each child parts of the puzzle (15 pieces each for four children with a 60-piece puzzle) and encouraged them to "ask politely" if someone else had a piece they needed. This exercise was extremely effective at teaching boundaries and cooperation. I was also aware that it was a "literal" application of the "jigsaw" method of inducing cooperation (Aronson & Bridgeman, 1979) among diverse children. Next, I would usually sing "the blues," while playing my guitar, and encourage the children to make up verses. I would begin "When my children don't listen well, it gives me ! and the children would enthusiastically fill in "the blues !" They then made up their own verses, two notable ones being, "When my mom gives me a whuppin'," and "When the police came to my m o m ' s house and there was a 'bong' on the table and she got busted." "The Blues" proved to be an effective projective and therapeutic game. Finally, we concluded either with more coloring, musical chairs, or "dancestop," a musical game in which children dance to guitar music and must freeze when the music stops. The guitar music included familiar children's songs, blues, and Irish music, each of which the children could readily identify. In general, the intent was to provide a safe environment in which the children could express their feelings (they were taught to identify and label such emotions as happy, sad, mad, and frustrated), bond with each other in a structured setting, and receive help with their homework, as needed. A New Child Comes to Project Hope; A Black Woman and a White Woman Develop and are Forced to Confront Racial Issues It is Evening Big Kid Group again and there is a new face in the room: It is the face of Sara, a blonde haired white girl of just under 5 years. When "coloring time commences," Sara sits next to Antonia, to whom she appears to be drawn, and closely watches Antonia's every move. When Antonia begins drawing mountains (modeled from me - I always drew mountains), Sara does the same. When "dance-stop" commences, Sara tries to imitate Antonia's style of dancing. Because Antonia and Sara are very close in age (51h and 41/2, respectively, when they first met), there is an unspoken bond between them. Over the next several days, they are often found playing together, their dramatic play often revolving around their experiences in their respective families. Within a few weeks, they often find themselves doing art work for each other (creating art and giving it to other participants in Big Kid Group is a longstanding tradition, passed on from one generation of children to the next).

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After several months, it is known to all that Sara and Antonia are "best friends." They are virtually inseparable in Big Kid Group and during their free time. Some nights, they come to Big Kid Group late, choosing instead to play in one of their bedrooms. Along with another new girl, a 41/2-year-oldblack girl named Darilnica, they have learned several songs by the "Spice Girls," a singing group popular among young children, and often spontaneously sing several Spice Girls songs in their entirety, by memory, complete with the appropriate choreography. The friendship that developed between Antonia and Sara gradually forced their mothers, Barbara and Megan, to acknowledge each other. Both Barbara and Megan had more extensive parenting skills than many of the women at Project Hope, often reading with their children or playing with them in their rooms. Because their daughters were inseparable, the two women often found themselves together, reading to both children, or one "watching" the girls while the other completed paperwork. But Barbara and Megan were also a black woman and a white woman, respectively, with histories of mistrust toward each other's race. At first, the relationship between Megan and Barbara was distant but mutually respectful (not unlike my early relationship with Barbara). Both women later expressed having had reservations about their daughters' blossoming friendship, but they also said that they did not want to interfere with what was happening. In time, Barbara and Megan began speaking more openly with each other. They swapped stories of what got them in trouble, how they felt about not always being present for their children (both had served time in prison), and the difficulties of reuniting with their children. Then, one night, Antonia came home from Evening Big Kid Group, and said to her mother, "Is Colin white?" When Barbara responded in the affirmative, Antonia said, "I want to be white like Colin." At first Barbara felt confused, she later told me, and she immediately went to one of the Adult Counselors to tell them what had happened. She told me that she had also felt sad at the time of this incident. "I felt sad for Antonia," she said, "and I also remembered the feeling of trying to be accepted myself." I realized she had three strong white role models, her counselor, her best friend, and Megan, but I wanted to do something. "I talked to several counselors about what to do, and they suggested I start taking Antonia to the library to get books about positive black role models. We see black people in music and in sports and I think that leads a lot of black children to think that's the only way we can succeed. We got books about Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks. I wanted to see her have higher self esteem about her blackness, without it having to be anything negative about white people." It was a funny time for both the girls, Barbara recalled. Sara always wanted to have her blonde hair done in the tight braided style of the little black girls,

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w h i l e A n t o n i a w a n t e d long, straight h a i r w i t h a s i n g l e p o n y tail, like S a r a ' s . "I w a n t e d t h e girls to l o v e e a c h o t h e r a n d also a c c e p t t h e i r o w n hair, a n d w h o t h e y w e r e , " B a r b a r a said. A s k e d i f it w a s difficult to find h e r s e l f f o r m i n g a f r i e n d s h i p w i t h a w h i t e w o m a n , B a r b a r a said, " A t first, it w a s difficult. S o m e o f t h e b l a c k c l i e n t s m a d e m e feel u n c o m f o r t a b l e . T h e y ' d say t h i n g s like, ' W h y are y o u g i v i n g so m u c h a t t e n t i o n to M e g a n ? ' a n d I k n e w t h a t really m e a n t ' W h y are y o u g i v i n g so m u c h a t t e n t i o n to t h e w h i t e g i r l ? ' " G r a d u a l l y , B a r b a r a said, p e o p l e j u s t h a d to a c c e p t t h a t A n t o n i a a n d S a r a w e r e b e s t friends, a n d t h a t t h e i r p a r e n t s , B a r b a r a a n d M e g a n , w e r e q u i c k l y b e c o m i n g g o o d f r i e n d s as well.

A New Staff Member With a Different Racial Message; Barbara Comments I am driving the van and Barbara is "supporting" one evening as 7 children, ages 4 through 9, return home from getting ice cream. Five of the children, including Antonia, are black, one is latino, and one, Sara, is white. At a stoplight, a bearded white male, in his thirties or forties, crosses in the crosswalk. Anthony, an 8-year-old black boy who has worked extensively with me, says, "Silly white man." The other children say nothing, but Barbara says, "That's not OK, Anthony! Where did you get that?" Anthony responds that Kareem said that the other day, when a white man waved at them on an outing. Kareem, a black man in his early fifties, was hired by the Director of Project Hope to provide a black male role model for the black boys of Project Hope. He takes Project Hope's black boys out on outings, and teaches them about African culture. Prior to the hiring of Kareem, there were two male Child Counselors, myself and Louie, a Latino male. Anthony continues, "The white man oppressed the black man. The white man even stole the peace sign from the black man." At that point, Barbara says, "The white man may have oppressed the black man, but he didn't steal the peace sign from the black man. It's not OK to talk like that, Anthony." I say, "Anthony, the peace sign came from back in the 'sixties,' when Barbara and I were both teenagers. There was a war going on that many people didn't like, called the Viet Nam War. Black people and white people stood side by side to protest that war, and they often made the peace sign." Anthony says, "Well, Kareem told me that white people stole the peace sign from the black man." Barbara says, "Anthony, don't be talking that stuff around here. That's just not right." Later, I a s k e d K a r e e m i f h e d i d i n d e e d say w h a t A n t h o n y alleged. " N o , h e m i s q u o t e d m e , " K a r e e m replied. "I a c t u a l l y said, ' S t u p i d w h i t e m a n . ' " K a r e e m e x p l a i n e d t h a t h e d i d n ' t like to b e " t y p e d , " a n d that h e h a d issues w i t h the " f a m i l iarity" o f t h e m a n w h o h a d w a v e d at h i m .

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Soon after the above incident, another Child Enrichment Worker, a black female, reported to her colleagues that another black male child had said, "Kareem is teaching us about the differences between white and black people," and that she wasn't comfortable with that message. The Assistant Director of the program, A Native American female named Nan, was asked to join the discussion with the Child Enrichment team, so the team could air its concerns. The Assistant Director said only that the two boys might not be telling the truth, and that it could not be concluded that Kareem was actually teaching them these things. The matter was dropped, but all of the Child Counselors (myself included) were extremely frustrated. Kareem had been hired without the knowledge of any of the other Child Counselors. Apparently, he had been a friend of the Program Director prior to being hired. The other Child Enrichment Workers had not been comfortable with his hiring, but they had not wanted to challenge the Program Director. Kareem did not participate in Child Enrichment team meetings, and came to Project Hope only to take the children on outings. He was later dismissed for inappropriate behavior unrelated to the above incident. When later asked about the incident, Barbara said, "At first I was embarrassed. I thought, 'That poor child - hearing that kind of stuff.' But it also brought up early high school stuff for me." Barbara said that after being taught not to trust white people, she had been bussed to a mostly white school where some white children called black children "niggers" and fights sometimes ensued. But she had also had some white friends with whom, she said, she sometimes did drugs. Seeing this kind of ambivalence and confusion unnecessarily introduced to the children of Project Hope brought up her own early confusion. "I'd heard other children (at Project Hope) starting to come up with this racist stuff, and that wasn't OK with me any more. Before I was bussed to that other school, I had made some white friends. But then I had to deal with racism, and that's when I sometimes got in fights. It was really confusing to me. And then I saw these children being forced into the same situation - it just wasn't right. But I was comfortable with the way we handled the situation with Anthony." she concluded. Barbara and Megan Give Each Other a "Hard Time"; Barbara and Megan Comment Barbara and Megan are on the bus together, heading to an appointment. Three tough looking black teenagers board the bus and head up the aisle, sporting the typical urban teenage garb of baggy pants and a serious look. Megan leans over to Barbara and says, "Barbara, your people really get on my nerves! Look at those kids trying to be thugs!" Both women smile and watch as the youths strut by. Later, Barbara and Megan watch as several white children on a field trip walk by, one young child burdened by the heavy load the adults

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COLIN H. SACKS have given him to carry. Barbara leads over to Megan and says, "Your people will make a slave out of anybody!" This time, both women laugh openly.

Both women said that their attitudes toward people from different cultures had changed in a positive way while they were at Project Hope. And both acknowledged that the effect would probably not have been as dramatic had their daughters not become best friends. By the time the above incident occurred, the two women, and their daughters, had chosen to be suite-mates. "As far as race, my attitude has changed totally in a good way," Barbara said. "Living with people of other nationalities has taught me that, in many ways, w e ' r e all the same. I ' v e learned that a white girl can be just as much of a friend to me as a black girl. I also think it's been good for Antonia, because I ' v e been able to help her be accepting of white people, and yet love herself as a black girl. And that's something I didn't get a chance to do. "It took a long time for Megan and me to be able to joke around like that. I had to let her know it was OK." Megan agreed but was somewhat more contentious: " I ' m glad I got to be friends with Barbara, and that my daughter got to be friends with Antonia. But there were a lot of things I didn't like here, like the way certain staff members yell at the clients. Wanda (a black female adult counselor) is so 'ghetto.' She yells at the clients, like we're stupid or something. And she does it in front of our children! How can we teach our children to be one way, when the adults around here are acting an entirely different way?"

Elementary School Children Try to Win an Argument; Later, They Discuss Martin Luther King Day and a Loose Tooth It is nap time, and several grade school children, home for Christmas vacation, are waking up. There are six children in the room, four black girls, one black boy, and one girl of Native American-MexicanAmerican-whiteancestry. I am sitting quietly nearby, tuning my guitar in preparation for a wake-up song. "Did I snore when I was asleep?" asks Markell, the 11-year-oldgirl of mixed ancestry. "No, I didn't hear yon snore," I say. "My morn snores-likethis: SNORE SNORE!" says Briana, a 6-year-oldlight skinnedblack girl. "Some kids snore when their noses are stuffed up," I say. "Darilnica sure snored!" says Antonia, referring to a little girl who had left the program two months ago. "Yeah, I rememberDarilnicasnoring," says Briana, who entered the program about a month ago. "You weren't even here when Darilnica was!" says Tyrone, a 7-year-oldblack boy.

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"Yes I was!" insists Briana. "What did she look like?" challenges Antonia. Briana struggles for words. "Did she have dark skin?" pursues Antonia. "Yeah, it was dark. Darker than mine. About like yours," guesses Briana. "No it wasn't! Darilnica was darker than me! You never met her!" announces Antonia, victorious. "You're dark brown, Antonia," says Tyrone, gently. "See, I did too know Darilnica! I knew her at school!" says Briana, sensing hope. "No, she was darker than you, and darker than Antonia, too," says Tyrone, closing the discussion. What struck me about this conversation was the casualness with which the children discussed skin color, Antonia and Briana's intent being to win a youthful argument. There was an awareness, and an acceptance of blackness, with no value judgment, that I found encouraging. But I found myself wondering if there was another underlying question about the extent of Antonia's blackness. Darilnica is actually only slightly darker than Antonia, so perhaps the children were starting to internalize the concern that some black adults have, about their degree of "darkness." What initially made me want to write this conversation down was how comfortable the kids were discussing it, especially in front of Markell and myself. I also found it interesting that a spontaneous discussion of skin color would emerge from what was initially an amusing conversation about snoring. The above conversation appears to demonstrate a fairly well differentiated concept of color by the early elementary school years, though it sheds no light on the extent to which skin color is tied in with the meaning attributed to it in the broader adult social context. To me, it suggests two opposing forces: on the one hand, the children were comfortable enough with skin color to discuss it openly. On the other, they were beginning to internalize their parents' concern with degree of "darkness." The next interaction provides some insight into first-graders' attempts to understand what they have learned in school about Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement, as well as their priorities at that age. Vivian (age 7): "Martin Luther King's Birthday is next week. We learned about him in school." Me: "What did you learn about Martin Luther King7" Briana (age 6): "He was for freedom for everyone." Me: "What's freedom?" Vivian: "It's - you can buy clothes and stuff."

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COLIN H. SACKS Me: "Clothes?" Vivian: "Yeah. And that everyone can get along." Antonia (age 6): "Yeah. He was for the white people and the black people getting along." Vivian: "My teacher was telling us how the white people had nice busses and the black people had nasty old busses." Me: "Did you learn about Rosa Parks?" Antonia: "Yes. She wouldn't ride at the back of the bus." Vivian: "My tooth is loose. It's about to come out." Antonia: "I already lost that one. Is it going to come out?" Me: "Did you learn what a boycott is?" Antonia: "Yeah. The black people wouldn't ride the busses no more." Vivian: "Look, I can turn it almost all the way around!" Antonia: "It's going to come out tonight!" Me: "So Martin Luther King was for equality for all people? Regardless of color?" Antonia: "Yeah, I guess so.

W h a t interested me about this conversation was the children's attempt to integrate what t h e y ' d learned in school into their young cognitive structures. V i v i a n ' s statement that "you can buy clothes and stuff' reflects an incomplete understanding of what the teacher was trying to impart, presumably that minority citizens would have equal access to educational and economic opportunities. Antonia statement that "He was for the black people and white people getting along" did reflect a basic understanding of Martin Luther K i n g ' s message. In later conversation, I explained how a boycott worked, and discovered that they had not really fully understood that concept from their schooling. I included this conversation because it captures something of first-graders' attempts to understand what they learned at school, and also because it captures the flow of young children's conversation, providing a bit of insight about their priorities (Martin Luther King is interesting, but he can not compete with a loose tooth).

Some Older Elementary School Children Confront Race Outside Project Hope The vignettes in this chapter present a generally positive picture of race relations and racial identity formation for the children of Project Hope, at least while the children from the program are around the clients and staff of Project Hope. However, several incidents which happened primarily outside the facility remind us that, like Barbara i n her early high school days, older school aged

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children are still attempting to process conflicting messages while trying to form a sense of racial identity. In one incident, Shauna, a black girl of nine years came home from school one day saying she had had a fight in school. She described the events that led up to the fight and then said proudly that she was "tired of that white girl messing" with her. Although Shauna got along well with white children and adults at Project Hope, there was a sense of "us versus them" in her statement, Aimee reported. Shauna was encouraged to avoid fights at school, and the event wasn't discussed further. In another incident, several children were in a local park when a boy from Project Hope got into a fight with a local boy. The boys, both about 6-yearsold, were separated, but the children from Project Hope were clearly agitated. As the Project Hope children were leaving the park, the local boy who had been in the fight asked an older (10-year-old) girl from Project Hope, "Is he your daddy?" referring to me, her white counselor. "No, my daddy is a black man; He ain't no white man," she responded. In a third incident, five children were walking home with me to Project Hope after a visit to a local park. They passed a house where a party was taking place and the children all waved as they recognized a little girl from Project Hope who was visiting her relatives. Suddenly a drunken woman on the front porch launched into a racial tirade against a 4-year-old white girl who had been talking innocently with her four black friends. The children were all shocked and scared, and when they were a safe distance away from the woman's porch, Ronisha, a 9-year-old black gift, spoke eloquently: "Some black people don't like white people because white people used to have black people as slaves. I don't hate white people but I know that some people do." These incidents suggest that a sense of black identity is fairly well developed in black children in the middle elementary school years, and they also underscore the ambivalence many black children must feel as they process conflicting messages about white people. It is interesting to note that the "white girl" statement and the "daddy is a black man" statement both occurred while the speakers were in heightened states of arousal. It is also important to restate that division into racial groups was rarely seen among the children at Project Hope, even among the older children, and even when stressful events or fights occurred.

CONCLUSION In general, the findings of this chapter suggest generally positive race relations among children from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds at Project Hope.

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My observations, and the observations of my colleagues, confirmed that children from diverse ethnic backgrounds played and learned together, and that race or ethnicity did not appear to be a factor in determining who became friends with whom. However, some of the incidents presented in this chapter remind us that Project Hope's children live in a broader culture that encourages distinctions between individuals from different backgrounds, and that race can still divide older children. Several factors may contribute to the positive race relations among the children at Project Hope: (1) the younger children's natural "colorblindness"; (2) that children from various backgrounds play together, and work together toward "higher order" goals; (3) that adult clients from different backgrounds are seen, by their children, working together toward a common goal, that goal being a clean and sober lifestyle; (4) that most of the Child Counselors make a conscious effort to validate the experiences of all children, regardless of racial or ethnic background; (5) that Child Counselors model cooperation between individuals of differing races and genders. Tiffany summarized, "I think it's important, once the kids start understanding what race is, that they see white and black counselors working together. This will affect them positively once they start to develop a conception of what race is all about in society. And I definitely don't agree with the notion that children should work primarily with adults of their own race." Aimee observed, "The kids played with each other based on age and interests. Race didn't seem to have any relevance to them, for the most part. I didn't see the counselors favoring kids of any particular race either." She concluded, "Working here really reminded me how all the prejudice you see is taught by the outside world." In my own work with the children, I tried to treat race as matter-of-factly as I could, and I did several things that were specifically intended to foster and maintain positive relationships between children of various races. My use of puzzles was derived directly from the work of Sherif (1966) and Aronson and his colleagues (e.g. Aronson & Gonzalez, 1988). My use of blues and Irish music represented a conscious effort to validate musical forms usually associated with "black" and "white" culture. Finally, as mentioned, Tiffany and I made a conscious effort to model positive relations between individuals who would at some point be categorized as "black" and "white." Future research should systematically examine the processes through which each of these social factors shape racial identity formation and race relations within the context of drug treatment programs like Project Hope. Research suggesting the importance of early exposure to diverse racial groups, and especially diverse others of similar status (Clore, Bray, Itkin & Murphy, 1978; Singleton & Asher, 1977), would lead us to believe that children from Project

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Hope would continue to have friendships with others from diverse backgrounds once they leave the program, especially if their parents provide an environment where this is encouraged. The findings for adults were a bit more contentious. Barbara's high school experiences appear to provide anecdotal support for Stephan's (1986) contention that forced bussing was ineffective at improving race relations. After already having had white friends, Barbara found herself being called "nigger" and having to fight with white students when she was bussed to a mostly white school. At Project Hope, in-group out-group prejudice appears to exist in a milder form, as witnessed by Barbara's assertion that some of the black women were at first a little troubled by her emerging friendship with Megan. However, that friendship gradually did come to be accepted, and Barbara was still well-liked and respected (as was Megan) by her black peers. In general, the women were often observed socializing with others of different races or ethnicities, and rarely did overt conflicts arise between adult clients where race appeared to be a factor. Still, Barbara's comments would suggest that the closest friendships were more ,often between same-race adult clients. It is clear that the program does satisfy several of the requirements suggested by Wilder (1984) for fostering positive relations between members of different ethnic groups. The women were, for the most part, equal in social and economic status, and they were certainly equal within the constraints imposed by the program. Some degree of cooperation and interdependence were necessary to make the program run effectively. There was ample opportunity for one-onone interaction. The rules of proper conduct, both for staff and clients, explicitly stated that members of all cultures would be honored, and racial slurs were strictly prohibited. Staff members were expected to model appropriate behavior in this area, with the culture ultimately corrdng to reflect this norm. Because some groups revolved around deep emotional issues (especially prior to the onset of the formal observation period, as Barbara mentioned), including guilt over abandoning children, the emotional effects of sexual abuse, and the emotional problems associated with drug abuse, adult clients had ample opportunity to get to know each other at a deep level, allowing for dis-confirmation of existing stereotypes. It is not known whether Project Hope's clients view members of other ethnic groups as representative of their groups. To the extent that mothers of different races interact well, their children would be expected to model this positive interaction and interact well with children who are outwardly different from themselves. Again, however, further research is necessary to test the hypothesis that such factors actually affect race relations within the context of a mother-and-children drug rehabilitation program.

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Concerning the development of children's racial identities, the findings of this chapter are interesting but sometimes difficult to interpret. With the exception of the 4-year-old white/Latino boy who misunderstood the adult meaning of the word "nigger," no children as young as three or four were heard to spontaneously mention race or ethnicity, so no light is shed on the contention (Durrett & Davy, 1970; Hraba & Grant, 1970) that children can identify their own racial group early as 3 years of age. However, the incident with this young boy suggests extreme caution in interpreting the spontaneous utterances of young children. Even when they do verbally express a basic understanding of race or ethnicity, further observation (or questioning, if necessary) is warranted to see what the words used mean to the child using them. As Corsaro (1986, p. 85) points out, referring to young children's dramatic play in which adult roles are adopted, "children did not merely imitate adult models, rather they reproduced typical family routines or scripts and often embellished them in line with the central features of peer culture." Though there is the risk of "over-interpreting" the results of the observations in this chapter, it can be stated that race was not relevant in the hundreds of hours of spontaneous dramatic play engaged in by the younger (preschool) children over a period of several months. Racial issues were simply not yet relevant to the peer culture of the younger children. With the older (school-aged) children, the story is somewhat different. The spontaneous conversation about snoring among children ages six through eight suggests a fairly well-differentiated understanding of color, or at least, in black children, of differences in color among black people. However, the fact that five- and six-year-olds would on several occasions ask me if I was "white" suggests that their notion for "white" (and by extension, "black") is still developing during the kindergarten and earliest elementary school years. These findings seem to suggest that young children learn to identify groups by verbal labels (Hirschfeld, 1996) before they can accurately apply those labels, and before they base their play partner choices on such labels. Eight-year-old Anthony's lucid discussion of the white man's oppression of the black man in the van suggests that by third grade, children's ideas regarding race are fairly well differentiated (as does 9-year-old Ronisha's eloquent discussion of black prejudice toward whites, following the drunken woman's racial tirade against the 4-year-old white girl). However, the affect associated with different races is apparently still being investigated by children in the middle elementary school years. Anthony probably brought up Kareem's comments in the hope that Barbara and I could help him resolve the cognitive dissonance he was feeling. I was his counselor and a white man, and yet he was learning from his new friend, Kareem, that the white man was bad.

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The two events in which two older girls spoke defiantly of white people suggest that black identity can partially involve negative affect toward whites during the elementary school years, but it important to restate that both children involved in those incidents got along well with white children and adults at Project Hope. Recent research (Florian & Mikulincer, 1998) suggests that stressful situations may serve as a trigger for in-group favoritism and out-group prejudice during late middle childhood. Perhaps the arousal induced by participating in, or witnessing, a fight led to such in-group-out-group discrimination in these two children. It is also possible that the girl who said "my daddy . . . ain't no white man" was not being defiant toward white people at all. Perhaps she was attempting to insult the young boy who had asked the question, seeing his question as a stupid one. However, she was a relatively light-skinned black girl, and interracial couples are fairly common in this city. Further, the children I worked with were often asked by the friends of lighter-skinned black children whether I was their father when I'd pick them up from school, or after-school programs. These factors, coupled with her apparent negative affect toward me in that moment, led to my interpretation. It is impossible to know her motivation with certainty. Overall, it appears that racial identity development among the children at Project Hope developed in a way that is consistent with the existing literature, with awareness of race manifesting itself in the early elementary years. An attempt was made by some of Project Hope's staff, and some of the mothers, to foster positive racial identity without negative feelings toward other ethnicities. When issues arose (e.g. Antonia's statement that she wanted to be "white like Colin"; Anthony learning that the white man was bad) appropriate measures were taken by clients and staff in collaboration. In the case of the incident with Antonia and me, Barbara was encouraged to visit the library to get books on black rote models for her daughter, while at the same time being allowed to discuss her own racial issues with her counselor and in groups. The result for her daughter, Barbara said, was a more positive sense of her own blackness with no decrease in her positive feelings for her white best friend, her "Auntie" (as Megan came to be known), or me, her Counselor. The apparent effectiveness of Tiffany, Aimee and myself in working with ethnically diverse clients appears to provide support to the hypothesis put forth by Sue and Zane (1987) that "distal" factors are far less important as predictors of therapeutic effectiveness that are "proximal" factors. Distal factors include race, gender, and an "academic" understanding of the culture from which a client comes. Proximal factors are those factors which induce in a client a sense of "credibility" and of "giving." "Credibility refers to the client's

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perception of the therapist as an effective and trustworthy helper. Giving is the client's perception that something was received from the therapeutic encounter." (Sue & Zane, 1987, p. 40). Although Sue and Zane focus on therapeutic work with adult clients, the same principles appear to apply to effective Child Counselors at Project Hope. It was evident from even casual observation that Tiffany and Aimee (and, I hope, myself) induced a strong sense of trust in the children with whom we worked. Further, we provided what Sue and Zane (1987, p. 42) call "gifts," including anxiety reduction, depression relief, cognitive clarity, and skills acquisition. Such "gifts" are said to be especially important in establishing credibility with minority clients. Less effective Child Counselors, while not necessarily less knowledgeable about the cultures of the children with which they worked (especially in the case of Kareem), were nonetheless unable to establish themselves as effective and trustworthy helpers. Many of the children were visibly agitated in their presence, and several simply refused to interact with them. The findings of this chapter may suggest that an effort should be made by administrators of such programs to hire staff for working with children that reflect the cultural diversity of the children. It is worth noting that Tiffany, Aimee and I all came from multicultural backgrounds, and therefore had experience associating with individuals from other cultures. Tiffany, who is black, had both black and white friends throughout her own childhood, as did I, a white male. Aimee, who is also white, came from an environment with a heavy Native American population, and had several non-white friends. We all agreed that fostering positive interaction between children of different cultures was a part of our agendas for our work with children at Project Hope. Though the findings of this study point to the importance of hiring ethnically diverse Counselors to work with ethnically diverse young children, it is not for the reasons some might assume (same-race role-models). Rather, it allows children to see adults of different races working together. As Tiffany pointed out (and consistent with Sue & Zane, 1987), there was absolutely no evidence to suggest that black Child Counselors were more effective with black children, nor white counselors with white children. Concerning the adults and racial identity, it certainly appears that Barbara, and perhaps Megan, progressed through several of the stages suggested by Cross (1991) and Helms (1990). Barbara's comments about her early upbringing suggest that she had internalized the notion that whites would not accept blacks (stage 1), and that whites were not to be trusted. Her experiences in high school forced her to further confront the presence of racism in our society (stage 2). Her later avoidance of white people, in spite of having had some white friends in her early high school years, can be seen as evidence of stage 3 behavior.

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However, as her friendship with Megan developed, she became able to accept whites as potential friends, without forsaking her blackness. It is important that she also encouraged her daughter to do the same. Megan grew up in an environment without much exposure to black people, and it is probable that she internalized white privilege. It is not clear that she proceeded through a stage of "guilt," but her interaction with Barbara certainly forced her to rethink her relationship with black people. It is interesting that both daughters, in trying to imitate the hairstyles of the other, may have reflected what for Helms (1990) is one possible manifestation of the third stage: a fascination with the opposite culture from which one comes. Megan did not, however, evidence any outward behaviors which might suggest over-identification with black culture. Her comment about an aggressive black Adult Counselor being "ghetto" also suggests some degree of resistance on her part. Although it is impossible to draw any conclusions about relationships between parenting skills and race relations or racial identity formation, it is worth noting that most (although not all) of the mothers at Project Hope had very poor parenting skills when they entered the program. Several, due to their addictions, had never parented their children before. Some were overtly threatening in their behavior toward their children, telling them to "shut up" when the child tried to speak, and expressing a desire to be more punitive than the rules of Project Hope allowed (mothers could not employ physical force of any kind toward their children at Project Hope). Many would tell the older children to "do their homework" but would not offer to help them with their homework. But the most common problem among the mothers at Project Hope was that they simply did not listen to their children. Clearly, the parenting seen at Project Hope was often non-nurturing and punitive (Huston, 1993). In fact, many of the behaviors observed among parents arriving at Project Hope were consistent with patterns of behavior exhibited by abusive parents, in which a child's behavior is interpreted as a threat, and high power tactics are used to control the child (Bugental, Blue & Cruzcosa, 1989; BugentaI, 1992). Further discussion of such parenting issues are beyond the scope of this chapter and will be addressed elsewhere (Sacks, 2001). However, poor parenting skills can indirectly affect children's sense of racial identity and racial attitudes. The incident in which the 4-year-old boy's mother was dumbfounded by her child's use of the term "nigger" is a good example of a lack of awareness of the importance of modeling (Bandura & Walters, 1963). She later confided that he had grown up in a household in which most of the adults were prejudiced against black people, and openly expressed their prejudice, yet proudly explained that she did not encourage such talk, and indeed punished such talk when it came from children. I observed that most of the

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women at Project Hope expressed a lack of awareness of the importance of their own and other adults' actions in front of their children. In fact, I tried to emphasize, in my groups with adult clients, the importance of modeling, relative to external rewards or punishment, in determining children's behavior. Megan and Barbara were better parents than most when they came to Project Hope, and they were also among those best able to practice what we discussed in our Parenting Groups. Taken together, the findings of this chapter suggest that racial identity formation and race relations can be generally positive in the context of racially integrated urban mother-and-child drug treatment program. Further, the findings suggest an awareness, among some staff and clients, of the importance of fostering positive racial identities, and positive race relations, in both children and adults. The findings also appear to underscore the importance of hiring qualified staff to work with both adult and child clients, and of closely monitoring the behavior of staff directly involved with clients. Of course, caution is advised in the interpretation of the findings of this chapter. For example, it may be the case that behind closed doors, women divided themselves along racial lines more than I was able to observe "on the floor." Further, it could be that the results would be quite different in a different environment, for example in a program where the racial make-up was more in line with the broader culture. At Project Hope, approximately 80% of clients and staff were black. Findings might be substantially different in a program where 80% of the clients and staff were white, with blacks as a minority. There is also the possibility that "observer bias" may have clouded my observations. Although I tried to be as objective as possible, and to supplement my own observations with interview data from black and white counselors and clients, my hopes for the adult and child clients may have affected my perceptions. Further, the responses of those I interviewed may have been similarly influenced by their own hopes, and their knowledge of my hopes, for the adult and child clients of the program. Still, I believe that the current findings provide a useful first step in examining race relations and racial identity development in the context of a mother-and-child drug rehabilitation program.

REFERENCES Aronson, E., & Bridgeman, D. (1979). Jigsaw groups and the desegregated classroom: In pursuit of common goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 5, 438-446. Aronson, E., & Gonzalez, A. (1988). Desegregation,jigsaw, and the Mexican-American experience. In: P. A. Katz & D. Taylor (Eds), Towards the Elimination of Prejudice: Profiles in Controversy. New York: Plenum.

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Bandura, A., & Walters, R. (1963). Social Learning and Personality Development. New York: Holt. Blake, R. R., & Mouton, J. S. (1979). Inter-group problem-solving in organizations. In: W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds), The Social Psychology oflntergroup Relations. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole. Bugental, D. B. (1992). Affective and cognitive processes within threat-oriented family systems. In: I. E. Sigel, A. McGillicuddy-DeLisi & J. Goodnow (Eds), Parental Belief Systems: The Psychological Consequences for Children (pp. 219-248). Hiltsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Bugental, D. B., Blue, J. B., & Cruzcosa, M. (1989). Perceived control over caregiving outcomes: Implications for child abuse. Developmental Psychology, 25, 532-539. Clore, G. L., Bray, R. M., Itkin, S. M., & Murphy, P. (1978). Interracial attitudes and behavior at a summer camp. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 107-116. Cook, S. W. (1984). Cooperative interaction in multiethnic contexts. In: N. Miller & M. Brewer (Eds), Groups in Contact: The Psychology of Desegregation (pp. 155-185). New York: Academic Press. Corsaro, W. A. (1997). The Sociology of Childhood. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press. Corsaro, W. A. (1986). Discourse processes within peer culture: From a constructivist to an interpretive approach to childhood socialization. In: P. A. Adler & P. Adler (Eds), Sociological Studies of Child Development. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Cross, W. E., Jr. (1971). The negro to black conversion experience: Toward a psychology of black liberation. Black World, 20, 13-27. Cross, W. E., Jr. (1991). Shades of Black: Diversity in African-American Identity. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Durrett, N. E., & Davy, A. I. (1970). Racial awareness in young Mexican-American, Negro, and Anglo children. Young Children, 26, 16-24. Florian, V., & Mikulincer, M. (1998). Terror management in childhood: Does death conceptualization moderate the effects of mortality salience on acceptance of different others? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 1104-1112. Hraba, J , & Grant, G. (1970). Black is beautiful: A reexamination of racial preference and identification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16, 398-402. Helms, J. E. (Ed.) (1990). Black and White Racial Identity: Theory, Research and Practice. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Hirschfeld, L. A. (1996). Race in the making: Cognition, Culture and the Child's Construction of Human Kinds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Huston, A. (1993). Children in poverty: A national crisis. The Child, Youth, and Family Services Quarterly, 16, 1-3. Sacks, C. H. (2001). Ethnographic study of a mother and children's drug treatment program. Manuscript in preparation. Shaw, M. E. (1974). Changes in sociometric choices following forced integration of an elementary school. Journal cf Social Issues, 29, 143-157. Sherif, M. (7966). In a Common Predicament: Social Psychology of Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation. Boston: Houghton Miffin. Singleton, L. C., & Asher, S. R. (1977). Peer preferences and social interaction among third grade children in an integrated school district. Journal of Educational Psychology, 69, 330-336. Sommer, R. (1977). Toward a psychology of natural behavior. APA Monitor, Jan. Stephan, W. G. (1986). The effects of school desegregation: An evaluation 30 years after Brown. In: R. Kidd, L. Saxe & M. Saks (Eds), Advances in Applied Social Psychology. New York: Erlbaum.

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Sue, S., & Zane, N. (1987). The role of culture and cultural techniques in psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 42, 37--45. Wilder, D. A. (1984). Intergroup contact: The typical member and the exception to the rule. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 20, 177-194.

THE COLORS OF THE RAINBOW: CHILDREN'S RACIAL SELF-CLASSIFICATION Sheryl R. Tynes Interviewer: What race or color do you consider yourself? Child (age 6, Anglo): "Pink." Child (age 8, Hispanic): "What does that mean? A kind of beige-ish color." Child (age 10, Hispanic): "Basic white, I guess."

INTRODUCTION When adults think about race or color, they typically invoke principles involving physical features or characteristics, ancestry, national origin, language, and minority status (Bates et al., 1994). It is important to note however, that both social and physical scientists have systematically questioned the accuracy and usefulness of the concept of race (Montagu, 1974; Tatum, 1997), and prior to the 1700s, "race" denoted social class or genealogical identity. Nevertheless, the idea of "race" as primarily biological has influenced many social arrangements. Williams and Morland (t976: 4) note that "Certainly in the past, and continuing into the present, categorization by race has been a crucial factor in patterns of marriage, friendship, neighborhood of residence, social relations, religious affiliation, schooling, employment, political power, and recreational pursuits . . . American children, then, absorb their attitudes toward and ideas

Sociologieal Studies of Children and Youth, Volume 8, pages 69-85. Copyright © 2001 by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISBN: 0-7623-0051-5

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about race [from parents, playmates, teachers, and the media] in what might be termed a racist society." Historically, there have been powerful political and economic incentives behind the efforts to define "race." Bonilla-Silva (1996) has provided a cogent summary of crucial trends in racial classifications over time. He notes that the " . . . classification of a people in racial terms has been a highly political act associated with practices such as conquest and colonization, enslavement, peonage, indentured servitude, and, more recently, colonial and neocolonial labor immigration. Categories such as 'Indians' and 'Negroes' were invented . . . in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to justify the conquest and exploitation of various peoples. The invention of such categories entails a dialectical process of construction; that is, the creation of a category of 'other' involves the creation of a category of 'same.' If 'Indians' are depicted as 'savages,' Europeans are characterized as 'civilized'; if 'Blacks' are defined as natural candidates for slavery, 'Whites' are defined as free subjects" (BonillaSilva, 1996, 471). Clearly, "race" is a social construct, and the meanings and hierarchies attached to such classification systems are part of that social construction. The social desirability and economic incentives associated with certain "races" are also historically variable and essential in understanding these meanings and hierarchies. Nagel (1996) points out that between 1950 and 1990 the number of Native Americans in the U.S. quadrupled - from fewer than one-half million to nearly 2 million. This dramatic "growth" of the American Indian population was the result of an increasing willingness of U.S. citizens to self-identify as Native Americans. Indeed, with a certain percentage of American Indian ancestry, individuals were eligible for federal money. As physical anthropologist C. Loring Brace has eloquently argued, racial categories are real simply because people believe they are. As he succinctly puts i t " 'Race' at best is just another four letter word, empty of any biological significance" (Brace, 1993, 136). Despite the conviction of many people that "race" represents a neat and tidy system of grouping, the fuzziness of racial classifications can be seen in the tacit link between race and skin color. Since skin color is one of the most common measures of someone's race, the mismatch between reality and a more honest appraisal of skin color becomes relevant. The terminology we employ does not match reality. Williams and Morland (1976, 34) summarize this position in the following terms: "Euro-Americans are called white people; AfroAmericans are called black; Orientals are called yellow; and Indian-Americans are called red. A moment's reflection will indicate that these designations are inaccurate: the skin color of Euro-Americans is not white but some shade of pinkish-tan; the skin color of Afro-Americans is not black but some shade of brown. Orientals do not have yellow skins, nor do Indian-Americans have red

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skins. Thus, the 'color-coding' of racial groups is quite inaccurate if the color names employed are supposed to be at all descriptive of skin color." The color-coding of people from different racial backgrounds emphasizes differences, while at the same time influencing how we feel about groups of people. For example, humans' ability to distinguish visually between lightness and darkness is coupled with the fact that much research has shown that cross-culturally, white/light symbolizes goodness and black/dark symbolizes evil (Williams & Morland, 1976). Disney movies provide a wide range of exam~ ples of such symbolism (e.g. most recently in The Lion King and Mulan). Such is the paradigm into which young children are born and socialized. However, early in children's lives, their commentary and perspective highlights their acute powers of observation. In this paper, I argue that children's racial self-classification and their views of their friends reflect a much more complex social reality than adult conceptions may acknowledge. This research emphasizes that in certain spheres, children have less racist conceptions of the world than do adults. In general, social psychologists have argued that adults develop cognitive categories to simplify or categorize, but in so doing they lose a sense of the individual's qualities in the process. This work argues that life experiences can be a negative factor in social development, and that children's racial self-classification and racial attitudes are more socially holistic than adults' perspectives, By not categorizing people on the basis of their skin color, children allow other's actions to speak louder than their physical appearances.

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE It is important to delineate some of the various aspects of past research with regard to children and race, in order to highlight the particular focus in this paper. In Williams' and Morland's classic work, entitled Race, Color, and the Young Child, they note that the research on children and race can be classified under seven categories: "racial attitude, racial acceptance, racial preference, racial self-preference, perceived racial similarity, racial classification, and racial self-classification" (1976, 96). The research presented here focuses on children's racial self-classification and their knowledge of the concepts of race or color. I also provide data and some discussion regarding children's choice of friends, and the role of "race" in these choices. Researchers have long been interested in children's perceptions of race and ethnicity. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Kenneth and Mamie Clark focused on the development of prejudice and self-identity (Clark & Clark, 1939, 1940, 1947). They developed the Clark Doll Test (CDT) for African American

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children to measure the effects of societal devaluation. They found that about two-thirds of the African American children preferred the white doll and about one-third identified with the white doll. The white doll preference and self-identification generally decreased with age, although the majority of children preferred the white doll at every age. This research stimulated much concern over black children's negative or ambivalent attitudes toward their race and was highly influential in the historic 1954 United States Supreme Court decision Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education to desegregate U.S. schools (Davey, 1983, 79). The Civil Rights movements of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, involved minority groups and led to more minority adults being active in education, politics, and the mass media. Some argue that minority children growing up in these contexts were more likely to be proud of their racial heritage in contrast to young people growing up in earlier decades (Davey, 1983). Davey (1983, 173) studied 7 to 10 year olds and found that by age 10, "both minority and majority group children have a strong sense of group identity. On the other hand, the pattern of ethnic group preferences showed that the minority children clearly perceived the advantages of being white." How do children learn to classify themselves racially, and how do they learn the social value accorded to different racial categories? To address this important question Holmes (1995) conducted a participant observation with kindergartners over the period of six years. This research involved having children draw pictures of themselves and discussing the construct of their own drawings. Holmes (1995, 55-56) found that the children "took great pains in representing themselves accurately in their a r t w o r k . . . When Bob was coloring in a person from his worksheet, he remarked to his tablemate Jack, 'I'm not going to color mine [the face]. I'm leaving mine white 'cause I'm white.' Jack replied, 'You're not white. I'm not white. Look [pointing to his arm], you're pinkish tan.' " Research conducted by developmental psychologists indicates that children first become aware of their skin color, and only later begin to comprehend that this identity places them into a particular racial or ethnic group (Spencer, 1985, 1988). Additional developmental research on children's perceptions of race shows that race is not an important aspect of children's choices of friends early in their lives, although it does impact their later selection of potential partners as they age (Holmes, 1995). Some work on children, friendships, and prejudice focuses on the demographic balance in schools as a central factor. Much of this research has demonstrated that desegregation has not facilitated the breaking down of racial barriers (Gerard, 1983; Katz & Taylor, 1988; Schofield, 1979; Stephan, 1978). However, most of these studies have been conducted with older children in middle schools. Several scholars have found that racial and gender

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divisions emerge during the late elementary school years (e.g. Hallinan & Teixeira, 1987; Holmes, 1995; Maccoby, 1990; Schofield, 1984). In sum, significant research has been done with regard to children's perceptions of race, their racial self-classifications, and their friendships. Yet even in Williams and Morland's work where their "intent was to let the children 'speak for themselves' with a minimum of comment and theoretical speculation" (1976, 237), these two social scientists injected adult biases into their study. After studying the children's general racial classification abilities, they asked children, "Are you white, or are you black (or whatever racial term was current at the time of the study)?" (1976, 211). The forced-choice methodology of earlier work precluded children from speaking for themselves in an authentic fashion. The purpose of the current study then, is to overcome the shortcomings of earlier research by allowing children to voice their conceptions of "race" without being influenced by adult categories.

METHODS This research is part of an ongoing project which centers on the idea that children's voices are vital to our understanding of processes of socialization. Since the mid-1990s, we have conducted 88 interviews with children (ages 5-12) and their primary caregivers (i.e. mother, father, or grandparent). We have conducted all of these interviews in San Antonio, Texas (a richly diverse city), officially composed of 52.1% Hispanic, 37.9% White, 6.6% Black, 1.6% Asian, and 1.8% "Other." We conducted half of the interviews in an urban housing project and the other half were conducted in other parts of the city. It is important to note that there is less racial or ethnic variation in the housing projects than exists in the surrounding areas. Most of the residents of these housing projects are Hispanic. (While this is the most commonly-used terminology, it is important to note that some readers may prefer "Latino" or other more specific references. The use of any one term is not meant to dishonor people's heritage.) As a series of in-depth interviews, our work is intended to provide a detailed view of children's perceptions of a wide variety of issues surrounding family, neighborhood, friends, and schools. Unexpectedly, the standard sociological/ demographic questions about race and color elicited some interesting results, and the rainbow pattern only became clear to us over time. Thus, this study was not initially designed primarily to focus on children's perceptions of race, but the questions about race and characteristics valued in friends reveal some powerful messages about children's racial self-classification. These interviews were approximately one hour in duration and involved nearly 60 open-ended questions. All interviews were tape-recorded and

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transcribed verbatim. However, a few tapes had to be supplemented with written field notes, given the lack of privacy in the housing projects. For this paper, the primary open-ended question for adults in this research was "What race or ethnicity do you consider yourself?" For children, the question was "What race or color do you consider yourself?" It was presumed that children would not know the meaning of "ethnicity," thus the slight difference in wording for the adults versus children. If children asked "What does that mean?" (or some variation of this), the interviewer repeated the question. There were a few instances where the children talked about a foot race or their favorite color, and when this occurred the interviewers restated the question. If further questions arose, we asked "Have you ever heard of those terms?"

FINDINGS For the younger children in our study, it is clear that race is a foreign idea. It is interesting that 14 of the 44 children interviewed asked variations of "What does that mean?" As seen in Table 1, children under the age of 10 (and some older children), have a wonderfully diverse set of responses to their racial self-classifications. Colors such as "darkish peach," "red," "pink," "light tan," "blue," and "light brown" reflect a finely-tuned view of race or color. Thus if we were to collapse into categories the responses of all children and all caregivers, children's responses would need 16 distinct categories, and adult caregivers would need seven (which itself is a longer list of categories than those usually offered on close-ended questions). We have noted in hard brackets when the "race" of the child did not "visibly match" the interviewers' perceptions. This is not meant as a correction to the children's responses, but rather to clarify this "inconsistency." Finally, as seen in Table 1, only one adult expressed a bit of confusion about the "race or ethnicity" question by saying "Don't understand. Hispanic I think." On the other hand, 18 of the children in this study (or 41%), expressed unfamiliarity with the terms "race or color." As a way to highlight the relationships among caregiver responses, children's responses, and development of racial awareness (using children's age), we analyzed adults' responses by children's responses, controlling for child's age, and Table 2 displays these results. Although the relatively small number of responses makes strong generalizations impossible, it does appear as though caregivers' responses are sometimes mirrored in the children's responses. Thus, when adults use terms such as "Mexican" or "White" their children are more likely to use such terms also, especially as the children age. However, children's responses reflect a greater variety of color categories than those used by adults.

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Table 1. Adult Responses to a "What race or ethnicity do you consider yourself?" and Children's Responses to "What race or color do you consider yourself?" (Verbatim). Caregiver's Race/Ethnicity

Child's Race/Color

Child's Age

White. But I was born in Mexico. My parents were of Spanish descent, but when I write I usually write Anglo.

What does that mean?

6

White

Light brown

6

Caucasian-Jewish

What does that mean? I don't know what that means.

6

Mexican

Red

6

Anglo

What do you mean by that? Darkish gray

6

White

I don't know

6

Caucasian

No answer

6

Hispanic

Black [He looks Hispanic]

6

Anglo

Pink

6

I guess Caucasian

I don't want to answer this one.

7

White

What does that mean? I don't know what that means.

7

White

Tan

7

White/Other

You mean like on the skin? White

7

Caucasian

White

7

Mexican American

What does race mean?

7

Anglo

What does that mean? Don't know - no ma'am.

7

Anglo, but Jewish

Medium white, mostly

7

Hispanic

Black [He looks Hispanic]

7

Hispanic

Red

7

Hispanic

I don't get it.

7

White

Tan?

7

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Table 1.

Continued.

Caregiver's Race/Ethnicity

Child's Race/Color

Child's Age

White or other

You mean like on the skin? White.

7

Hispanic

What does that mean? A kind of beige-ish color.

8

Anglo

I don't know what that means. White

8

Hispanic I think

Red

8

Caucasian

I don't get that. I've never heard white.

8

Hispanic

Red

8

Hispanic

White [She looks Hispanic.]

8

Caucasian

Darkish peach

8

Hispanic

A little tannish

9

American Hispanic

Light tan

9

Anglo

white

9

Hispanic

Hispanic

9

Spanish

Brown

9

Anglo Saxon

White

10

Hispanic

Basic white, I guess

10

Hispanic

What do you mean?

10

Anglo

White

11

Anglo

White

11

Mexican

Mexican

11

Hispanic

What's that? The color I am?

11

Anglo

Blue

11

White

White

12

White

White

12

Colors of the Rainbow: Children's Racial Self-Classification Table 2.

Developmental

Shifts in Children's

R e l a t i v e to A d u l t R e s p o n s e s

Responses

77 to R a c e

Question

(Verbatim).

Adult Response

Child Age

Child's Response

Hispanic

5-7

Red; Black; I don't get it.; Black; White. White; Hispanic; Red; My favorite color? No, I don't understand.; Light tan; What does that mean? Kind of a beige-ish color.; A little tannish. What's that? The color I am? Hispanic; What do you mean?; Basic white, I guess.; What do you mean?; Brown/Mexican

8-9

10-12

Mexican or Mexican American

5-7

Red; What does race mean?; I don't know what that means.

8-9 10-12

Mexican

Spanish

8-9

Brown

Anglo, Anglo Saxon, or Anglo but Jewish

5-7

Pink; What does that mean? Don't know. No ma'am.; Medium white, mostly.; What do you mean by that? Darkish gray.; What does that mean?; What does that mean? I don't know what it means[ White Blue; White; White; White

8-9 10-12 Caucasian or Caucasian-Jewish

5-7

8~9 10-12 White, or White, but I was born in Mexico. My parents were of Spanish descent, but when I write I usually write Anglo, or White, for lack of a better term.

What does that mean?; [Child took a long look at his skin and said, "White"]; What do you mean? I don't know what that means.; I don't want to answer this one. Darkish peach; I don't get that.

5-7

I don't know; Light brown; Well, what does that mean? I don't even know what that means.; Tan; You mean like on the skin? White.

8-9 10-12

White; White

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It is important to clarify here that I am not arguing that children do not notice skin color. Children do notice color, but no more than other physical characteristics. One kindergarten girl was describing a friend's m o m m y visiting her classroom. In describing the mother, she said, "You know, she has a lip that goes up like this." She rolled the inside of her upper lip back to show me. However, children notice many such physical attributes, not only those related to race. This same girl was describing another smaller child and she said that this girl "Looked like a bunny." Later, when I saw this little girl, I noticed that she had a beautiful smile, with two very large front teeth. I would argue that this sort of comment from young children does not compare with the teasing and taunting of older children about buck teeth or other such cruelties, but is better conceptualized as an observation or connection while learning about their world. Thus while children as young as three show "racial awareness" in the sense that they respond to differences in skin color, hair texture, facial structure, eye shape, or blood type, etc., they do not fully "know" racial concepts or racial classification in the same way that adults do (Tatum, 1997, 32; Williams & Morland, 1976, 95). In other words, although children are keen observers, they do not attach hierarchical value to one skin color versus others. Even for the adults in our study, it is clear that race and color are problematic categories when utilized as questions in social science research. With seven different responses to our question about race or ethnicity, the caregivers' answers reflect a great deal of room for misinterpretation and misunderstanding. Similar to the dilemmas that the U.S. Bureau of the Census is trying to resolve, it is clearly difficult to code some of the adult responses to our open-ended question. Consider the following: • "White. But I was born in Mexico. My parents were of Spanish descent, but when I write I usually write Anglo," • "Anglo, but Jewish," • "I guess Caucasian," • "White or other," • "White, for lack of a better term," • "Hispanic 1 think" While some may argue that survey research which provides closed-ended categories for respondents would eliminate such problems, I would argue that forcing choices is even more egregious in terms of capturing the essence of people's understanding of their "race." Professional golfer Tiger Woods commented on one aspect of this continuing dilemma, as his father is African

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American and his mother is Thai. Woods noted that attempting to classify himself as either one or the other, would be tantamount to denying the other parent and their lineage. The second set of questions centered around children's friendships and why some friends were their favorites. Overall, I found that children in my sample did not express prejudice toward others from different backgrounds. This finding supports some earlier work (e.g. Cook, 1985; Holmes, 1995; Johnson & Johnson, 1981; Slavin, 1983), but runs contrary to results from other research (e.g. Aboud, 1988; Clark, 1966; Cook, 1984; Katz & Taylor, 1988; Schofield, 1986). There is however, a certain "friendship-spillover" that occurs for children in their neighborhoods, schools, and churches. By this, I mean that the quality of children's friendships in each of these arenas greatly affects how children perceive the arena itself. Thus, if children have good friends who go to church or synagogue, then they enjoy those arenas. That said, the major criteria that children use in choosing their friends revolve around niceness (or absence of meanness), instrumental acts of sharing (e.g. food, toys, playtime), and empathy (e.g. expressions of concern when children are hurt). Several children noted being nice as a central feature of friendship. One girl, when asked to "Tell me about the kid at school who is your favorite and why?" responded that "Because she's my best friend. We play together, we share things, not food." Another girl explained her favorite friend, "Because we kind of go together but we're not really alike. And we're just, like, not best, best friends but we're best friends and we like doing stuff together. We always eat together and we talk about stuff." A boy notes that his best friend, "whenever I do something like make a funny face, he always laughs." Another girl noted that her best friend is "nice. She laughs a lot and she's my best f r i e n d . . . " One child revealed that another boy was his favorite friend because "He helps me with my math." A 9-year old girl noted that another girt was her best friend "Because when I need a pencil she just lends me it." A 7-year old boy noted that, "It's a girl. 'Cause she brings me boy stuff to school and she lets me keep it. Like Power Rangers and X-Men." Another girl reminds us that it is important to tell people they are your friend, by noting that her friend is her friend, "Because we're friends and then she tells me 'You're my friend.'" Another boy noted that "I don't think I have a favorite kid at school, but can I say like a favorite group? (three boy's names) because they're my best friends, they help me out a lot and we have a lot of things in common." Sometimes, the simple absence of hostility can make all the difference in young children's lives. One girl, when asked why her friend was her favorite, noted poignantly that the reason was "She doesn't pick on me." Conversely, respondents' perceptions of the "worst kids" often centered around being bossy or hitting. One child noted that a boy at school was the

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worst kid to get along with because, "Sometimes he doesn't listen to your opinion, and he's very loud and rude." Another child noted that the worst kid was "not that nice. He's kinda bossy." Another child noted that her least favorite friend was "a girl from my church, because she's always so bossy." One child noted that the worst kid to get along with at school was "(Boy's name) because he's real mean and really loud. Today he screamed at Miss Murray." Finally, one child noted that one boy was hard to get along with, "because he gets really m a d . . , like with a usual friend if you, like, kid around with him, you know, and, like, tease him, but you're friends so you know it doesn't mean anything, you're just kidding around. But if you do that to him, he gets really mad and it's hard to say you're sorry cause he keeps being mean." Shared interests are also an important criterion for children's friendships. One boy noted that another boy is "nice and interesting." Interviewer: Why is he interesting? Child: Cause he does lots of experiments. He takes plants and he takes the cells of them and he mixes them with stuff. Interviewer: What other kinds of experiments do you like to do? Child: We make a little mixture of soap and water, but we don't drink it. Another boy noted that his favorite kid at school is "Probably (boy's name) because we both have a lot in common and we like making up things and playing, like, raptors or aliens and stuff like that. Like make believing." Shared play is a central feature of young children's lives, even the act of simply being together. One girl noted that her friend was her favorite because "she usually plays with me in the playground." Another noted, "because she plays with me a lot and she never fights with me." A boy noted that, "I like (boy's name) because he always talks to me and that's why we're friends. And he always plays with me. And mostly I ' m on his team when we play soccer." Indeed the best predictor of whether children liked their neighborhoods was the number of other children and close friends nearby, available for after-school play. When we asked one child if they wanted to live in their neighborhood when they grew up, she said, "Yes, so I could meet my friends again." Similarly, when children move away from friends, it is difficult for them. We ask children a question, "If we gave you a magic wand, and you could make three wishes, what would they be?" As part of her list, one child (whose parents moved frequently) said, "Number 2 would be that all my friends that I ever had would move down here. 'cause I really miss my friends." The same "friendship-spillover" dynamic operates in schools, with one child noting that the best thing about school yesterday was that "I had fun with my friends." Another

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younger girl noted that her favorite friend is her favorite "Because we swing on the monkey bars." Like adults, the longevity or history of children with their friends is important. If children have friends that they have known for a longer time, that really matters to them. One boy noted that his best friend at school was his favorite " 'cause he's been here all the years that I have and we always like the same sport. Like when there's soccer and there's not basketball, we always play soccer together. And when there's football and not any other sport, we always play football together." Finally, in an interesting display of both friendship and the beginnings of racial separation, a 9-year old girl from the housing projects was talking about students being teased at her school (another of our research questions). She noted that her friend - they "always call her Casper cause she's White." The interviewer asked, "So is she the only White girl in your class?" The girl responded, "No. This other boy's White and sometimes they laugh about his last name because his last name is ]a word], and this other girl too, because her last name is [a word]." For all 44 of the children asked about teasing, this was the only instance of racially-based teasing. As studied here, race or color are not an issue when children discuss their friendships. Even in the teasing incident noted above, the child noted that this girl was her friend, despite the girl's being the target of others' teasing. One 7-year old boy was discussing his friend, and his comments reflect how children process ideas regarding race, religion, and ethnicity. Speaking of a young African American boy in a racially diverse first-grade class, he asked "Do you know Jonathan? Well, he looks American, but he's Jewish." When I asked how he knew that Jonathan was Jewish, he said that when Jewish people say "sh" it sounds like "ch." As William Gray III observes, little black children do play with little white children; it's the adults who have been harder to convince (1999). A final representation of the wisdom of children on race relations is revealed in another aspect of our study. One of the questions we ask children centers around two pictures of people's homes, and we ask them to tell us a story about the people who live in those homes. One of the homes is in the inner city; it is small, aging, and in need of repairs. The other home is a suburban home, it is two-story, has stately columns, and a large front porch and lawn. The followup question is "If there were children your age living in each of these houses, which child would you rather play with and why?" One younger boy responded "Both. 'cause I don't judge people by the way their houses look. I judge them by the way they act and if they're nice to other people."

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SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION In this paper I have illustrated that children have healthy conceptions of race and suspend judgment when it comes to evaluating other people. If we conceptualize race and racism as merely parts of a larger racialized social system (Bonilla-Silva, 1996), then young children's perspectives on these topics become highly instructive. Young children appear to be genuinely unaware of their own "race" and this strongly suggests that they have not yet been affected by the larger racist social forces that run rampant in American society. It is not surprising that the racially-integrated groups of elementary schools disintegrate by the sixth or seventh grade (Lewin, 2000; Tatum, 1997). In terms of future research, given that children's socialization experiences are the primary factors affecting their subjective feelings about themselves and others it is important to continue qualitative and ethnographic work with children to allow them to define and interpret their social worlds. Researchers must examine social interactions and contexts in which children are exposed to alternative messages about race. For example, Tatum (1997) challenges parents and others to overturn negative messages about people of color, expose themselves and their children to positive images of marginalized groups, and acknowledge and examine their own prejudices and rigid categorizations of others. In addition, various scholars who study such issues note the importance of empowering children to think about what can be done to rectify social injustices. William Corsaro (1997) notes that children historically have been important social actors. He cites the case of Newsies (boys who delivered newspapers) at file turn of the century who organized as a group to oppose employers, by forming a powerful union. Although this example does not relate to resisting racism, it does illustrate the power of children's collective action in the face of economic oppression. The social policy implications of this study certainly connect with research that has consistently shown teachers' beliefs and practices make a major difference in how racial and ethnic diversity are dealt with in schools. Given this pattern, teachers need the support of parents and administrators to utilize stateof-the-art-knowledge in teaching about racial diversity. In terms of curriculum, regardless of the ages of children, the use of interracial cooperative groups produces positive effects on interracial attitudes and race relations (Holmes, 1995; Singh, 1991). Weissbourd (1996, 94) argues that "School policies and practices as well as teachers also need to constantly affirm the importance of inclusion. Emphasizing inclusion means, minimally, actively insisting that exclusion is unacceptable, openly discussing stereotypes and prejudice, and constantly surfacing commonalities among students."

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In addition, future research should focus more on the role of the media in the development of children's awareness of race, color and ethnicity. Estimates are that by the age of 18, children/youth in the U.S. have watched more television than they have spent in the classroom (Hearold, 1986). Television can have both negative and positive outcomes for children's perceptions of race. On the negative side, the absence of minorities, or their portrayal as participating only in crime or low-paying occupations lead children to believe this is true for all members of the group (Devine, 1989). On the positive side, famous sports stars (e.g. Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan), can encourage children of all colors to admire, respect, and emulate people of color. Furthermore, parents, teachers, and media should be sensitive to the problems surrounding the association of certain colors with certain qualities, such as the association of the color black with bad or evil (Spencer, 1988). Similarly, the materials available to children should reflect their nuanced view of skin color. Crayola and other crayon manufacturers have recently developed an assortment of crayons that reflect a wide range of °'people colors" (e.g. buff, peach, sand, copper, wheat, sable, cinnamon, spice, auburn, mocha, redwood, mahogany, chestnut) that reflect the subtle differences in skin tone for a variety of different cultural groups (Holmes, 1995). Finally, with respect to future research, longitudinal studies delineating how children develop their awareness of "race" are crucial, since this paper suggests that children are not born with racial classification systems. We need to investigate the social processes through which children are inculcated into our racialized social system. This would enhance our understanding of changes in the course of their early lives. Similarly, because the concept of "race" and its social classification are constantly changing, historical shifts will be important to trace as well. If we conceptualize racial self-classification as only one aspect of this larger racialized system, it is only through longitudinal research that we will be able to ascertain shifts that are due to the life course, or larger social change impacting particular cohorts of individuals. It appears that the challenge for adults is to take the lead of the children in seeing the rainbow of diversity where it exists, and considering and valuing each new person and experience carefully, one at a time. Indeed, adults have much to learn from children.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to thank Mary Inman, Shalyn Johnson, and Gary Sailor for their input on this paper, as well as the children and their caregivers interviewed.

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REFERENCES Aboud, F. (1988). Children and Prejudice. New York: Basil Blackwell. Bates, N., De la Puente, M., DeMaio, T. J., & Martin, E. A. (1994). Research on Race and Ethnicity: Results From Questionnaire Design Tests. Proceedings of the Bureau of the Census. Annual Research Conference (pp. 107-136). Rosslyn, Virginia. Bonilla-Silva, E. (1996). Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation. American Sociological Review, 62, 465-480. Brace, L. (1993). A Four-letter Word Called 'Race.' In: L. T. Reynolds & L. Lieberman (Eds), Race and Other Misadventures: Essays in the Honor of Ashley Montagu in his Ninetieth Year (pp. 106-141). Dix Hills, NY: General Hall. Clark, K. (1966). Prejudice and Your Child. (2nd ed.). Boston: Beacon. Clark, K., & Clark, M. K. (1947). Racial Identification and Preference in Negro Children. In: T. Newcomb & E. Hartley (Eds), Readings in Social Psychology (pp. 169-178). New York: Holt. Clark, K., & Clark, M. K. (1940). Skin Colour as a Factor in Racial Identification in Negro Preschool Children. Journal of Social Psychology, 11, 159-169. Clark, K. (1939). The Development of the Consciousness of Self and the Emergence of Racial Identity in Negro Preschool Children. Journal of Social Psychology, 10, 591-599. Cook, S. (1985). Helping and Being Helped in Cooperating Interracial Groups: Effects on Respect and Liking for Group Members. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Evanston, IL. Cook, S. (1984). Cooperative Interaction in Multiethnic Contexts. In: N. Miller & M. Brewer (Eds), Groups in Contact (pp. 156-186). New York: Academic Press. Corsaro, W. A. (1997). The Sociology of Childhood. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press. Davey, A. (1983). Learning to Be Prejudiced: Growing up in Multi-Ethnic Britain. London: Edward Arnold. Devine, P. (1989). Stereotypes and Prejudice: Their Automatic and Controlled Components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 5-18. Gerard, H. (1983). School Desegregation: The Social Science Role. American Psychologist, 38, 869-877. Gray, W. (1999). Lecture given at Trinity University, January 18. Hallinan, M., & Teixeira, R. (1987). Students' Interracial Friendships: Individual Characteristics, Structural Effects, and Racial Differences. American Journal of Education, 95, 563-583. Hearold, S. (1986). A Synthesis of the Effects of Television on Social Behavior. In: G. Comstock (Ed.), Public Communication and Behavior, Vol. 1 (pp. 65-133). New York: Academic Press. Holmes, R. M. (1995). How Young Children Perceive Race. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Johnson D., & Johnson R. (1981). Effects of Cooperative and Individualistic Learning Experiences on Inter-ethnic Interaction. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73, 44 A, 449. Katz, P., & Taylor D. (1988). Eliminating Racism. New York: Plenum. Lewin, T. (2000): Growing Up, Growing Apart. New York Times, June 24. (http://www 10.nytimes.com/library/national/race/0625001ewin.kids.html). Maccoby, E. (1990). Gender and Relationships: A Developmental Account. American Psychologist, 45, 513-520. Montagu, A. (1974). Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

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Nagel, J. (1996). American Indian Ethnic Renewal: Red Power and the Resurgence of Identity and Culture. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press. Schofield, J. W. (1986). Black-white Contact in Desegregated Schools. In: M. Hewstone & R. Brown (Eds), Contact and Conflict in Intergroup Encounters (pp. 79-92). New York: Basil Blackwell. Schofield, J. W. (1984). Complementary and Conflicting Identities. In: S. Asher & J. Gottman (Eds), The Development of Children's Friendships (pp. 53-90). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Schofield, J. W. (1979). The Impact of Positively Structured Contact on Intergroup Behavior: Does It Last Under Adverse Conditions? Social Psychology Quarterly, 42, 280-284. Singh, B. (1991). Teaching Methods for Reducing Prejudice and Enhancing Academic Achievement for All Children. Educational Studies, 17, 157-191. Slavin, R. (1983). Cooperative Learning. New York: Longman. Spencer, M. (1988). Self-Concept Development. In: D. Slaughter (Ed.), Black Children and Poverty: A Developmental Perspective (pp. 59-72). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Spencer, M. (1985). Cultural Cognition and Social Cognition as Identity Factors in Black Children's Personal Growth. In: M. Spencer, G. Brookins & W. Allen (Eds), Beginnings: The Social and Affective Development of Black Children (pp. 215-230). Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum. Stephan, W. (1978). School Desegregation: An Examination of Predictions Made in Brown v. Board of Education. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 217-238. Tatum, B. D. (1997). Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: and Other Conversations About Race. New York, N.Y.: Basic Books. Weissbourd, R. (1996). The Vulnerable Child: What Really Hurts America's Children and What We Can Do About It. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. Williams, J. E., & Morland, J. K. (1976). Race, Color, and the Young Child. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

THE SOCIAL WORLD OF MALE AND FEMALE ATHLETES IN HIGH SCHOOL Robert Crosnoe

INTRODUCTION Traditionally, high school athletic programs have been the province of boys, but recent history has witnessed an explosion of participation by girls in this arena (Miller et al., 1994). The implications of this surge in athletic participation are paradoxical. Athletic participation is associated with both academic achievement and problem behavior, even when we take gender into account (Eccles & Barber, 1999). The explanation for these seemingly contradictory outcomes may lie in the friendships of athletes. Friendship groups in athletic programs might emphasize multiple forms of achievement; academic, in the form of better school performance, and social, as expressed in "partying". These messages, often seen as incompatible, might lead athletes into higher levels of both pro-social and anti-social behavior. Given the developmental differences of boys and girls, these processes are likely to differ by gender. This longitudinal study addresses the link between high school athletics and friendship groups. Do they influence the academic and social development of adolescent boys and girls? On a general level, this linkage illustrates an interaction between social structure and social psychological processes. According to the perspective of social structure and personality, such interactions profoundly influence the course of human development (House, 1995). During the adolescent stage of life, both the school (and activities within school) and

Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Volume 8, pages 89-110. Copyright © 2001 by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISBN: 0-7623-0051-5

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friendship groups serve as important developmental contexts (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). These contexts are connected in ways that matter: friendship groups are frequently nested within school activities and programs, and friendship associations support or oppose school goals. In this manner, school activities and friendship groups influence development independently and interactively. This interaction might explain why the behavior of high school athletes is simultaneously exemplary and problematic. The relation of gender to athletics, friendship groups, and behavior calls for more attention to processes among boys and among girls. Before turning to the data, we should consider what we know about athletics and friendship associations. I begin with the relevance of athletic programs as developmental contexts, then turn to friendship influences, and conclude with gendered pathways among male and female athletes.

ATHLETICS, FRIENDSHIPS, AND ADOLESCENT BEHAVIOR Athletic Programs as Contexts of Development Athletic programs refer to the range of sports teams affiliated with the high school. These programs are elements of school organization in that they bring together groups of students within the school for extended periods of time (Larson, 1994). Athletics have long been an important arena of achievement in high school (Coleman, 1961). Traditionally, boys have been more involved in athletics, but girls have been increasing their activity in this area over the past several decades. A majority of boys engage in some high school athletic endeavor, and the rate of female engagement in athletics is rapidly approaching this threshold (Miller et al., 1994). This growing gender balance in high school athletics is attributable to changing gender norms and to legislation, such as Title IX, which mandates equal funding for male and female athletic programs (Lapchick, 1995; Miller et al., 1994; Borman & Kurdek, 1987). Athletes enjoy greater visibility than other students, and they generally report higher levels of self-esteem (Kinney, 1999; Eder & Kinney, 1995). Achievement in sports can be an avenue to higher social status in the student body, especially for boys (Eder & Kinney, 1995). In fact, boys are often most concerned with the achievement and status aspects of athletics, while girls focus more on the interpersonal side of athletics, such as the camaraderie with other girls (Borman & Kurdek, 1987). Participation in high school athletics can have a salutary impact on the adjustment of both boys and girls, such as greater school engagement, better academic achievement, and higher college attendance

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(Gerber, 1996; McNeal, 1995; Holland & Andre, 1987). Otto and Alwin (1977) note that peers serve as the mediator in the link between athletics and achievement. Indeed, Eccles and Barber (1999) found that the students identified as "jocks" reported higher grades than members of other peer groups. Thirty years ago, Rehberg (1969) found exposure to academic values and association with pro-social friends to be the key social explanations for the beneficial impact of athletic participation. In other words, athletic participation draws students into the normative order of school, which emphasizes conventional means of achievement and, therefore, raises the costs of problem behavior. Athletic participation relates to friendship association in two ways. Athletic programs bring together students with similar interests and provide them with a common goal, thereby increasing the likelihood of friendship formation. Friends also pull youth into shared activities (Larson, 1994). In either case, friendship associations largely occur within a school setting. This line of reasoning mirrors social bond theory, which asserts that bonding to conventional institutions, such as the school, protects against negative outcomes. Extracurricular activities like sports are central to this theory. Athletic participation generally requires a substantial time commitment to a school-based activity, which strengthens bonds to school and school personnel and reduces unsupervised time with friends (Hirschi, 1969). Yet, social bond theory explicitly addresses deviant behavior. While research on the link between athletic participation and improved academic outcomes is fairly consistent, evidence linking athletic participation to deviance is mixed. Landers and Landers (1975) reported that athletes had lower rates of delinquency than other groups, while Miller et al. (1994) found that athletic participation protected girls, though not boys, from early sexual activity. Aaron et al. (1995), however, found that athletic participation predicted greater alcohol use. Drinking might be considered a high status activity in high school, and athletes typically inhabit a lofty position in the school status hierarchy (Kinney, 1999; Stinchcombe, 1964). Eccles and Barber (1999) reported a relation between athletic participation and greater alcohol use and found that the "jock" peer crowd was characterized by higher rates of alcohol use. As a result, they advocate undertaking dual examinations of the positive and negative outcomes of athletics. Research supports Larson's (1994) contention that high school sports serve as contexts of development. However, past findings might over-estimate the impact of athletic involvement by failing to control for the more privileged average background of athletes (Spreitzer, 1994). Nevertheless, participation in high school athletic programs does seem to be developmentally significant in positive and negative ways, and this significance might be gender-specific.

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Friendships as Contexts of Development The potential connection between athletic programs and friendship groups is important because the latter serve as powerful socializing forces in adolescence. More attention has been paid to the negative outcomes of this influence. For example, association with deviant friends is one of the most consistent predictors of adolescent engagement in deviant activity (Adams & Evans, 1996). This relation holds for a variety of problem behaviors, such as delinquency (Matsueda & Anderson, 1998), substance use (Aseltine, 1995), and sexual activity (Katchadourian, 1990). Yet, adolescent friends can and do serve as sources of positive influence, pushing youth toward higher academic achievement and constraining problem behavior (Steinberg et al., 1996; Berndt & Keefe, 1995). The influence of friends tends to be exaggerated. First, studies often rely on adolescent perceptions of their friends' behavior rather than collecting information from the friends themselves. This practice biases friendship measures since adolescents tend to over-estimate the extent to which their friends are similar to them (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1987). Second, research often fails to account for the role of selection in producing similarity among friends (Matsueda & Anderson, 1998). Adolescents seek out similar others as friends, increasing the homogeneity of friends. More recent longitudinal studies that correct for the problems associated with selection and perception still report that friends influence each other, though this power is much weaker than previously thought and secondary to selection effects (Matsueda & Anderson, 1998; Aseltine, 1995). Adolescent boys and girls have different experiences with and orientations to friendship. The friendships of girls tend to be more exclusive and involve more emotional intimacy. Boys have more open friendships groups, which tend to be organized around shared activities (Giordano et al., 1986; Bern& & Hoyle, 1985). Furthermore, boys tend to be more susceptible to the negative influences of friends (Crosnoe et al., forthcoming). Therefore, anti-social friendship groups might pose more risk for boys than girls. One possible explanation for this could be that girls are more sensitive to input from teachers and authority figures (Fagot, 1994), which implies that they are less likely to follow their friends into problem behavior for fear of damaging other important relationships and jeopardizing their school status.

Dual Achievement in High School Athletics The central premise of this study is that high school athletic programs serve as contexts of both positive and negative development. In general, athletic

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programs strengthen student ties to school, which promote positive outcomes, such as academic achievement, and protect against negative outcomes, such as alcohol use. Yet, the friendship groups associated with athletic programs may alter the expected developmental outcomes of participation by emphasizing both academic success (doing well in school) and social activity (partying). The positive messages of athletic friendship groups probably reinforce the academic benefits of athletic participation, while the negative messages of these friendships counter-balance, or even outweigh, the protective power of athletics that is hypothesized by social bond theory. Thus, these mixed messages promote a type of "dual achievement" among high school athletes, academic success coupled with alcohol use. Adolescent boys and girls tend to follow different developmental trajectories (Maccoby, 1988). Compared to girls, boys are more likely to participate in athletics, are more focused on the achievement and status aspects of sports, and are less likely to derive protection from athletic involvement. Also, they seem to be more vulnerable to the influences of friends, more deviant, and less successful in academics than girls (Crosnoe et al., forthcoming; Bank, 1997; Elliott et al., 1985). Therefore, the set of relations discussed above is likely to differ by gender in important ways, and these potential differences call for gender-specific analyses. Such analyses should also control for socio-economic status, employ friendship measures based on the actual reports of friends, and control for the role of selection in producing similarity among friends.

DESIGN OF THE STUDY Sample

This research draws on information from 3237 adolescents, who participated in a larger longitudinal study of adolescent development. In the larger study, students in nine diverse high schools in California and Wisconsin completed six questionnaires (one per semester) in three consecutive school years (1987-1990). Youth included in the present study were enrolled in the schools during the 1987-1988 and 1988-1989 school years and also provided the names of at least one close friend who filled out a student questionnaire. The matching of reports from students and their friends was crucial to understanding the friendship processes in this study. Those adolescents included in the study sample were generally white (64.0% white, 16.5% Asian American, 12.6% Hispanic American, 7.0% African American), female (55.5%), and mid-adolescent (mean age = 15.1 years). Most

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came from intact families (67.0%) and had parents with at least some college education (mean level of parental schooling = 14.2 years). Comparison of the study sample to the attrition sample reveals some important differences. Those included in the study sample were more likely to be female and white than those excluded from the study sample (for lacking friendship information), though the two groups did not differ on any other demographic characteristic. The study sample was significantly higher on academic achievement and school orientation and significantly lower on alcohol use. Thus, the selection criteria for this study probably biased the sample towards greater adjustment. While the benefits of using the actual reports of friends warrants this selection procedure, this bias should be remembered in the interpretation of results.

Measurement Athletic Participation In year 1, students reviewed a list of school activities and noted the ones in which they had been involved during that school year. Athletes in this study included students who had been members of the baseball, basketball, football, soccer, swim, or other teams or an individual sport in year 1 (1 vs. 0 for no involvement). Academic Achievement In both years, students assessed their grades, indicating that they were "mostly As and Bs" all the way down to "mostly below Ds". Responses were recoded to create a standard four-point grade point average scale for each year. Alcohol Use The composite indicator for alcohol use, in years 1 and 2, is based on the mean response to two items: in the past school year, how often the adolescent had bought alcohol or liquor and how often he or she had gotten drunk (o~ = 0.86). Scores range from "never" (1) to "often" (4). Behavior of Friends Two measures tap the behavioral characteristics of the adolescent's friends, their academic achievement and social activity. Both are based upon reports from the adolescent's close friends. Each student in the study sample listed at least one close friend for whom data were also available. Again, variables based on the actual reports of friends are more accurate than those based on the respondent's perceptions of his or her friends' behavior and attitudes, as adolescents

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tend to over-estimate the degree to which their friends are similar to them (Wilcox & Udry, 1986). Academic achievement of friends refers to the mean level of academic achievement (as explained above) for the respondent's one to five friends. Social activity of friends refers to the mean level of time per week spent "partying" by each of the named friends. Scores range from 1 (no hours per week) to 6 (20 hours). School Orientation In year 1, adolescents indicated their agreement with six statements, which assessed their level of engagement in and commitment to learning. Examples include: "Success in life does not have much to do with the things studied in school" and "The best way to get through most days at school is to goof off with friends". Responses to all items range from "strongly agree" (1) to "strongly disagree" (4). After the reverse-coding of one item, higher scores on all items indicate greater orientation (Cronbach's a = 0.69). Sociodemographic Controls All analyses include controls for various demographic characteristics, each measured in year 1: parent education (a proxy for socioeconomic status), family structure (intact vs. non-intact), age, ethnicity (white vs. non-white), and geographic location (Wisconsin vs. California). Procedure

Structural equation modeling enables the estimation of direct and indirect paths in the same model, a control for measurement error, and a comparison of coefficients across groups (i.e. boys and girls). Figure 1 presents the structural model, with observed variables, for academic achievement (the alcohol model is identical except for the year 1 and 2 measures of the outcome). This model was estimated by maximum likelihood in Amos 4.0. In this model, athletic participation, initial achievement, and sociodemographic controls predict three endogenous variables in year 1: the academic achievement and social activity of friends and the school orientation of the adolescent. All variables in the model predict year 2 academic achievement. All exogenous variables (those variables whose causes lie outside of the model) predict academic achievement in year 2 directly and indirectly, through the academic achievement and social activity of friends and the school orientation of the adolescent. I permit all exogenous variables to correlate, along with the error terms of the two friendship measures. Sample size differs across analyses due to listwise deletion.

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Age Parent Education

Et~nicity Family Stnmture

A/ 122 o ods

Region year 1 Acad. Achieve. year 1 Athletic Part.

Year I Social Activity of Friends

I

~

~

Orientation

Note: All exogenous variables, and the error terms for the two friendship variables, allowed to correlate. Estimated with Amos 4.0.

Fig. 1. Depiction of the Relations among Observed Variables in the Basic Structural Model for Year 2 Adolescent Academic Achievement.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS Table 1 presents descriptive statistics for the sample, by gender and athletic status. Adolescent girls were significantly higher than boys in academic achievement, school orientation, and the academic achievement of friends. Thus, adolescent girls, regardless of athletic status, seem to be more integrated into school. Girls drank less alcohol than boys, but this difference only reaches statistical significance for year 2. Interestingly, girls had friends who were higher in social activity than the friends of boys, though this difference does not achieve significance. Slightly more than half of the friends named by athletes were also athletes, while only 13% of the friends of non-athletes were involved in some athletic program at school. Regardless of gender, athletes were significantly higher in academic achievement in both years (see Table 1). Athletes also had friends who performed significantly better in school. Though athletes reported a slightly stronger orientation to school than non-athletes, the difference is not statistically meaningful. These differences could result from the more advantaged backgrounds of athletes, who were significantly more likely to be white, to live with both parents, and to be higher in socio-economic status (as measured by parental education). At the same time, athletes were also significantly higher in their rate of alcohol use in both years, and their friends were significantly higher in social activity.

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Table 1.

Comparison of Adolescent Characteristics and Behaviors By Gender and Athletic Involvement. Gender Boys

Athletic Involvement Girls

Athletes

Non-Athletes

Demographic Mean Age (st. dev.) Mean Parent Education Athletic Participation Female White Black Asian Hispanic Intact Family

15.00 (0.93) 14.11 (2.85) 43.6% 63.5% 8.3% 15.4% 12.8% 66.2%

15.04 (0.92) 14.72 (2.45)

*

2.87 (0.54)

2.86 (0.54)

2.54 (0.76) 2.92 (0.51)

*

2.57 (0.75) 3.01 (0.51)

2.64 (0.73) 3.06 (0.48)

* *

2.46 (0.78) 2.87 (0.53)

1.68 (0.92) 2.93 (0.76)

*

1.63 (1.00) 3.04 (0.72)

1.71 (0.89) 3.09 (0.70)

* *

1.60 (0.89) 2.87 (0.77)

1.86 (1.04) 2,91 (0.76)

* *

1.71 (.92) 3.01 (0,72)

1.97 (0.89) 3,08 (0.70)

* *

1.68 (0.96) 2,85 (0.77)

1798 (55.5%)

1657 (51.2%)

15.14 (0.95) 14.39 (2.61) 60.7% 64.7% 5.2% 17.8% 12.3% 67.9%

* * *

2.82 (0.54)

*

47.3% 69.7% 6.1% 15.0% 9.2% 71.1%

* * * * * *

15.09 (0.96) 13.69 (2.96) 64.2% 58.1% 7.8% 18,0% 16.1% 62.5%

Individual Characteristic School Orientation Friends' Behaviors Mean Social Activity Mean Academic Achieve. Year 1 Adolescent Behavior Mean Alcohol Use Mean Academic Achieve. Year 2 Adolescent Behavior Mean Alcohol Use Mean Academic Achieve. N (%)

1439 (44.5%)

2.83 (0.55)

1580 (48.8%)

* ANOVA reveals that means, frequencies significantly different across grouping at p < 0.05.

Gender comparisons within the athletic and non-athletic groups mirror these findings (results not shown). Male athletes differed from male non-athletes in the same ways as discussed above. The same was true for females, with one exception: female athletes were significantly higher in school orientation than female non-athletes. Also, female friends were slightly more likely than male friends to match on athletic status. These comparisons of descriptive statistics support the general premise of this study: that high school athletes, both male and female, engage in divergent forms of behavior, and that the seemingly contradictory nature of their friendship environments might explain this phenomenon. Such findings call for more sophisticated analyses of the potential relations of athletics, friendships, and behavior among adolescent boys and girls.

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RESULTS FOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT The examination of academic achievement (and later of alcohol use) proceeded in three separate, but similar, steps. In the interest of clarity, I will explain these steps more fully here. First, I estimate the full structural model depicted in Fig. 1 for both boys and girls. In these analyses, the focus is on the indirect paths between athletic participation and achievement through the social activity and achievement of friends and the school orientation of the adolescent. For example, athletics may be related to greater school orientation, which in turn may be related to greater achievement. Stacked modeling techniques (Arbuckle & Woethke, 1999) allow me to determine whether the strengths of these paths differ by adolescent gender. The basic model is estimated for boys and gifts with all parameters freely estimated, and then again with selected parameters (e.g. school orientation - academic achievement) constrained to be equal for boys and girls. If this constraint significantly reduces model fit, as measured by the change in X 2 relative to the degrees of freedom, then I can conclude that this parameter differs significantly by adolescent gender. Second, I focus solely on boys. Instead of including athletic participation as an independent variable in the model, I estimate the model for athletes and non-athletes and compare the results using the stacked modeling techniques described above. Thus, rather than examining whether athletic participation influences friendship associations, I examine whether the effects of friendship associations on adolescent behavior are stronger or weaker for athletes, compared to boys who did not participate in sports. Third, I focus solely on girls, making the same comparisons of athletes to non-athletes as for boys. Comparing All Boys to All Girls For adolescent boys, the results of the frst set of structural analyses match the descriptive statistics (Table 2). Athletic participation predicts friendships with academically successful students (unstandardized b coefficient = 0.11, p ,--&

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