ABSTRACT
African American students still do not perform as well in school as they are able despite over 50 years of efforts to address their academic weaknesses. They are not alone; Latinos and American Indian students underperform as well.1 Consequently, there is a race gap in grades, test scores, and graduation rates. Through the many efforts of students, parents, educators, and policy makers, the gap narrowed during the 1980s; nevertheless, it persists to this day (Campbell, Hombo, & Mazzeo, 2000; Education Week, 2000). The race gap’s persistence has stimulated much commentary in the popular media and scholarly research. One promising avenue of inquiry focuses on the intersection between the structures of opportunity in the larger society and educational outcomes. For some time now, social scientists have shown that the opportunity structure is reflected in adolescents’ peer culture, attitudes, dispositions, and school behaviors. The results of this line of research suggest that the economic, social, political, and personal opportunities (or lack thereof) that African American adolescents expect to find once they leave school influence their peer culture, their engagement in schooling and, ultimately, their performance. A significant element of John U. Ogbu’s cultural-ecological model (CEM) follows this line of theorizing.
