RACIALIZED STUDENT DIFFERENCES

Racialized Student Differences

Racialized Student Differences in Achievement

Introduction

Social dominance theory (Sidanius & Pratto, 1993) acknowledged the issues of social justice pertaining to the inequities experienced by minority groups, including but not limited to educational inequities. This theory, ascertained the educational environment was a representation and extension of social norms that were established and accepted by society's dominant group. When minority students' cultural norms differed from the dominant social norms in the classroom, their chances of educational success suffered due to their inability to feel a part of the dominant group (Aguilar, 2010; Howard, 2006; Sidanius & Pratto, 1993).

Discussion

The tenets of social dominance theory were linked to the student-teacher relationship through social learning theory (Bandura, 1977). Social learning theory maintained that students' academic achievement was greatly affected by social influences, including the race of a child's teacher. Bandura (2002) married social and cultural theories in his examination of social cognitive theory within cultural context. According to social cognitive theory an individual, or student, achieved self-efficacy by accessing the resources and expertise of social influences around them.

A student's sense of efficacy then regulated motivation for learning. Social support, whether from home or school, increased a student's efficacy "which, in turn, is accompanied by higher academic achievement and greater satisfaction with one's home or school life" (Bandura, 2002, p. 281-22). Social and emotional development theory (Hawkins, Smith, & Catalano, 2001) rested on the premise that children use social and emotional competencies developed early in life to develop bonds in a school setting that lead to academic success. The development of social and emotional competences is "inseparably related and form the foundation for academic success" (Hawkins, Smith, & Catalano, 2001, p. 18). According to the proponents of this theory, parents and adult caregivers in the preschool years contributed to what extent a child's competencies are developed. If a child had a scarcity in social and emotion competencies upon entering school, it becomes the role of the teacher to attempt to teach the development of social and emotional skills (Hawkins et al., 2001).

A teacher that shared cultural congruence with the student was equipped to teach these social and emotional skills more effectively than teachers who were culturally incongruent to students (Villegas & Clewell, 1998). Regardless of from whom, or when the competencies were learned, the theory stated that students used those competencies to create bonds with educators. In turn the degree of positivity of those bonds contributed to a student's motivation to perform well in school (Hawkins et al., 2001); a student is more likely to bond to a teacher who is racially symmetrical to the pupil, creating an intrinsic motivation to succeed in school (Zirkel, 2002).

This study drew upon the theoretical lenses of social and emotional development theory (Hawkins, Smith, & Catalano, 2001), Vygotsky's (1978) social development model ofiearning, and Bandura's (2002) social cognitive theory in cultural context work to view the impact ofteacher-student racial congruence on academic achievement.

Oppositional culture theory (Ogbu, 1991) speculated that possible reasons for ...