How can we improve racial and ethnic integration reform in U.S. schools for youth of color?

Methods

Summary

This is a qualitative project, involving the use of semi-structured interviews with young people, 13-18 years old. The sample consists of:

Beyond current school, participants moved in and out of the racial and ethnic integration programs throughout their schooling years, at some point participating in the magnet and/or open choice program. Similarly, youth in this sample experienced high levels of residential mobility.

Challenges

Youth engaged in discussion of past and current experiences and each situation discussed will be contextualized using quantitative data from the U.S. Census and the National Center for Education. Thus, we need to keep this strong research team together to make this data management possible, allowing us to explore the nuances of youth's experiences.

Pre Analysis Plan

The next steps for this study are to transcribe each interview, contextualize youth’s narratives with National Center for Education and U.S. Census data, and conduct analysis using Atlas.ti. This will be carried out during summer 2016.

This is a qualitative comparative analysis - across school modalities, residential locations, gender, age, and race/ethnicity. It is expected that youth will adapt differently or at a different pace to the demands of their socio-spatial environments. Thus, we will qualitatively explore the nuances of those variations. When a pattern is identified, we will search for contradictions to ensure that the complexities are explored.