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The article focuses on the changing racial composition of schools in the U.S. and its effect on the perceived quality of schools from 1999 to 2012, with a focus on the metropolitan area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The authors explore the impact of moderate changes in the representation of black students in U.S. schools during the time frame of four to five years. The authors discuss the role of racial threat theory relating to their research findings. The authors contend that despite the current conditions of the schools, including changes in school safety, standardizes test scores and school poverty, that white neighborhood residents tend to perceive a reduction of the quality of their schools.

This study examines how patterns of racial and ethnic segregation in U.S. metropolitan areas vary by household structure. Specifically, using tract-level summary files from the 2000 decennial census, we estimated levels of metropolitan segregation for different racial and ethnic groups by household composition and poverty status. We find that when using the dissimilarity index, white households with children, and especially poor ones, are more segregated from black, Hispanic, and Asian households than are white households as a whole. Results from the interaction index provide complimentary information. In large part because nonpoor white married-couple households are more numerous than other groups in most metropolitan areas, such households tend to have relatively less interaction with other racial and ethnic groups, and black and Hispanic households in particular. In contrast, minority group members often live in neighborhoods with a high proportion of non-Hispanic white households. Among all three minority group families with children, nonpoor married householders had the highest levels of interaction with whites. These results show that household structure shapes racial and ethnic residential patterns in U.S. metropolitan areas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses research on the socioeconomic factors contributing to the choice of studies at 4-year American colleges and universities. Data is provided for gender, race, and socioeconomic status, which influence students' choice of a field of study as well as their career and financial outcomes. Research methods include the Heckman Probit Regression Selection Equation for predicting enrollment and the Carnegie Classification for categorizing arts and sciences majors and vocational fields. Social stratification patterns in the higher education system, which direct people into the existing occupational structure, are linked to the perpetuation of educational inequality. The outlook for the liberal arts curriculum and for graduate programs will depend on trends in selecting a major. Research suggests that "vocationalization" of higher education could bring about a "two-track" system similar to the vocational and academic tracks in high schools.

This research considers the influence of both familial and non-familial social capital on the study habits of two recent immigrant groups: Vietnamese Americans and Mexican Americans. Using the 1988-1990 National Educational Longitudinal Study and qualitative data from a twoyear study of minority students' experiences in a California high school, we find that Vietnamese students study more than do Mexican students because they have more positive peer associations and more supportive relationships with teachers than do Mexican students. Contrary to popular belief, this research suggests that family practices do not sufficiently explain why Vietnamese students study more than Mexican students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a mixed-methods case study focused on the Vietnamese American and Mexican American racial and ethnic groups to examine minority education in a post-affirmative action era. Presence of inequality in schools; Importance of peer and teacher relationships for Vietnamese American youth; Suggestion that affirmative action was abandoned too early.

The study presented here explored three factors that may explain why distinct Asian American groups have higher educational expectations than do whites: favorable socioeconomic and background characteristics, demonstrated academic ability, and parents' high expectations. With data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study, the authors used linear and logistic multivariate regression models to examine these differences in educational expectations. The analyses indicated that although all Asian American ethnic groups have higher expectations than whites, the higher educational expectations of Asian American groups that are well assimilated into U.S. society are principally influenced by socioeconomic and demographic factors. Parental expectations generally explain a large portion of children's high educational expectations for all Asian American groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The educational expectations of 10th-graders have dramatically increased from 1980 to 2002. Their rise is attributable in part to the changing educational composition of students' parents and related to the educational profiles of their expected occupations. Students whose parents have gone to college are more likely to attend college themselves, and students expect occupations that are more prestigious in 2002 than in 1980. The educational requirements of particular occupation categories have risen only slightly. These analyses also reveal that educational expectations in recent cohorts are more loosely linked to social background and occupational plans than they were in 1980. The declining importance of parents' background and the decoupling of educational and occupational plans, in addition to a strong and significant effect of cohort on educational expectations, suggest that the expectation of four-year college attainment is indeed becoming the norm.