‘Synonymization’ threat and the implications for the funding of school districts with relatively high populations of black students

Alexander, Nicola A.; Jang, Sung Tae

doi:10.1080/13613324.2018.1511533

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Although these findings may not demonstrate the uniqueness of Black women principals’ leadership contexts compared with other groups of principals (e.g., Black men, White women), it may reveal the contextual challenges and barriers that Black women principals face when exerting leadership (Bloom & Erlandson, 2003; Lomotey, 2019; Moorosi et al, 2018). The school finance literature (e.g., Alexander and Jang, 2019; Jimenez-Castellanos and Topper, 2012) has suggested that leaders in organizations with higher proportions of disadvantaged students face additional challenges relating to low resources. More specifically, Alexander and Jang (2019) found no statistically significant association between total and instructional expenditure per pupil and the proportion of Black students, but did find a significant and positive association between expenditure per pupil and the proportion of FRL-eligible students.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The school finance literature (e.g., Alexander and Jang, 2019; Jimenez-Castellanos and Topper, 2012) has suggested that leaders in organizations with higher proportions of disadvantaged students face additional challenges relating to low resources. More specifically, Alexander and Jang (2019) found no statistically significant association between total and instructional expenditure per pupil and the proportion of Black students, but did find a significant and positive association between expenditure per pupil and the proportion of FRL-eligible students. As the authors further argued, “focusing only on poverty as a mantle by which to address all minoritized identities may result in policy strategies that do not address the essence of the problem faced by groups marginalized by other labels [such as Black]” (p. 154).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Black Women Principals in American Secondary Schools: Quantitative Evidence of the Link Between Their Leadership and Student Achievement

Jang

Alexander

2022

Educational Administration Quarterly

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Purpose: This study aims to provide quantitative knowledge concerning the leadership of Black women principals in American secondary schools. We examined (1) the demographic composition of the schools in which Black women principals serve, (2) these principals’ instructional leadership behaviors, (3) the collective responsibility among teachers in those schools, and (4) the association between their interacting identities and the math achievement scores of the 9th graders at the schools they led. Research Design and Methods: We used a critical quantitative intersectionality framework along with the base-year data from the High School Longitudinal Studies 2009 provided by the National Center for Education Statistics. Multiple regression analysis and linear mixed-effect modeling were used to examine how the convergence of principals’ race or ethnicity and gender is associated with the variables of interest. Findings: The results showed that on average, Black principals served schools with relatively higher percentages of students who were eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch and relatively higher percentages of students of color. We found that Black women principals were associated with a higher level of teachers’ collective responsibility as perceived by teachers and higher math achievement scores among students. There was a positive association between the principals’ instructional leadership behaviors perceived by teachers and female principals. Implications for Research and Practice: The importance of understanding the multiplicative influences of race or ethnicity and gender in research and principal preparation programs are discussed. We suggest that policymakers prepare intersectionality-informed policy interventions that specifically support leadership by Black women principals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Black Women Principals in American Secondary Schools: Quantitative Evidence of the Link Between Their Leadership and Student Achievement

Jang

Alexander

2022

Educational Administration Quarterly

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“…Most prior literature on disparities in school funding has focused either on economic status alone or on race, presuming substantial overlap between the two. Others have noted the 'Synonymization' threat of assuming poverty-driven funding to fully accommodate racial disparities (Alexander & Jang, 2019). Baker (2008) elaborates on this point by showing statistically, that racial composition itself, above and beyond other economic conditions, affects the costs of achieving common outcome goals.…”

Section: Background and Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

School funding disparities and the plight of Latinx children

Baker

Srikanth

Cotto³

et al. 2020

EPAA

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This article provides a systematic decomposition of disparities in school funding by race and ethnicity using two new data resources. First, we use a national district level panel of data from the School Finance Indicators Database to evaluate recent (2012 – 2017) disparities in school revenue and spending by race in addition to poverty, across and within all states and within selected states. Next, we use data from the National Education Cost Model (NECM) to evaluate disparities in spending against estimates of “costs” of achieving national average student outcomes to determine racial differences in gaps between current spending and costs of equitable outcomes. As Latinx shares increase, per pupil spending and revenue decrease, respectively by about 4% to 7% for districts that are approximately 100% Latinx compared to those that have few or no Latinx students, controlling for poverty. More striking, when controlling for poverty, a district that is 100% Latinx is nearly 2.5 times as likely as a district that is 0% Latinx to be financially disadvantaged (have revenue 90% of labor market average, and poverty greater than 120%), when controlling for poverty and 28.5 times as likely when not controlling for poverty. Finally, spending is less adequate to achieve national average outcomes, across states, in districts serving larger shares of Latinx students.

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“…Those attending suburban schools typically have relatively higher SES and are more homogenous, with the majority of students being White (Milner, 2006). Urban and rural schools tend to have more students of color and more poor students (Alexander & Jang, 2018a). Among students of color, Black students attending urban and rural schools tend to have lower SES than Black students attending suburban schools (Hill, 2009).…”

Section: Urbanicity and Racial/ethnic Matchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They have argued that such institutionalized racism, which includes racial inequalities in schooling experiences and outcomes, has resulted in students of color confronting more social and educational risks. CRT scholars have also argued that structural racism and other forms of oppression based on diverse marginalized social constructs (e.g., SES) intersect the experiences of people of color (Alexander & Jang, 2018a;Collins & Bilge, 2016;Crenshaw, 1991;Hancock, 2007;McCall, 2005;Yuval-Davis, 2006). The emphasis of CRT on the intersecting forms of oppression is central to understanding the simultaneous associations of race, ethnicity, and SES in the contextualized racial/ethnic matching effects of schools' urbanicity.…”

Section: Critical Race Theory and Critical Urban Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextualized Effects of Racial/Ethnic Matching Between Students and Teachers in Urban, Suburban, and Rural High Schools

Jang

2020

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

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Background/Context Policy makers and scholars have long called for the large-scale recruitment of teachers of color, partly based on evidence highlighting the positive effects of racial/ethnic matching between students and teachers of color on various student experiences and achievements. A more nuanced understanding of racial/ethnic matching effects moderated by contextual factors may help policy makers’ and administrators’ assignment decisions on how to consider student and teacher race/ethnicity. Purpose/Objective/Research Question This study examined the contextualized effects of racial/ethnic matching between high school students and teachers, focusing on the urbanicity of schools in the United States, by asking two main research questions: (1) What are the associations between the racial/ethnic matching of students and teachers, and students’ math achievement and self-efficacy in the United States overall? (2) What are the associations among racial/ethnic matching, math achievement, and math self-efficacy in urban schools, and do these patterns differ for suburban and rural schools? Research Design This study used restricted-use national longitudinal data provided by the NCES High School Longitudinal Study of 2009. A strategy of disaggregating data by schools’ urbanicity and three separate analyses with fixed-effect models for each urbanicity (urban, suburban, and rural) was followed to capture the variations across different schools’ urbanicity and to obtain unbiased estimates of racial/ethnic matching effects. Findings/Results Relatively lower percentages of Black, Hispanic, and Asian students were matched with their same-race/ethnicity math teachers compared with White students in all communities. This study found no supporting evidence for positive associations between racial/ethnic matching and math achievement scores and self-efficacy without considering urbanicity. Within the context of urbanicity, positive associations for math achievement were mainly found in the racial/ethnic matching of Black and Asian students taught by same-race/ethnicity teachers in suburban schools. Conversely, the racial/ethnic matching among Asian students and teachers in rural schools was significantly and negatively associated with both math achievement and self-efficacy. Conclusions/Recommendations By focusing specifically on schools’ urbanicity contexts, policy makers and education leaders should consider the relatively lower percentage of racial/ethnic matching between Black students and teachers in urban and suburban schools, and Hispanic students and teachers in urban and rural schools. As rural Asian populations grow and diversify, Asian teachers from diverse cultural backgrounds are urgently needed in these communities. Contextualized policy solutions that consider school environments and cultural differences and that challenge the one-size-fits-all approach will ultimately better address the specific and diverse needs of students of color living in different communities across the United States.

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‘Synonymization’ threat and the implications for the funding of school districts with relatively high populations of black students

Cited by 7 publications

References 27 publications

Black Women Principals in American Secondary Schools: Quantitative Evidence of the Link Between Their Leadership and Student Achievement

Black Women Principals in American Secondary Schools: Quantitative Evidence of the Link Between Their Leadership and Student Achievement

School funding disparities and the plight of Latinx children

Contextualized Effects of Racial/Ethnic Matching Between Students and Teachers in Urban, Suburban, and Rural High Schools

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