This working paper presents preliminary findings that challenge both some of the literature and stereotypes concerning African American students. Based upon more than two years of participant observation fieldwork in three Miami-Dade County high schools, we argue that 1. Family structure, specifically single parent households, is not necessarily related to children’s academic orientation and achievement, and 2. Some, but not all, high achieving, positively oriented African American students maintain a strong African American identity.

The paper first presents a summary of the literature on the relationship between African American family structure and academic achievement. It also includes a discussion of the hypothesis that to avoid peer disapproval, high achieving African American students must become "raceless" (Fordham and Ogbu 1978, 1988; Fordham 1988, 1996). After the literature review, we present a brief discussion of Miami’s peculiar ethnic context, an environment which we believe affects both African Americans’ aspirations and their expression of their ethnic identity. We then present our ethnographic findings on the relationship between family structure and academic orientation. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of some students’ forceful expressions of an African American identity.

Literature Review

Race matters in the U.S. (West 1993), especially in schooling (Barona and Garcia 1990; Hillard 1993; Kohl 1994). African American children have high dropout rates and have lower levels of academic achievement than White students (Berry and Asamen, Irvine, Johnson, Terrell et al). Blacks continue to score about 200 points below Whites on the SAT (Slater 1995). Although some Blacks have reached high socioeconomic levels, in recent decades the proportion has actually declined (Terrell et al).

Why race matters, however, is less clear. Some literature, especially, popular literature concentrates on family structure and educational aspirations. In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan published The Negro Family: The Case for National Action, evidencing a number of dysfunctionalities in the Black family, namely increasing divorce rates, female-headed families and out-of-wedlock births. Since then literature surrounding the family structure of African Americans has consisted of variations on this theme (Dickson 1993) or possible answers to it. On the one hand, evidence of "pathology" among African American families has continued, as in the 1985 Newsweek article (Starr and Buckley, p. 30) entitled "Moynihan: ‘I Told You So’" reconfirming his original position without the racial overtones of the first article. Adversarial positions varied from accusations of the report "as a sociological cover-up for racism" (D’Souza 1995) to agreement that while there were problems among Black families, structural conditions were at the root of the problem (Holmes-Norton 1987). Another group of responses focuses on positive aspects of the Black family, researching the conditions that caused the structural breakups or acknowledgment of problems but focusing on what the Black community has done to alleviate these problems (Edelman 1987).

More recently increasing evidence that White families were experiencing the same signs of "pathology" has resulted in a shift in discourse surrounding the family into recognizing more diverse forms and acknowledging alternatives (Gutis 1992; Kamerman and Kahn 1988; Dickson 1993) such as the "postmodern family" which consists of women, their children and kin (Stacy 1990).

Extensive literature suggests that African American family structure including a network of kinship between blood relatives and non-blood relatives, characterized by obligation and support is a highly successful coping tool (Stack 1974; Colletta 1979, 1981; Taylor, Chatters and Jackson 1993; Greene 1995). Furthermore, the departure from the Anglo Saxon Protestant norm of the two parent family structure, does not necessarily indicate the inevitability of family problems, but can be viewed as possessing a wider range of flexibility in what it offers to its members since it has a wider range of persons involved in parenting roles (Wilson et al. 1990; Taylor, Chatters and Jackson 1993; Green 1995).

Heiss (1996) has cautioned against the belief that female-headed households or mother-only households are at the root of many current American problems, particularly within the African American community. Most research has been based on studies of the general population, whereas empirical records for African Americans are not conclusive. Relations between maternal social support, family structure, maternal child rearing behavior and child outcomes are not clear (Wilson, Kohn Curr-El and Hinton 1995; Burchinal, Follmer and Bryant 1996).

Among low income African American families, maternal social support networks may influence the family social system by facilitating positive maternal parenting styles. Burchinal et al. (1996) found that mothers with larger social networks provide more stimulating home environments, developmentally appropriate parenting, were more responsive, accepting, and involved and less directive in controlling their children’s behavior. However, it was not clear if maternal social support networks actually affected child outcomes. African American family structure was found to have only a small effect on variables such as high school students’ educational aspirations and expectations, their preparedness for school, their grades and dropout rates (Heiss 1996).

In contrast, to the small effect family structure has on African American educational achievement, parental involvement, including homework supervision, school visits and communication with teacher (Shumow, Kang and Vandell 1996), strongly affects educational variables (Heiss 1996). Coleman (1975) submitted that perhaps the most pervasive result in educational achievement "is the strength of effect of family differences in creating achievement differences among children." The transmission of educational goals and subsequent status attainment from parents to adolescent offspring is both complicated and well studied (Smith 1982 1991; Alexander, Eckland and Griffin 1975; Kerchhoff 1989). Unless adolescents perceive their home environment as supportive of their learning, they are likely to have depressed educational and occupational aspirations, even if they perceive their school as strongly supportive (Majoribanks 1984). Agreement versus disagreement with parental educational goals strongly determines if the home environment has a positive or negative effect on educational outcomes (Smith 1991). When parents have a high educational background, are involved in their adolescent's school program, and are perceived as having high aspirations for their adolescents, their adolescents are more likely to have high educational aspirations (Wilson and Wilson 1992). A study of inner-city African American male adolescents indicated that time spent with father and emotional support from father produces less depression, anxiety, delinquency and marijuana use. Moreover, those who viewed their fathers as role models had lower school dropout rates (Zimmerman, Salem, and Maton 1995).

Other researchers emphasized culture, especially how African Americans respond to prejudice and discrimination from mainstream American culture and institutions, including schools, by refusing to learn. Kohl (1994) argues, "To agree to learn from a stranger who does not respect your integrity causes a major loss of self. The only alternative is not to learn and reject the strangers." In a similar vein, Ogbu maintains that American society imposes a job ceiling that excludes African Americans from employment mobility through normal channels of education. In response, African American students develop an adversarial attitude toward education in response to derogatory images projected on them by the dominant White population.

Fordham (1988, 1996) extends the argument through her demonstration that some African American students manage to maintain a positive academic orientation and become high achievers. She found that successful African American students develop a "raceless persona" to achieve academic success, often defining Black achievement in terms of the collectivity of the group. African American students are forced to choose between the individualistic ethos of the school system or the collective ethos of their ethnic group. Similarly, Ford and Harris (1992) found that African American gifted students were more supporting of the American achievement ideology. Fordham reports that when African American students choose the individualistic system, they develop strategies to avoid being identified as a "traitor" to their African American peers and fight the stigma of being successful in school, concluding that students who minimize their connection to the indigenous culture and assimilate into the school culture improve their chances of succeeding in school. For example, students Fordham studied used standard English instead of Black English or Ebonics. More fundamentally, Fordham’s high achieving Black students de-emphasized their "Blackness." They claimed that race was not an important part of their identity. African American females are more likely to succeed academically and males are more likely to work less and to behave as if they reject mainstream American education culture (Ford and Harris 1992).

When considering factors that affect the academic orientation of African American students, the literature substantiates that family structure is relatively unimportant but that family relations, educational aspirations, and racial identity are highly relevant. This paper analyzes the influence of these factors on the academic orientation of African American students in three Miami area high schools.

Miami and Ethnic Identity

Ethnic tensions suffuse Miami. Within one generation, African Americans went from being the only significant minority population to an afterthought. In 1960, there were virtually no Latinos in Miami Dade County. By the early 1990s, Latinos had established an absolute majority in the County (Croucher 1997, p.33). Larger than 16 states and the District of Columbia, Miami Dade County is one of the fastest growing large metropolitan areas in the country (Metropolitan Dade County Planning Department, Research Division, 1995). At 45 percent, Dade had the highest percentage of foreign-born residents of any major U.S. city in the 1990s Census.

Coincidentally beginning in the midst of the Civil Rights movement, Cuban immigrants leapfrogged over African Americans to gain unprecedented economic and political power (Portes and Stepick 1993, Grenier and Stepick 1992). While African Americans in Miami have approximately the same economic standing as those in other major U.S. cities, they perceive that Cubans have displaced them from jobs and political positions (Porter and Dunn 1984; Grenier and Castro 1998). Of all major ethnic groups in Miami, African Americans do indeed have the lowest income, the highest unemployment, and live in the most segregated communities (Metropolitan Dade County Planning Department, Research Division, 1995).

Miami's Black population has always played an important, though not often recognized, part in the making of the city and has in many ways stood as the backbone of the economy (Dunn 1997; Porter and Dunn 1984). Making up more than 40% of the population in 1910, Blacks built the railroad, the villas, and the hotels, later staffing them as porters, maids, waiters and gardeners (Dunn 1997, p.53-96). At the same time Blacks were subjected to campaigns of intimidation aimed at keeping them within the boundaries of Colored Town, later called Overtown, as well as forceful attempts to exclude them from the polls (Porter and Dunn 1984). Despite the discrimination of the times, a strong and vibrant Black culture, including a notable jazz and blues scene flourished (Dunn 1997). Up to 1960, Black Miami closely resembled the Jim Crow areas of other southern cities with little opportunity for economic advancement.

The position of African Americans in Miami has always been one of powerlessness, suffering and frustration. During the 1980s, Miami was the only city to register three urban riots. Each followed the killing of a Black by police and each was spontaneous and leaderless, indicating a desperate expression of anger (Dunn and Stepick 1992). This is anger fueled not only by the continuing discrimination by White Americans but of the dramatic, unparalleled advances made by the Cubans, often accomplished by elbowing Blacks aside from positions of real power. Cubans have always disclaimed any intentional racism and for the most part this appears to be true, but it does not change the stark reality emphasized by the difference in living conditions of Miami's Black community and that of affluent Cubans. Cuban discrimination operated more by neglect than by deliberate action. Concentrating on their own economic progress and political struggle with Castro, Cubans have largely ignored the plight of Miami's Black community, believing that they did not so much displace Blacks as transform the local economy (Grenier and Stepick 1992, p.1-16).

Cuban immigrants have been predominantly White by U.S. standards, but there have also been inflows of Black immigrants into Miami. Indeed, the first immigrant settlers in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries were Blacks from the Bahamas. Although invisible to outsiders, Miami Blacks of Bahamian descent still frequently distinguish themselves from African Americans. More recently, in the late 1970s and 1980s, Blacks from other Caribbean islands also began settling in Miami. Haitians constitute the largest group numbering over 100,000 in Miami-Dade County and constituting approximately 20 percent of the total Black population. There are also significant numbers of Puerto Ricans (who are U.S. citizens by birth and thus not immigrants), Jamaicans and other West Indians, Dominicans and Afro-Cubans.

Miami’s African Americans have viewed these Black newcomers ambivalently. They see them as fellow victims of racism and discrimination, but they also frequently suspect that they may economically compete with them (Stepick, Grenier, Castro, Dunn 1990; Stepick 1998). National ethnic divisions disjoin the Black population with important differences between African Americans and those of Bahamian, Haitian, Jamaican or other Caribbean descent. The effects of all these are well documented among adult African Americans (Dunn 1997; Porter and Dunn 1984; Grenier and Castro 1998; Stepick, Castro, Grenier, and Dunn 1991).

Given the continuing racial residential segregation in Miami (Boswell 1995), African American adolescents are most likely to attend school with and live near these Black newcomers. Yet, the distribution of jobs within the schools means that African American adolescents are likely to encounter many White American and Hispanic teachers, counselors, and administrators. Previous research indicates that throughout the U.S. African Americans are more likely to perceive prejudice and discrimination than others (Massey and Denton 1993). Moreover, in Miami, each of these groups views Miami dramatically differently, seeing different problems and opportunities (Portes and Stepick 1993).

There is a prevalence of single family households in Dade County among Blacks. Black is the term used by the Census, which includes English speaking Blacks from the West Indies, Spanish speaking Blacks from Latin American countries, Creole speaking Blacks from Haiti, and African Americans. (Metropolitan Dade County Planning Department, Research Division, 1995).

According to 1990 Census data, 21.5 percent of the families in Dade County are female-headed with children under 18 years of age. Of these, 41.9 percent of the Black population of Metro Dade County is female-headed with children under 18, while only 19 percent of Hispanic families are female-headed with children under 18 (Metropolitan Dade County Planning Department, Research Division, 1995).

Regarding marital status, 41.4 percent of the Black population is married compared to 55.8 percent of the White population, and 57.4 percent of the Hispanics. Forty-two percent of Blacks in Metro Dade have never been married, compared to 24.3 percent of Whites, and 25.1 percent of Hispanics. Miami has a peculiar history and Miami’s Black population has a peculiar place in that history. The area has undergone a rapid, dramatic transformation that has vaulted Cuban immigrants to the top of the local socioeconomic order while Blacks earn less, have higher unemployment, and are more likely to live in single parent households.

What difference do national ethnic divisions among Blacks have for African American adolescents? Does the power of Cuban immigrants affect their daily lives? Are there divisions between African American and Caribbean Black adolescents? Does the prevalence of single-family households affect African American adolescent educational aspirations and achievement? This working paper begins to address these issues.

Methodology

The data of this paper are part of a comprehensive project that examines academic orientation of six ethnic groups (African Americans, West Indians, Haitians, Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Mexicans) in four Dade County High Schools (Stepick 1995). This working paper focuses on African Americans who are represented in three of these schools.

At the time of this writing, we are near the end of our third year of field work with these students. In each of the three high schools, we began with a target cohort of 30 African American students who were then beginning their first year of high school. In the school with the greatest instability, we recruited 45 students and after two years 15 of them had dropped out or transferred. We were able to maintain contact with five of those who are no longer enrolled at that school. Our cohorts at each of the other two schools have been more stable. We have 24 students at King High and 24 students at Everglades High. We spent the first year primarily doing participant observation in the schools. During the second and third years, we have returned to the schools, but expanded our focus to include the students’ homes, and communities. We also conducted focus groups on violence and fears of victimization along with replicating a survey of fear of victimization (Furlong, Chung, Bates, Morrison 1995). We have also administered student and parental surveys adapted from Portes and Rumbaut’s 1993 survey of the children of immigrants.

Three Dade County High Schools

The Dade County Public School System (DCPS) has changed perhaps even more profoundly and rapidly than the County. DCPS is a countywide district that incorporates White American and Latino suburbs along with primarily Black inner-city schools. It is the fourth largest system in the nation, surpassed only by New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. But unlike these other urban areas where growth was acquired gradually, the DCPS has grown more than 33% in the last ten years (DCPS Internet Official Site). It incorporates more than 13,000 new students every year and is chronically and acutely overcrowded. Every school, even those most recently built, have numerous portable classrooms in what used to be open space.

DCPS recently estimated the ethnic breakdown of students as 13 percent White Non-Hispanics, 34 percent Black Non-Hispanic and 51 percent Hispanics (DCPS Internet Official Site). The proportion of Hispanic/Latinos matches their proportion in the general County population. White Americans, referred to as White Non-Hispanics by DCPS, are under-represented in the public schools compared to their proportion in the general County population, while Blacks are over-represented. The DCPS figures, however, do not distinguish among different nationalities. DCPS does not know what proportion of the Black population identifies as Bahamian, Haitian, West Indian versus African American.

The three high schools included in this study vary on significant dimensions. King High is an inner-city school in a poor neighborhood with an overwhelmingly Black student body. Northern High is an older suburban high school in a working and middle class neighborhood, while Everglades High is semi-rural on the urban fringe of the greater Miami area and with the most ethnically mixed student body.

All of the schools have undergone recent significant change. Northern was built in the 1950's and originally served Anglo and Jewish Whites. By 1990, the neighborhood had become one of upwardly mobile Blacks, especially foreign-born Blacks as reflected in the percent of foreign-born residents reflected in Table One. Based upon our participant observation and interviews of school staff, we estimate that Haitian and Haitian Americans, comprise the majority of the 73% Blacks within the student body. The remaining Blacks are either African Americans or West Indians. The neighborhood remains lower middle and middle class with few very poor who are far more present in the neighborhood surrounding King High and somewhat more present around Everglades High.

Built in 1917, King High was one of Miami’s first high schools. Until desegregation, it was a White high school. Following desegregation, it quickly became Black since it lies adjacent to Miami’s largest residential Black concentration. Equally significantly, it also lies adjacent to what has become Miami’s largest concentration of Haitians. During the 1980s, King High became majority Haitian, although official statistics only record that it is majority Black. We estimate that at least 80% of the Black students are Haitian or Haitian American, whereas about 10% are African American with the remainder being of other Caribbean backgrounds. Hence, African American students represent a minority within a minority school.

Everglades High, in a semi-rural area, has the most ethnically diverse population fairly evenly divided in both the neighborhood and school among Whites, Latinos, and Blacks. The general area produces Miami Dade County’s supply of winter vegetables and tropical fruits. Agriculture and its related trades has attracted migrant labor, which is primarily Latino and especially Mexican and Mexican American. While Blacks account for approximately 30 percent of the area’s population, this Black population is approximately 50 percent African American and 50 percent Haitian.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew concentrated its fury in the Everglades High area destroying the school and large numbers of businesses and homes. Many families, especially White Americans, left the area in the wake of the Hurricane, leaving the area both poorer and with more ethnic minorities. The Non-Hispanic White population dropped from 30 percent before the hurricane to only 12 percent afterwards.

While each of these three high schools has a majority of minority students (a majority of Blacks in Northern and King and a majority of Blacks and Latinos combined in Everglades), in each school Non-Hispanic Whites disproportionately hold staff positions. At King High where less than 1 percent of the students are Non-Hispanic Whites, staff are over 25 percent Non-Hispanic Whites. At Northern more than one-half the staff is Non-Hispanic White and at Everglades High nearly one-half are Non-Hispanic White. Yet, Black staff has increased. At Everglades High, the proportion of Black staff is about the same as Black students. At King High, more than one-half the staff is Black, although this still falls far short of the more than 90 percent Black student body.

In each of the three schools, a majority of graduating seniors claim they intend to go on to college or a technical-trade institution. Moreover, Northern High has an International Baccalaureate magnet program that consists of a two-year pre-university course and allows its students to quality for scholarships at Florida’s public universities and to receive up to thirty semester university credits.

Yet, none of these High Schools is academically outstanding. King High consistently has the lowest average standardized test scores of any high school in DCPS and is on Florida’s list of "critically low performing" schools. Only 25 percent of the graduating class even bother taking the SAT or ACT college entrance examinations and their average scores are far below national means. About 30 percent took the SAT at Everglades High and just over one-third took the SAT at Northern High.

In sum these schools reflect diversity in terms of inner-city, suburban, and semi-rural settings and populations. One school, Everglades, is racially diverse and balanced. The other two are overwhelmingly Black schools, but closer examination reveals important differences among Blacks who are divided into native-born African Americans and immigrant Blacks. In none of the schools does the ethnic background of the staff match that of the students, although at Everglades High there are approximately the same percentages of Black staff and Black students. Regardless of these geographic and demographic differences, none of the schools is academically outstanding.
 

Table 1 Neighborhood & School Demographics
NORTHERN	Blacks %	Hispanics %	White Non-Hispanic %	Foreign Born %	Less than 9th Grade Education %	Below  Poverty Line %
Neighborhood	32.1	23.8		37.1	11.2	29.4
School				SAT Verbal	SAT Mathematics
Students  (N=2481)	73	16	8	440 National Mean= 505	456 National Mean= 508
Staff (N=176)	36	10	53
KING	Blacks	Hispanics	White Non-Hispanic	Foreign Born	Less than 9th Grade Education	Below  Poverty Line
Neighborhood	84.4	13.3		33.8	29.5	43.8
School				SAT Verbal	SAT Mathematics
Students (N=2430)	92	8	.1	344	388
Staff (N=211)	58	14	27
EVERGLADES	Blacks	Hispanics	White Non-Hispanic	Foreign Born	Less than 9th Grade Education	Below  Poverty Line
Neighborhood	29	33.1		13.4	45.3	29.4
School				SAT Verbal	SAT Mathematics
Students (N=2473)	36	50	12	404	409
Staff (N=182)	35	19	45
Sources: U.S. 1990 Census and Dade County Public Schools, Management and Accountability, District and School Profiles 1996-97.

Family Structure, Family Relations, and Academic Orientation

The influence of family structure and family relations on the academic orientation of African American students is discussed across the three high schools. The ethnographic data are divided into classifications based on academic orientation and family structure. These classifications are positive academic orientation and non-nuclear family structure, positive academic orientation and nuclear family structure, negative academic orientation and non-nuclear family structure, and negative academic orientations and nuclear family structure.

Non-Nuclear Family & Positive Academic Orientation

Letty, an Honor student at Northern High is an attractive female of medium height and build. Letty has an open face, friendly and without apparent artifice; she quickly smiles about things that are important to her and always states that her family is the "most important thing in my life."

Living with her mother and younger sister in an attractive but rather small fourth floor apartment, Letty spends her spare time going to church and working part time at Winn Dixie, a local grocery store chain. There has been no contact with her father for several years. A large family reunion lasting about a week each summer is a major feature in her life as family members come form "Orlando, Georgia, Texas and all over." Her grandmother and two aunts live close by and the family visits two or three times a week. When seeking help with school work, Letty has two older cousins in college who make themselves available. As with most African American students at Northern, she keeps pretty much to herself, having one or two close friends at school but taking part in no extra curricular activities.

Letty wants to be a Pharmacist after graduation and has no doubt that she will succeed despite some of her less successful counterparts. "I want to go to college, and some of them don’t. Some of them think that I’m not going to college anyway, I don’t have to do this. I want to go to college and you can’t get into college with those grades they have."

Very close to her mother, Letty sees her as a role model to be copied and enjoys her "Blackness" in a very large matrifocal family that gives and receives a great deal of support. Letty’s mother Belinda, a nurse working in hospice care, sees her life as a single mother as having a "number of advantages." Expressing a sense of satisfaction with the closeness of the bond between herself and her daughters, Belinda maintains that her children are not only more independent and responsible than the children of her married friends, but there is less of a discipline problem. She is very supportive of Letty’s desire to be a Pharmacist, and maintains that she is more than willing to go into debt to help her daughter achieve her dream.

Katrina an honor student at King High, lives with her mother and with her on and off stepfather. The last time she saw her father was around one year ago. Nonetheless, Katrina’s mother is very supportive of Katrina’s high academic achievement. She works as a legal secretary. Katrina's mother expects her to go to college and speaks to her regularly about her post secondary education plans. Katrina’s mother has money saved for college tuition and is willing to incur debt to ensure that her child completes college.

Not only is she guaranteed financial support, but Katrina’s mother provides a structured home environment, which includes rules about television, chores, homework and grades. Katrina’s activities are monitored by her mother, who converses with her about her experiences at school; and has also ensured that she is acquainted with Katrina’s close friends and their parents.

Carol, a female honor student at Everglades High, described her family structure as, "At home it’s just me, my mom and my sister." She previously lived with her maternal grandparents and great-grandmother who also live in her neighborhood. Carol described her mother as, "not really strict but she wants me to be home when she’s out, so I can stay with my little sister." Her biological father is stationed in Washington in the army. He has his own family, and they do not have regular contact. Carol mentioned that many of her relatives live on her block, including two uncles, an aunt, and her grandparents. Carol described her family and extended family as close. She claimed that her grandfather had everyone spoiled. She said she enjoyed it, even if he complained while giving them something. Carol indicated her closeness with her grandparents with the remark, "I’ve been living with them so much that people call my grandmother by mom –I call her mom, too– she answers."

Commenting on student placement, Carol explained, "All my classes are honors, except the electives. I got into advanced in elementary school. First my 4th grade teacher recommended for me to take the test. Then they let your parents know the results because my mom had to sign papers of consent, because some parents don’t like that –I don’t know why! I’ve been there ever since." Carol’s appreciation of family support is shown in her comment about going away to college, "I want to stay somewhere near family, for example in Georgia somewhere or down here, other than that I’m going nowhere!"

Nuclear Family and Positive Academic Orientation

Molly is a tall, slim, attractive young woman who seems to be comfortable with herself and those around her. Bearing a stunning resemblance to "Moesha" of television fame, she could easily aspire to modeling for a career with pose much beyond her years. Living with her mother, father and younger brother, her smile lights up her whole face when naming "family relations" as the thing most cherished and "disappointing my parents" as the thing most feared. Molly maintains a high grade point average in the International Baccalaureate program at Northern High and is one of the few African American students to take part in extracurricular activities outside of sports. She has been elected president of the student council for her senior year.

Molly has a beautiful home, spacious with very effective use of antiques. While both of her parents work in the Correctional Department of Dade County, her mother is in a supervisory position. Molly is very close to her mother and says: "I don’t know, in a lot of cases a lot of kids aren’t really ready to go off and be their own person. I know right now I can really admit that, when I’m really ready to leave I might not want to because I’ve had mom all this time. Whenever I have a problem, she’s right there."

Molly wants very much to be a medical doctor and plans to go to the University of Miami. Both parents support her fully in her plans for the future, saying the family is willing to go into debt to help her achieve them. She sees herself as a "very successful Black Woman Doctor" in years to come.

Alexandra, a female honor student at Everglades Senior High, lives with both of her biological parents and her two brothers. Her maternal grandmother died when she was seven years old. Her maternal grandfather, she described as "there but not there." He was not married to the grandmother. Both her paternal grandparents are alive and married to each other. There is regular contact between the two households.

Alexandra spoke well of both her parents. She said of her dad, "He’s a good dad. Takes care of the finances, and when home, the parent part." "I’m my daddy’s girl," she added. She asserted that she has a "Mother-daughter relationship with her mother." However, she explained the difference in her relationship with both parents as, "I can’t talk as much with my mom as with my dad. My mom’s about education. If I go to my mom about rumors, sometimes she listens, but other times she stays away from that." In describing her relationship with her brothers, Alexandra stated that her 17 year old brother played football and worked, therefore when he got home, there was no time to talk. Her other brother, "will tell all your business when he’s angry."

Alexandra is an excellent student. She ranked high in her 10th grade year and received an award for being among the top twenty-five students in her grade. However, at the Student Recognition Ceremony she was disappointed that her grade had dropped since the last award to 4.3, because of a "B" in accounting.

Non-Nuclear Family and Negative Academic Orientation

Tia is an extraordinarily attractive young woman. High cheekbones, long black hair pulled off her face and large slanted eyes give her an almost feline aspect. Tall and slim with an uncommonly small waist and long legs, she has the body of an athlete or a dancer. Well aware of her excellent figure Tia moves with an almost liquid grace and often wears clothes as brief as possible.

Tia’s home life with her mother, half sister, and stepfather is fraught with tension. A pregnancy ended by abortion at the age of 14 has put a long lasting strain on her relationship with her mother, with whom she had been very close. When asked why she took a cab instead of a bus to school each morning Tia responded: "She doesn’t want me to (take the bus). Because, she doesn’t want me to talk with boys. And I was catching a ride with my next door neighbor, which is a friend of mine, a guy, and she found out, my stepdad told, so she makes me catch the cab."

Tia’s grades at Northern High are just passing in part because her attendance is so poor, "I skip school to basically be with my boyfriend" whom she is not allowed to see otherwise. Tia’s relationship with her stepfather is also problematic as she calls him "sneaky and conniving." Tia has expressed the desire to be a meteorologist and is aware that she must bring up her grades in order to do so. She very seldom discusses school with anyone at home.

Nadia, is an eleventh grader in regular classes at King High. She lives with her aunt, uncle, and baby cousins. However, her domestic situation presents a challenge to pursuing academic excellence. Nadia usually complains about not being able to sleep at night because her baby cousins stay up late or cry all night. She also complains of having no privacy where she lives. Once, she explained about an assignment she had for English: "We had to read a book and I haven’t read much of it." When asked if she did not like to read, Nadia answered, "Yeah! I used to have all these reading certificates and stuff in Elementary and Middle School, but now, I don’t. I guess because I’m staying at my auntie’s and I have no peace over there. My little cousins make a mess of my room, they scream all the time, they stay up late. I get home and I have to fix my room because they be making a mess of it. They spill water and stuff."

Consequently, Nadia sleeps through classes sometimes and is often not interested in the lectures. She is presently not involved in any extracurricular activities, although she briefly participated in the women’s basketball team last year before she quit the team. Nadia describes herself as having very low self-esteem, and she stated, "I ain’t need the coach putting me down for stuff I do wrong." Despite her current performance, Nadia wants to go to college to become a nurse.

Thomas is a male student who is enrolled in regular education classes at Everglades High. He lives with his 19 year-old sister and 30 year-old aunt. His mother died a year ago. Prior to her death he described their relationship as very close and he misses her a lot. He said he is close to his sister too. "She does a lot for me, regardless of what I did. We always was good with each other, except when I was 12 years, we used to fight. Now we just argue and not fight," explained Thomas. Describing a typical day, Thomas maintained that he speaks to his sister as least twice a day before she comes home from work. If she has money they may go to the mall, or they may watch TV together. He claims he does not argue with his aunt who lives with them. He refers to her as, "basically she’s just like my sister, except she don’t have no job like my sister do."

Thomas is not enrolled in any honors courses. He admitted to getting "D’s," some he claimed he deserved because, "I missed a class and didn’t make up the work." The rest he blames on the teachers whom he believes treat him differently from the rest of the class. Thomas is not daunted by his present academic experience, he commented, "I want to go to the University of North Carolina, when I graduate. I want to try to get a basketball scholarship." He has made the school's basketball team and believes that he has a very good chance of getting a basketball scholarship. Of his professional career, he maintained, "I want to be an Architect if I don’t go to the NBA, that’s why I’m going to Robert Morgan (vocational school) next year."

Nuclear Family, Negative Academic Orientation

Damian, or Spunk as he likes to be called, is slim and small. He wears the teenage uniform of oversized jeans and tee shirt and has the familiar jaunty, loose limbed walk. His natural mother died when he was less than a year old, at which time he went to live with his grandparents. Spunk spent his sophomore year living with his father, stepmother and stepsister. "Hanging out in the yellow hallway with the kids that play basketball," and his two PE classes are the only part of school he really liked. After high school Spunk would like to "get enough college" to become a Customs Officer or a Correction Officer.

Describing himself as "making it OK" as far as school grades are concerned, Spunk spoke often of his intense dislike of his stepmother. "She makes me do stuff that she won’t make her daughter do. She treats us, like, she treats us different. I know that she was gonna treat us different cause I’m not really her son. So, I knew she was gonna treat me differently."

Despite his stated desire for at least some college Spunk did not come back for his junior year at Northern High. In trying to contact him, I briefly talked with his stepmother on the phone. She told me of a family argument after which Spunk "took off." She hoped he eventually "showed up at his grandmother's" in New York, but that it had already been two months, so she just did not know.

Harriett, a female student at Everglades High, is not a highly motivated student. She lives with both biological parents, an older sister with an 18 month-old child, and an older brother. Another sibling, the eldest, is away at college. Her maternal grandmother lives in Virginia and she has no memory of her natural grandfather who died when she was young. Her father’s parents are divorced, the grandmother lives in New York, and the grandfather lives in North Carolina. Referring to her parents, Harriet declared, "I get along with my parents pretty good. They trust me, they let me do things when I want to do it. I don’t get abused or anything . . . Regarding school, I relate to my dad because he knows the school thing. For the social aspects, I go to my mom." She identified her father as the most influential person in her life, "He’s the one that tells me I could do better. I usually slack off, though."

Harriett described her relationship with her older sister as a "normal sister relationship." Each consults the other on personal problems. Her relationship with her brother is the same. Harriet is close to her maternal grandmother and her mother’s sister. However, of her dad’s family, she remarked, "I’d say my dad’s family isolates themselves."

Although she is enrolled in two honors classes, Harriett admitted to slacking off on school work and even failing some subjects. When asked why, she remarked that some of her teachers were boring. She aspires to become a nurse and is enrolled in the nursing track.

Racial Identity & Academic Orientation

Throughout our research with African American students, we did not observe any disengagement on behalf of high achieving African American students in relation to their racial-ethnic group. When we asked the students in our sample who are African American high achievers, "How do you identify yourself?" –they responded that they identified themselves as African Americans. Contrary to Fordham’s observations, our sample emphasizes their "Blackness." (Fordham 1988, p. 57).

African American students at King High both achieve academically and vociferously and proudly proclaim a Black identity. All of the students in the sample identified themselves as African Americans, but one student identified herself as Black American. When the students were asked if they were called any particular epithet by their peers because of their positive academic orientation, they all answered that sometimes they were called "nerds." When asked if they were accused by the peers of "acting White," they answered they were not.

Furthermore, they reported that their families did not accuse them of "acting White" because they were good students. One female student, Katrina responded, "No, my mother wants me to be a good student. She wants me to get a scholarship and go to college." Katrina wants to be either a pharmacist or a cardiologist. She wants to get a graduate degree.

As the rest of the high achievers in King High, Katrina is involved in many extracurricular school activities, such as Band, "Class of 99," and "Florida Future Educators of America." She received an award as the "Most Outstanding Student in Physical Science" for ninth-graders, and she was a recipient of the Silver Honor Roll in ninth grade because her GPA was over 3.75. She maintained the same GPA for tenth grade. Katrina is now in eleventh grade and enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) classes.

Shedreka, another student reported that she was not accused of "acting White" or not being Black because of her grades. Shedreka said, "My parents are supportive of me and they want me to get and education." Also, when asked if people in her community accused her or other Black students of "acting White" because they do well in school, she replied that she knows "that used to happen a long time ago, but it doesn’t happen anymore."

Moreover, Shedreka asserted that she would not change her academic orientation even if she were accused of "acting White." Shedreka was a Gold Honor Roll Recipient throughout her ninth and tenth grade due to her 4.0 GPA. Shedreka was only on of the two ninth-graders who had a 4.0 GPA at King High in the 1995-1996 academic year. The other student was Haitian. Shedreka wants to be an accountant and get a graduate degree. Also, she participates in the "Class of 99" as a Secretary, the "French Club," the "Future Business Leaders of America," and she does community service at a Medical Center. She is currently enrolled in a dual enrollment program in Miami Dade Community College and she will finish her High School credits at the college level.

Ron is a sixteen-year-old African American high achiever male at King High. In fact, Ron is one of the best African American male students in the eleventh grade. His current GPA is over 3.75. Ron was also one of the best African American male students both in the ninth and tenth grade with a GPA that fluctuated between 3.75 and 3.95.

Ron is currently enrolled in AP classes and he also participates in extra curricular activities such as the "Chess Club" and the "African American Heritage Club" at King High, and the African American Miami-based Organization "500 Role Models of Excellence."

This cohort of African American high school students has clearly attained academic excellence and maintained a strong Black identity. They do not feel forced to choose between the individualistic ethos of the school system or the collective ethos of their ethnic group as Fordham found in her work in a Washington, D.C. high school (Fordham 1988, 1996). Families and peers of our students do not accuse them of "acting White" because of their positive academic orientation. Their families encourage them to embrace their education and succeed in school. Furthermore, students report that they do not get accused of being "traitors" by people in their community because they do well in school.

However, of the three high schools, King High’s African American students are the most outspoken about their racial identity and pride in their heritage. At Northern and Everglades High Schools, high achieving African American students still do not feel compelled to disavow their Black roots, to become "raceless." They still "hang out" with other Blacks, overwhelmingly African American friends, and they still claim a Black American or African American identity. Nevertheless, they are less likely to emphasize their specifically Black identity. They are less likely to specifically assert that they want to become a "successful Black woman," as did King High’s Diane whose statement begins this Working Paper. All of our high achieving, positively academically oriented African American students are comfortable with a Black, African American identity. But King High students proclaim their Blackness much more forcefully and vociferously.

We hypothesize that the difference between King’s African American students and those at the other two schools lies in the nature of the communities and schools. King High is adjacent to Miami Dade County’s largest African American community. It has hosted the core of African American activism, community centers, churches and historical events for the past four decades. Between 1970 and the late 1980s, King High was a predominantly African American school. By 1990, the school had become predominantly Haitian. By the mid 1990s, African Americans constituted only 10 percent of the student body, yet African American youth culture remained and remains vibrant. African American values and traditions are highly valued by both African American and Haitian students. Overall, African American culture is still "in" and "cool" in King High. Haitian students speak African American slang (recently celebrated and demeaned by the label Ebonics), dress, do their hair as African Americans, and listen to rap.

In the early 1980s, African American students demeaned Haiti, Haitians and Haitian culture. The word Haitian became an epithet. "On several occasions, school officials had to close down King High because of Black student violence against the Haitians" (Portes and Stepick 1993, p. 191). By the mid 1990s after Haitians became numerically predominant at King High, Haitian culture began to appear in school rallies and Haitians could be heard speaking Creole in the hallways. But Haitian culture still is accepted only on African American terms. African American students accept Creole rap songs, but not traditional Haitian dances. When Haitian students speak Creole, African American students ridicule them. Anna, an African American student told a Haitian one who was speaking Creole, "Speak English. This ain’t Haiti. This is America. You all came in a banana boat." The Haitian student replied sarcastically imitating a Southern accent, "You all live here; you all were slaves." Kimberly, a seventeen-year-old African American stated that she does not like Haitians because, "They be walking around thinking they rule us Americans and I ain’t have time for that."

Moreover, King High is the one school with a majority Black, primarily African American, staff. African American history month is genuinely celebrated at this school, as opposed to lackluster lip service afforded at other schools. Many teachers are also explicitly proud of their African heritage and encourage a pan-ethnic identity of all Black people. In short, African heritage and Blackness is center stage at this school and in the surrounding community.

In contrast, at Northern and Everglades High Schools, African Americans have not gone from dominance to culturally celebrated minority status. Northern High School is a school in transition. Located in a suburb, Northern High has more middle class families and a more ethnically diverse, largely immigrant Black population. The staff remains overwhelmingly White and many of them whine for the good ole’ days. In the Teachers’ Lounge, a petition form posted on the bulletin board called for Constitutional Amendment entitled:

In contrast, to the positive representations of African American culture at King High, lack of focus, spirit and cohesion characterize Northern High. The students express their disconnectedness in a number of ways. "It’s just a school. There is no school spirit, nothing. The school doesn’t do anything like other high schools . . . It’s this school because other schools I know they have a lot of fun. Like when the football team, they have school colors. They don’t even really wear stuff —it’s boring. Pep rallies, nobody be there." Students also feel the teachers are alienated from the school: "Teachers don’t give a shit. They’re just collecting pay checks every Friday."

At Everglades High, African Americans are a minority. Before the hurricane, Non-Hispanic Whites were the largest group. After the hurricane, the school became more ethnically balanced with Hispanic/Latinos having a slight edge among students while staff was still predominantly Non-Hispanic White. Blackness is seemingly not an issue. Students do feel that some teachers discriminate against them, but being Black is not the predominant issue in their lives. Rather, their concerns concentrate on more typical adolescent issues of peer, especially gender, relations. Jackie, a 16 year-old female, shared her story of heartbreak by claiming, "It’s a long story, but to make a long story short —boys out here (Everglades High) are no good!" Her current boyfriend had betrayed her, "Somebody who I liked a lot. I mean a lot, and he knew. He had about six other people (females at Everglades High) telling them the same things he tells . . . I was like –I was mad– I wanted to fight him. I honestly did. I still will, cause he gets on my . . . That’s not right. Nobody deserves that. I think that’s really wrong. I felt betrayed. I was lied to . . . I have nothing else to say to him, so I kept walking."

The presentation of African American identity by positively oriented, high achieving students clearly differs from that presented by Ogbu and Fordham (1978, 1988). It appears as if the immediate neighborhood and school context determine how forcefully students enact their Blackness. In Everglades and Northern High it appears to be unimportant, in either a positive or negative sense. At King High, however, for some it critically defines students’ sense of self.

Conclusions

The data analysis presented in this working paper is preliminary and tentative. Nevertheless, some trends have emerged that we suspect will be confirmed by further analysis. In nearly every respect the African American students at these three Miami high schools are typical of American high school students anywhere. All aspire to obtaining a college education. Some are excellent students with high aspirations that contradict the negative stereotypes of African American, particularly inner-city, adolescents. Others maintain high aspirations, claiming that they intend to continue their education in and beyond high school, but their high school record belies their expectations.

Consistent with the literature on African Americans (Heiss 1996; Greene 1995), family structure, being in a single parent versus nuclear family, does not seem to have an effect on academic orientation. Some of the most ambitious, highest achievers come from single parent households. Instead, in keeping with the findings of previous research (Greene 1995), positive relations within the family negate disadvantages that might accrue from growing up in a single parent household.

The dramatic transformation of Miami, the rise to power of Cubans, has had little obvious impact on these students. Because of the residential segregation of the city and the associated ethnic concentration of schools, these students have little interaction with Cubans. Two of the schools and the associated neighborhoods are overwhelmingly Black. The third school, Everglades High, is ethnically balanced, but the Latino/Hispanics are more likely to be of Mexican than Cuban descent. Even more importantly, relations at the school are peer-focused and the peers one interacts with tend to be of the same ethnicity. Staff more closely reflects Miami’s broader demographic shift, although staff tends to be more Non-Hispanic White than the broader population. Nevertheless, our preliminary analysis indicates the most important characteristic of staff is that they are adult. In future writings, we intend to explore inter-ethnic relations, both among peers and between peers and adults in the schools, at greater length.

Most significantly, our preliminary analysis contradicts the assertions of previous literature that African Americans need to develop a "raceless persona" to be successful in school. (Fordham and Ogbu 1986; Fordham 1988, 1996). None of our positively oriented, high achieving students disavowed their Black heritage. Nor those who are excelling in school have confronted rejection or negative stereotyping from their African American peers. To the contrary, at King High, high achieving African American students forcefully and vociferously assert their specifically African American identity. Students at the other two high schools less ardently expressed a Black identity, but neither did they deny their Blackness nor were they accused of being less Black for succeeding in school. Our explanation for these findings is only tentative and awaits further analysis of our data. Nevertheless, we hypothesize that the environment of the school and neighborhood play a significant role. In particular, King High’s institutional support for African American culture reflected in Black History month and other activities, makes it easier for African American students to maintain a "race-full " as opposed to "raceless" identity in being positively oriented toward academic achievement. Moreover, the demographic and cultural transition at King High has reenforced a positive African American identity. African American students went from being a majority with power within the school to a demographic minority who still maintain cultural power, whose forms of expression through language, dress, and music dominate the school’s adolescent culture.

These results, although tentative, indicate that at least for adolescents the immediate environments of family, neighborhood and school are more directly important than that of the broader city, state, and nation. The adolescents' ethnic identity and the force with which they present it varies dramatically across these schools and neighborhoods. We hypothesize that it is reactive formation ethnicity (Laczko 1986; Olzak 1983; Ragin and Davies 1981; Leifer 1981). These adolescents sense of self in general and ethnic/racial self in particular forms in reaction to their environment. At one school, King High, the environment positively accentuates African American identity, whereas at the others it appears to be neither positive nor negative.

Allen, W.R. (1980). Preludes to attainment: Race, sex and student achievement orientation. Sociology Quarterly. 21, 65-79.

Adelson, Joseph. (1986). Inventing Adolescence - The Political Psychology of Everyday Schooling. New Brunswick:
    Transaction Books.

Alexander, C. L., B. K. Eckland and L. J. Griffin. (1975). The Wisconsin model of socioeconomic achievement: A replication.
    American Journal of Sociology. 81, 324-341.

Banks, J. A. (1986). Race, ethnicity and schooling in the United States: Past, present and future. In Multicultural Education in
    Western Societies ed. J. A. Banks and J. Lynch. New York: Praeger Publishers. 30-50.

Barona, A., and E. E. Garcia, ed. (1990). Children at risk: Poverty minority status, and other issues in educational
    equality. Washington, D. C.: National Association of School Psychologists.

Berry, G. L., J. K. Asamen. (1989). Black Students: Psychosocial Issues and Academic

Achievement Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Bowels, S.,and Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in Capitalist America New York: Basic Books.

Boswell, Thomas D. (1995). Residential Segregation by Socioeconomic Class in Metropolitan Miami: 1990. Paper presented
    to Florida International University's Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies. Miami, Florida.

Bryk, A.S., V.E. Lee and J.B. Smith. (1990). High school organization and its effects on teachers and students: An interpretive
    summary of the research. In W.H. Clune and J.F. Witte (Eds.), Choice and control in American education. Vol.1.
    Philadelphia, Pa: Falmer.

Carlton, R. A. (1981). Self-concept research: The gap between social theory and educational practice. Canadian Journal of
    Education. 6, 4. 77-91.

Carney, M. (1974). Education as cultural imperialism. New York: McKay.

Chang, Heewon. (1992). Adolescent Life and Ethos: An Ethnography of a U.S. High School. Washington: Falmer Press.

Clark, K. B. and M.P. Clark. (1947). Racial identification and preference in Negro children. In Readings in Social Psychology
    T. M. Newcomb and E. L. Hartley, ed. New York: Holt Publishing. (169-78.

Cohen, David K. (1984). Conditions of Teachers’ Work. Harvard Educational Review. 54, 11-15.

Coleman, J.S. (1975) What is meant by an equal educational opportunity? Oxford Review of Education, 1, 27-29.

Colletta, N. D. (1979). Support systems after divorce; Incidence and Impact. Journal of Marriage and the Family. 41,
    837-846.

Colletta, N.D. (1981). "Social support and risk of maternal rejection by adolescent mothers." Journal of Psychology. 109,
    191-197.

Cross, W. E. (1991). Shades of Black: Diversity in African American Identity. Philadelphia, Pa: Temple University Press.

Cusick, Phillip A. (1983). The Egalitarian Ideal and the American High School. New York: Longman.

Dade County Public Schools. (1997). Internet Official Site: http://www.dade.k12.fl.us/

Davis, Will J. and James Earl Jordan. The effects of school context, structure, and experiences on African American males in
    middle and high school Journal of Negro Education. 63, 570-587.

Dickson, Lynda. (1993). The future of marriage and family in Black America. Journal of Black Studies, 23 (4) 472-491.

Dougherty, Van. (1983). State Programs of School Improvement, 1983: A 50-state Survey. Denver, Colorado: Education
    Commission of the States.

Dunn, Marvin. (1997). Black Miami in the Twentieth Century. Florida: University Press of Florida.

Dunn, Marvin, and Alex Stepick III. (1992) "Blacks in Miami." In Grenier, G. and Stepick A. (Eds.), Miami Now.
    (pp.41-54). Florida: University Press of Florida.

Dury, D. W. (1980). "Black self-esteem and desegregated schools." Sociology of Education. 53, 88-103.

Eckert, Penelope. (1989). Jocks and Burnouts: Social Categories and Identity, in the High-school. New York: Teachers
    College Press.

Epstein, J., and D. MacIver. (1992). Opportunities to Learn. Baltimore, Md: John Hopkins University.

Exum, H.A., and Colangelo, N. (1981). Culturally diverse gifted: The need of ethnic identity development. Roeper Review.
    15-17.

Farmer, H.S. (1985). Model of career and achievement motivation for women and men. Journal of Counseling Psychology.
    32, 363-90.

Feiman-Nemser, Sharon, and Robert E. Floden. (1986). The Cultures of Teaching In Merlin C Wittrock, ed., Handbook of
    Research on Teaching. 2nd edition. New York: Macmillian. 505-26.

Ferguson, R. (1991). Racial patterns in how school and teacher quality affect achievement and earnings. Challenge: Journal of
    Research on Black Men. 2, 1-26.

Finn, J. D., and D. Cox. (1992). Participation and Withdrawal. American Educational Research Journal, 29, 141-162.

Ford, D.Y. and J.J. Harris. (1992). The American Achievement Ideology and Achievement Differentials Among
    Preadolescent Gifted and Nongifted African American Males and Females. The Journal of Negro Education, 61 (1), 45-64.

Fordham, S. (1996). Blacked Out. Dilemmas of Race, Identity, and Success at Capital High. Chicago: University of Chicago
    Press.

Fordham, S. (1988). "Racelessness as a Factor in Black Students' School Success: Pragmatic Strategy or Pyrrhic
    Victory? Harvard Educational Review, 58 (1), 54-83.

Fordham, S., and J. Ogbu. (1986). Black students’ school success: Coping with the burden of ‘acting white. The Urban
    Review. 18, 176-206.

Foster, Michele. (1993). Urban African American Teachers’ Views of Organizational Change: Speculations on the
    Experiences of Exemplary Teachers. Equity and Excellence in Education. 26 (3), 16-24.

Frisby, Craig L. and C.M. Tucker. (1993). Black Children’s Perception of Self: Implications for Educators. The Educational
    Forum, 57, 146-156.

Furlong, M.J., Chung, A., Bates, M., Morrison, R.L. (1995). Who are the Victims of School Violence? A Comparison of
    Students non-victims and multi-victims. Education and Treatment of Children. 18 (3), 282-298.

Garrison, H.H. (1982). Trends in educational and occupational aspirations of high school males: Black-White comparisons.
    Sociology of Education, 55, 53-62.

Geertz, C. (1973). Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.

Goodlad, John I. (1984). A Place Called School: Prospects for the Future. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Greene, B. (1995). African American families: a legacy of vulnerability and resilience. National Forum, 75, 29-32.

Grenier, G., Castro, M. (1998). Black Latino Relations under conditions of Latino Empowerment, The Miami Case.
    Forthcoming. Unpublished Manuscript.

Grenier, G. (1992). The Cuban-American Labor Movement in Dade County: An Emerging Immigrant Working Class. Miami
    Now. Florida: University Press of Florida.

Grenier, G. and Stepick A. (1992). Miami Now. Florida: University Press of Florida.

Hacker, A. (1984). The schools flunk out. New York Review of Books, 31, 6.

Haw, K.F. (1991). Interactions of gender and race-a problem for teachers? A review of the emerging literature. Educational
    Research, 33 (1), 12-21.

Hillard, Asa G. (1992). Behavioral Style, Culture and Teaching and Learning Journal of Negro Education, 61 (3), 370-377.

Irvine, J. T. (1990). Black students and school failure Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Johnson, R. (1974). Black Agenda for Career Education. Columbus, OH: ECCA Publishing.

Jones, M. (1991, September 9). It’s a not so small world. Newsweek. 9, 45-48.

Kantrowitz, B., P. Wingert, P. Rogers, N. Joseph, and S. Lewis. (1991, September 9) A is for Ashanti, B is for Black.
    Newsweek. 9, 45-48.

Kohl, Herbert. (1994). I won’t learn from you. New York: New Press.

Laczko, Leslie S. (1986). On the Dynamics of Linguistic Cleavage in Quebec: A test of Alternative Hypotheses. The 
    International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. 6 (1), 39-60.

Lee, V.E., L. F Winfield and T.C. Wilson. (1991). Academic Behaviors Among High-Achieving African American Students
    Education and Urban Society. 24 (1), 65-86.

Leifer, Eric M. (1981). Competing Models of Political Mobilization: The Role of Ethnic Ties. American Journal of Sociology.
    87 (1), July, 23-47.

Lerner, B. (1982). American Education: How Are We Doing? The Public Interest. 69 (Fall), 59-82.

Lomotey, K. (1989). Cultural diversity in the school: Implications for Principals. NASSP Bulletin., 73 (521), 81-88.

MacLeod, Jay. (1995). Ain’t No Makin’It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood. Boulder: Westview
    Press.

Marjoribanks, Kevin. (1985). Families, Schools, and Aspirations: Ethnic Group Differences. Journal of Experimental
    Education, 3 (3), 141-147.

Massey, Douglas S. and Denton, Nancy A. (1993). American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass.
    Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Mboya, M. M. (1988). A Comparative Analysis of the Self-concept and Academic Achievement of Black and White High
    School Students School Psychology International, 9, 197-201.

Mims, G. L. (1985). Aspiration, Expectation, and Parental Influences Among Upward Bound Students in Three Institutions.
    Educational and Psychological Research, 5 (3), 181-190.

Ogbu, J. (1978). Minority education and caste. New York: Academic Press.

Ogbu, J. (1987). Variability in minority school performance: A problem in search of an explanation Anthropology and
    Education Quarterly, 18, 312-34.

Olzak, Susan. (1983). Ethnic Ties and Political Mobilization: Comment on Leifer. Ethnic Ties and Political Mobilization:
    Comment on Leifer. 89 (1), July, 188-192.

Porter, B., and Dunn, M. (1984). The Miami Riot of 1980. Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Books.

Portes, A., and Rumbaut, R. (1993). Educational Progress of Children of Immigrants. Unpublished paper. Department of
    Sociology. The John Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland.

Portes, A., and Stepick, A. (1993). City on the Edge. California: University of California Press.

Profile of the Black Population 1990, December 1995, Prepared for the Office of Black Affairs, Department of Community
    Affairs by the Research Division Metropolitan Dade County Planning Department. Miami-Dade, Florida.

Rabow, J., S Radcliffe-Vasile., M. D. Newcomb., and A. C. R. Hernandez. (1992). Teachers’, Student’s, and Other’s:
    Contributions to Educational Outcomes Youth and Society, 24 (1), 71-91.

Ragin, Charles and Davies, Ted. (1981). Welsh Nationalism in Context. Research in Social Movements, Conflict and Change.
    4, 215-233.

Ratteray, J. D. (1990). Center shift: An African-centered approach for the multicultural curriculum. Washington, D.C.: Institute
    for Independent Education, Inc. ERIC Document No.320983.

Reitzes, D., and E. Mutran. (1980). Significant others and self conceptions: Factors influencing educational expectations and
    academic performance. Sociology of Education, 53, 21-32.

Rosenberg, M. (1986). "Self-esteem research: a phenomenological corrective." In School Desegregation Research: New
    Directions in Situational Analysis. Ed J. Pager, D. Longshore, and M. Seeman. New York: Plenum Press.

Sanders, E. T. W., and P. L. Reed. (1990). An investigation of the possible effect of an immersion as compared to a traditional
    program for African-American males. Urban Education, 30, 93-112.

Sedlak, Michael W., Christopher W. Wheeler, Diana C. Pullin, Philip A. Cusick. (1986). Selling Students Short: Classroom
    Bargains and Academic Reform in the American High School. New York: Teachers College Press.

Slater, Robert Bruce. (1995). Ranking the States by Black-White SAT Scoring Gaps. Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.
    71-75.

Smith, Thomas Ewin. (1981). Adolescent agreement with perceived maternal and paternal educational goals. Journal of
    Marriage and Family, 43, 85-93.

Smith, Thomas Ewin. (1991). Agreement of Adolescent Educational Expectations with Perceived Maternal and Paternal
    Educational Goals. Youth and Society, 23 (2), 155-174.

Stacey, Judith (1990). Brave new families: stories of domestic upheaval in late twentieth century America. New York: Basic
    Books.

Stepick, A.;Castro, M.; Dunn, M.; Grenier, G. (1990) Changing Relations among Newcomers and Established Residents. The
    Case of Miami. Final Report. Ford Foundation.

Stepick, Alex. (1992). "The Refugees Nobody Wants: Haitians in Miami." In Grenier, G. and Stepick A. (Eds.), Miami Now.
    (pp.57-83). Florida: University Press of Florida.

Stepick, Alex. (1995). Producing Human Capital: Social and Cultural Capital of Minority Adolescents. Research Proposal to
    Cultural Anthropology Division of National Science Foundation. Miami, Florida.

Stepick, Alex. (1998). Pride Against Prejudice: Haitians in the United States. New Immigrants Series. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Terrell, Frances, Sandra L. Terrell and Fayneese Miller. (1993). Level of Cultural Mistrust as a Function of Educational and
    occupational expectations among Black Students. Adolescence, 28 (111), 573-8.

Terrell, Frances, Sandra L. Terrell and J. Taylor. (1988). The self-concept level of black adolescents with and without African
    names. Psychology in Schools, 21 (1), 65-69.

Wilson, M., T. Tolson, I. Hinton, and Michael. (1990). Flexibility and Sharing of Childcare Duties in Black Families Sex Roles,
    22 (7/8), 409-425.

Wilson, P. and J. R Wilson. (1992). Environmental influences on adolescent educational aspirations: A logistic transfer Model.
    Youth and Society, 24 (1). 52-70.

Zimmerman, Salem, and Maton (1995). Family Structure and Psycho-social Correlates among Urban African American
    Adolescent Males. Child Development, 66, 1598-1613.

Zinn, M.B. (1987). Minority families in transition. Flint, MI: University of Michigan.