Deck 11: Social Class, Race, and School Achievement

Question 1

The high-school dropout rates, high-school completion rates, and college enrollment for African American and Latino students have been a cause of alarm for many educators. Discuss these rates, and suggest what schools could do to minimize problems in these areas.

Answer 1

High-school completion rates for blacks and Latinos are much lower than for whites. Dropout rates for each group may reach 40 to 60 percent in big cities. College enrollment for African Americans and Latinos is still relatively low. More details appear in the chapter. There may be many suggestions for how to deal with these problems. They may include hiring more minority teachers, modifying the curriculum and instructional techniques, expanding Title I programs, developing special academic assistance programs in high school, and sponsoring recruitment and assistance programs for college.

Question 2

Which statement accurately describes trends in the African American community?

A)Overall status and income have increased, yet many are sinking deeper into poverty.
B)The rate of enrollment in colleges remains low.
C)Both A and B
D)Neither A nor B

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Elaborate language typically includes

A)complex grammar.
B)explanations to clarify meaning.
C)gestures.
D)all of the above.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

People who have common ancestry and physical characteristics are members of the same

A)ethnic group.
B)ethnicity.
C)race.
D)socioeconomic group.

Question 5

People who have common ancestry and generally are similar in language, religion, and other cultural patterns belong to the same

A)ethnic group.
B)lineage.
C)race.
D)socioeconomic group.

Question 6

In terms of the socioeconomic levels children will achieve as adults, children raised in poverty tend to ______________________.

A)fall below the levels of their parents
B)rise above the levels of their parents
C)freeze in the same levels as their parents

Question 7

Latino and African American students

A)have registered gains in reading, math, and other subjects according to the NAEP.
B)have narrowed the achievement gap that exists between them and white students.
C)are attending college at a slightly higher rate than during the 1960s.
D)all of the above

Question 8

In terms of school achievement, working-class students as a group tend to ___________middle-class students.

A)underperform
B)outperform
C)equal
D)none of the above; this value is not measurable

Question 9

The students most likely to attend college are those with

A)moderate achievement from middle-income families.
B)moderate achievement from upper-income families.
C)high achievement from middle-income families.
D)high achievement from upper-income families.

Question 10

According to proponents of the environmental disadvantage theory,

A)the most rapid development of cognitive skills occurs during the preschool years.
B)the quality of a child's home life is more important in later years of schooling.
C)remediation of learning deficits associated with a disadvantaged home environment is impossible.
D)good prenatal care does nothing to enhance the intellectual development of a child born into a disadvantaged environment.

Question 11

Horace Mann's work established that __________________.

A)there should be equal opportunity education for everyone
B)the educational system was designed to better the wealthy
C)closing the economic gap was impossible
D)social class was fixed for a lifetime

Question 12

The variables used to identify social class include

A)education, housing price, occupation and income.
B)housing value and occupation.
C)occupation.
D)income.

Question 13

Concentrated poverty schools are located in

A)big cities.
B)suburban areas.
C)medium-size cities.
D)rural areas.

Question 14

Socioeconomic status is used primarily to classify people by their

A)education.
B)housing value.
C)occupation.
D)social class.

Question 15

Describe five of the twelve classroom obstacles that working-class students face as discussed in Chapter 11.

Question 16

Generally speaking, the effect of class on student achievement tends to

A)decrease as the student moves on to higher grades.
B)remain a barrier to academic achievement among the lower socioeconomic classes, even through college and university education.
C)disappear as students go to colleges and universities.
D)remain difficult to determine, even when based on the achievement levels of college and university students.

Question 17

___________ helps explain why some students with low socioeconomic status refuse to conform to school expectations or to comply with their teacher's demands.

A)Resistance theory
B)Critical theory
C)Developmental theory
D)Social class

Question 18

Increasing polarization of the African American population is especially evident in

A)ability scores.
B)college attendance.
C)dropout rates.
D)socioeconomic status.

Question 19

Technical workers, technicians, and sales personnel would probably be in the

A)upper class.
B)middle class.
C)under-class.
D)lower working class.

Question 20

Research indicates that the achievement of rural students is hampered by

A)a lack of community support.
B)isolation and poor instructional materials.
C)poverty and inequality.
D)the need for quality teachers.

Question 21

The new working class is best identified as _________________.

A)middle class
B)lower class
C)upper class
D)wealthy

Question 22

To understand the causes of low school achievement, it is important to consider the home environment of children from lower- or working-class families, because

A)their parents often mimic many of the behaviors teachers use, thus reinforcing messages at home that children receive at school.
B)although it may be difficult to remedy learning deficits, schools must strive to develop programs that can counter the effects of environmental disadvantages.
C)children from the middle and upper classes spend much more time away from home than do children from working-class homes.
D)parents from working-class families too often feed children misinformation and inaccurate knowledge when trying to help their children with schoolwork.

Question 23

Which is the fastest growing minority population in the United States?

A)African American
B)Puerto Ricans
C)Mexican Americans
D)Hispanic/Latino

Question 24

Studies show that when working-class students accept academically oriented school norms, they

A)are sometimes ridiculed by peers.
B)continue to misbehave in class.
C)experience problems with self-esteem.
D)participate in extracurricular activities.

Question 25

Problems with the way classrooms operate-inappropriate curriculum and instruction, difficulty in teaching conditions, teacher perceptions of student inadequacy, large classes and negative teacher and peer expectations-and the social context thus created suggest that

A)not all problems that contribute to low performance among lower- or working-class children come from outside the schools.
B)conditions for teaching and learning might be altered so that lower- or working-class children are more likely to experience academic success.
C)schools not only re-create many of the conditions that lead to social failure for some groups, but also perpetuate conditions that lead to the success of certain groups.
D)all of the above.

Question 26

Educators who adopt the environmentalist position concerning the development of intelligence would probably support

A)compensatory education.
B)segregated schools.
C)physical punishment.
D)use of IQ tests in program placements.

Question 27

Homogeneous grouping of low achievers has some drawbacks because teachers often

A)are too permissive in controlling student behavior.
B)maintain low expectations for student achievement.
C)provide excessive support materials, which lead to student confusion.
D)spend a disproportionate amount of time with the students.

Question 28

Your mother argues that schools are the best route to success. She says, "If you want to get ahead in life, then get as much education as you can." Your mother's views are most similar to those of

A)traditionalists.
B)hereditarians.
C)Social Darwinists.
D)revisionists.

Question 29

Studies by Christopher Jencks revealed that there is little evidence that school reform efforts

A)have improved the quality of instruction.
B)have significantly altered the curriculum.
C)have substantially reduced the achievement gap between students of different socioeconomic status.
D)have been widely accepted in communities.

Question 30

Middle-class teachers may have difficulty understanding and motivating low-income minority students because of

A)a lack of parental support.
B)language and cultural differences.
C)the curriculum.
D)the students' high absenteeism rate.

Question 31

How might the low rate of college attendance by low-income students affect their social class?

Question 32

Environmentalists maintain that differences in IQ test scores by African Americans and Euro-Americans are due to

A)genetic differences.
B)inadequate test questions.
C)systematic discrimination.
D)biological factors.

Question 33

According to Coleman, the most logical way to improve the education of disadvantaged students is to

A)increase school funding.
B)integrate schools and classrooms on a social-class basis.
C)reduce class size.
D)train teachers to deal with the multicultural differences among students.

Question 34

Your friend Joel argues that schools, as traditionally organized, are set up not to help people get ahead in life but to keep them "in their place." What label best fits Joel's beliefs?

A)traditionalist
B)hereditarian
C)Social Darwinist
D)revisionist

Question 35

The _______________________ are often the third or fourth generation to live in poverty and depend on public assistance.

A)underclass
B)upper class
C)middle class
D)lower class

Question 36

Advocates of resistance theory maintain that working-class students show resistance in schools partly because school norms and expectations

A)allow permissive behavior.
B)promote the irrelevant middle-class values of teachers.
C)promote a college preparatory program.
D)all of the above

Question 37

Research that supports environment more strongly than heredity as a factor in student achievement most consistently emphasizes that

A)conclusions supporting heredity are based more in the bias of the researcher than in the evidence of the research.
B)heredity has never been accepted as the most influential factor in determining human intelligence.
C)in situations where the environment for achievement was positively altered, achievement for groups in such situations improved over time.
D)we have no knowledge about intelligence as a genetically determined trait.

Question 38

Efforts to improve the academic performance of working-class students in the primary grades should focus on

A)homogeneous grouping.
B)individualized instruction.
C)large-class instruction.
D)remediating basic skills.

Question 39

What traits tend to define the "creative class?"

Question 40

James Coleman's study of U.S. public schools reported that the most important variable affecting student achievement was

A)expenditure per student.
B)class size.
C)the socioeconomic background of the child's family.
D)the teacher's level of graduate study.

Question 41

What difficulties do African American males from the inner city experience, and how do those difficulties affect the socioeconomic status of African Americans?

Question 42

Why are the prenatal stage and the early home environment (before kindergarten)so important to student achievement?

Question 43

What is the relationship between socioeconomic status and the potential to attend college?

Question 44

What arguments support the environmentalist view concerning the development of intelligence?

Question 45

Why might the difference between teacher and student backgrounds create a problem in classrooms with working-class students?

Question 46

What are the effects of the home environment on school achievement?

Question 47

What data does the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)collect, and how does it relate to culture?

Question 48

How does the use of language by parents at home affect the academic performance of their children at school?