This interview study examines the school choices of white middle class parents who live in a large Northeastern city. Interviewees identify as progressive urbanites and express an appreciation for racial diversity. Simultaneously, interviewees draw on anti-Black stereotypes when evaluating school options and avoiding majority Black schools. While…

This case study investigated how three New York City schools responded to gentrification's effects as student demographics shifted. I used the conceptual framework of "urban school leaders as cultural workers" to examine the tensions, successes, and challenges inherent in the school gentrification and integration process. I found that…

How do educators reconcile the growing college-for-all norm--the notion that all students should pursue college--with the diverse needs of students in urban settings? What is the impact on Black students across social-class background? Using interviews and fieldwork with teachers, counselors, and diverse Black students in a large Californian high…

White flight from urban public schools has been well documented, but little attention has been paid to middle-class reinvestment in urban schools. This article combines findings from interviews with middle-class parents of Boston Public School students with demographic data from the city's public elementary schools to examine the motivations of…

The current literature on Black middle-class men is sparse, leaving little to be known about the raced, classed, and gendered experiences for many Black middle-class male students and their families. Employing qualitative methodology, this study uses critical race theory (CRT) to examine the educational experiences of Black middle-class high…

Middle-class educational demands draw upon a view of the state as primarily an agent of the poor. Such a view wrongly aligns the middle class ideologically with capital and foments opposition toward federal social and educational expenditures on the behalf of deprived or excluded groups in American society. (Author/GC)

This article looks at the way language subtly shapes and constrains the way we perceive reality. It examines one term-parental involvement. This apparently simple and democratic term serves as a portfolio of meanings that separate and divide. It illustrates two of these meanings, which take the form of a conjoined metaphor of "full/empty", or…

Reports research attempting to move beyond the discussion of the cultural gap hypothesis based on secondary data analysis and subject it to a scrutiny based on direct observation of classroom interaction within an urban black school. (Author/JM)