In the half century since the 1966 Coleman Report, scholars have yet to develop a consensus regarding the relationship between schools and inequality. The Coleman Report suggested that schools play little role in generating achievement gaps, but social scientists have identified many ways in which schools provide better learning environments to…

Prudence Carter is the Jacks Family Professor of Education, Professor of Sociology (by courtesy), and Faculty Director of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University. She has authored numerous journal articles, book chapters, and essays, and in June 2016, Carter will become Dean of the Graduate School of…

Barbara Schneider is the John A. Hannah Chair and University Distinguished Professor in the College of Education and Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on how the social contexts of schools and families influence the academic and social well being of adolescents as they move into adulthood. In this article…

In the half century since the 1966 Coleman Report, scholars have yet to develop a consensus regarding the relationship between schools and inequality. The Coleman Report suggested that schools play little role in generating achievement gaps, but social scientists have identified many ways in which schools provide better learning environments to…

What is schools' role in the stratification system? One view is that schools are an important mechanism for perpetuating inequality because children from advantaged backgrounds (white and high socioeconomic) enjoy better school learning environments than their disadvantaged peers. But it is difficult to know this with confidence because children's…

in this article, Florencia Torche, professor of sociology at New York University, reflects on the central question posed by the Coleman Report: What role do schools play in promoting equality of opportunity? The Coleman Report relied on analysis of variance and regression analysis, but over the past 50 years, social scientists have developed new…

In the half century since the 1966 Coleman Report, scholars have yet to develop a consensus regarding the relationship between schools and inequality. The Coleman Report suggested that schools play little role in generating achievement gaps, but social scientists have identified many ways in which schools provide better learning environments to…

Drawing on a year and a half of ethnographic research in three New York City small high schools, this study examines the role of the school in managing school choice and asks what social processes are associated with principals' disparate approaches. Although district policy did not allow principals to select students based on their performance,…

This study reconsidered school effects on college enrollment by focusing on strategies that schools use to facilitate college transitions. It also examined whether school strategies influence different outcomes for students from different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Using data from the High School Effectiveness Study, the analysis…

This paper critiques past research which studied the effects of schools and their resources on student achievement and argues for a different approach to gauging the effects of schooling. (Author/RM)

Discusses the relationship between parental management of children's school careers and an institutional characteristic of schooling, the school charter. Examines the managerial actions of parents with students in three types of West German secondary schools with distinctly different charters: the Gymnasium, Realschule, and the Gesamtschule.…

Four models of public education conflicted during the first half of the 19th century; paternalistic and corporate voluntarism, democratic localism, and incipient bureaucracy. The models and underlying value conflicts are analyzed, revealing a growing role for schools--mediating between social change and social structure. (Author/DB)

Study explores how patterns of school friends' and parents' influence converge within the school and the role of the school in shaping adolescents' plans. One conclusion is that school program is more influential in the United States. (Author/DB)

Analyzes the effects of quantity of schooling on achievement. The author concludes that, contrary to earlier findings, quantity of schooling is not of great practical importance for achievement. Additional research is called for. (Author/DB)

A study measured the influence of academic ability and high school socioeconomic status on college plans and occupational aspirations of students. Findings indicate that school context variables do not substantially affect college plans and occupational aspirations. (Author/DB)