Institute on Race and Ethnicity- Minority Faculty Research Awards

René Antrop-González, UW-Milwaukee
William Barillas, UW-La Crosse
Michael Bonds, UW-Milwaukee
Marino Bruce, UW-Madison
Kristin Espinosa, UW-Milwaukee
Jeffrey Lewis, UW-Madison
Felicia Saffold, UW-Milwaukee

Rene Antrop-Gonzalez René Antrop-González, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, UW-Milwaukee - "A Historical, Curricular, and Ethnographic Case Study of a Milwaukee Bilingual Alternative High School and the Schooling Experiences of its Puerto Rican Students."
Using social capital and caring theories as theoretical frameworks, Dr. Antrop-González's mixed methods research project sought to understand the degree to which social, institutional, and academic-based factors contributed to the varying degrees of academic achievement among Latino/a students enrolled in an alternative urban high school setting. Research questions that this project addressed included the following: What kinds of social networks, such as Anglo dominant vs. Latino dominant relationships, and study resources do low-, middle-, and high-achieving Latino/a students use within their classrooms and/or homes/communities? What types of roles did institutional agents, such as teachers, assume in the lives of these students? Did these institutional agent roles differ according to the students' perceived socioeconomic status? The impetus behind this research project served as a reaction to previous research in the area of Latino/a urban education.
Over the last three decades, numerous scholars have written about the connection between the academic low achievement and resiliency of Latino/a students educated in the U.S. and insidious socioeconomic/academic barriers that these students have faced on a continual basis. These barriers include internal and direct colonialism, poverty, culturally irrelevant curricula, and non-academic tracking. While this scholarship is rich, it has placed overdue emphasis on the schooling practices of low achieving students from this pan-ethnic group. The educational research is only now beginning to address the schooling experiences of Latino/a high school students who are academic high achievers in spite of the aforementioned barriers. Moreover, much of this educational research pertaining to Latino/a academic achievement has not addressed the schooling experiences of "middle achieving students" (students with a 2.0-2.9 G.P.A.). Therefore, this project attempted to address these theoretical voids and offer implications as to how urban educators could work to insure that all Latino/a high school students, and not just a select few, could become high academic achievers.
The findings of this project suggest that compared to the Latino/a low- and middle-academic achievers, the high achievers had more complex social networks that enabled them to more readily access middle-class resources like community-based mentorship, homework help, and high degrees of intergenerational closure that worked to discourage these students from assuming oppositional behaviors that would negatively impact their overall school performance. On the contrary, the low and middle achievers were more apt to take on membership roles in peer networks that resisted the idea of schooling. Other findings included the importance of interpersonal student-teacher relationships among the three achievement groups and the significant correlation between these students' level of academic achievement and their fathers' educational backgrounds. In other words, the high achieving students were more likely to have fathers who had college educations. Consequently, these fathers could share important information with their children, such as what courses and other resources they would need to access in order to gain college admission. Finally, the implications for this project included stressing the importance of fomenting Latino/a community-school-home partnerships to provide students with additional sources of social capital that will enable them to know about and use networks that will support college admission and retention.
Serving as mentor was William Velez, Department of Sociology, UW-Milwaukee.

William Barillas, Department of English, UW-La Crosse - "Latino/a Literature of the Midwest: Essays for The Dictionary of Midwestern Literature and Midwestern Miscellany."
This grant will facilitate the conducting of research on Latino/a literature of the Midwest, resulting in the following: (i) a lengthy essay on the topic for The Dictionary of Midwestern Literature, Vol. 2; (ii) a special issue of Midwestern Miscellany (a scholarly publication of The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature); and (iii) book proposals for an edited collection and an anthology, both focusing on Midwestern Latino/a literature.
The essay, Dr. Barillas's primary project, will serve as a model for all contributors, including those writing on African-American and other ethnic literatures. His research plan consists of the following: (i) writing an overview of the subject that specifies subsequent subjects of discussion (Mexican-American literature, Puerto Rican literature, etc.); (ii) developing a bibliography of major authors, texts, movements, and publishers; and (iii) read relevant texts and developing biographical and historical commentaries; (iv) contacting living authors for further information; visiting archives to examine primary materials For the Midwestern Miscellany, he will write an original essay himself, as well as solicit articles from other scholars. This special edition will serve as the core of a larger project: a collection of scholarly articles on Midwestern Latino/a literature. The collection will address a broad range of themes, ethnic groups, and theoretical approaches.
Serving as mentor will be Theresa Melendez, director of the Chicano/Latino Studies Program at Michigan State University.

Michael Bonds, Department of Educational Policy and Community Studies, UW-Milwaukee - "Black Milwaukee Since the Kerner Commission's Report, 1970-2000."
In this study, Dr. Bonds will conduct an historical overview of the status of blacks in Milwaukee after the Kerner's Commission Report., focusing on the period of 1970-2000. Milwaukee is seen as an excellent urban laboratory in which to examine the recent history, political development, educational changes, and economic conditions of African Americans in the aftermath of the civil rights revolution. This study is significant in that, in many respects, it mirrors other midwestern urban areas that have experienced white flight, loss of manufacturing jobs, and increased racial segregation in housing and education. Professor Bonds' research will provide important insights that will help scholars and urban planners understand how racism, social class interests, and national and global economic and political policies affect the quality of life as well as economic, political and education opportunities of African Americans in Milwaukee and other large metropolitan areas. Professor Bonds mentor will be Edgar Epps, Department of Educational Policy and Community Studies, UW-Milwaukee.

Marino Bruce, Department of Sociology, UW-Madison - "Social Environment, Health Behaviors, and Health Disparities Among Wisconsin Residents."
Over the last four decades, advances in health care have contributed to improved health and longevity for the general population; however, health disparities continue to persist across racial-, ethnic-, and class-specific groups nationwide and in Wisconsin. Individuals who have low incomes, few years of education, and belong to racial and ethnic minority groups tend to be among those most likely to have health problems. At the national level, officials have mandated health disparities to be eliminated by 2010. Likewise, Wisconsin state officials produced a plan, Healthiest Wisconsin 2010: A Partnership to Improve the Health of the Public, to eliminate health disparities across the state. Existing research has established that race and socioeconomic factors (community resources, family or friendship network resources, and other individual behavior) have implications for health disparities.
But, as Dr. Bruce points out, no study to date has established a clear link between the social environment, health behaviors and health outcomes. To address this shortcoming, this project is designed to expand our knowledge about health among disadvantaged populations through in-depth analyses of existing data on Wisconsin residents. Although early health researchers have attempted to link health disparities to biomedical factors such as genetic structure or biochemistry, Dr. Bruce will research the connection between how the social environment or the cultural, economic, political and social factors affect the lives and lifestyles of at-risk populations. This multi-dimensional research paradigm will pave the way for culturally competent interventions that would be acceptable to individuals who work with or live in the communities at risk.
Data from official sources will allow Dr. Bruce to build and estimate a number of models ranging from simple analysis of variance to complex models using analysis of covariance structures. This methodology will allow for the estimation of racial/ethnic population-and gender-specific models that provide a clearer view of the relationship between structural, family, peer, and individual factors and their impact on health behavior and health outcomes.
Gloria Johnson-Powell, UW-Madison Medical School, will be Dr. Bruce's mentor.

Kristin Espinosa, Department of Sociology, UW-Milwaukee - "Migrant Communication with Home Social Networks: Inequality and Nostalgia."
One additional grant was made to Dr. Kristin Espinosa, Department of Sociology, UW-Milwaukee. This award facilitated course replacement for two semesters, thus enabling Dr. Espinosa's acceptance of a two-semester fellowship from the Center for 21st Century Studies (UW-Milwaukee).
During her fellowship, she will study the social networks that are crucial to Mexican migration to the U.S., with communication being a key component. In the past, migrants have communicated via telephone, audio and video cassette, fax, and, more recently, e-mail. To date, no social science research has focused on transnational communication between migrants in the United States and their families and friends in the home community. In addition to the traditional forms of communication, there is a new phenomenon developing - migrants are discovering how to use the worldwide web to communicate. Little is known how migrants use websites and the ramifications of that use. This exploratory research by Dr. Espinosa will address broad questions related to transnational migrant communication in general and of websites in particular. Areas of interest will be: (i) Transnational communication and social networks (How does transnational communication facilitate migrant social networks? How does it affect the maintenance or loss of existing relationships and communities across space? To what degree does it allow the migrant to remain involved in the household at home, for example, when the telephone allows the migrant to participate in and influence household decision-making?); (ii) Transnational communication and social inequalities (To what extent does social class determine the forms of communication used? Purchasing a camcorder or paying for internet access is often prohibitively expensive for poorer migrants in the U.S., while those of higher social class may have the resources to produce videocassettes to send home or to have a computer at home with e-mail available); and (iii) Transnational communication and nostalgia (How does transnational communication change migrants' perceptions of distance from home? How does transnational communication influence how people construct their memories of home?).

Jeffrey Lewis, School of Human Ecology, UW-Madison - "Master Teacher Interactional and Disciplinary Practices, Positive School Identity Development, and Academic Success for At-Risk African American Boys."
Data for this study will be based on a research project (now in its third and final year) in which Dr. Lewis is a co-investigator. This project has created laboratory after-school programs in two California school districts, serving as pedagogical laboratories and professional development sites for inexperienced teachers, as well as research sites where various issues of teaching and learning could be examined.
His research will focus on two different case studies of elementary school African-American boys at particular risk for school failure. One set of analyses will concentrate on the first three weeks of the program and will look at the following research questions: (i) How, specifically, does a master teacher instructionally interact with and provide disciplinary guidance for a student who is at-risk for academic failure due to problematic behavior exhibited in a "traditional" classroom staffed by an inexperience teacher?; (ii) What are the short-term interactional and disciplinary strategies that a master teacher uses in the initial transition of getting to know and work with an at-risk student?; and (iii) What are the short-term changes in behavior and academic performance observed in at-risk students?
The second study will focus on the longer-term process exhibited by master teachers interacting with the at-risk boys. It will sample videotaped observational data from three time points over the entire twenty-four week program. The analyses will focus on these questions: (i) What instructional interaction behaviors and disciplinary interaction behaviors do master teachers use to help establish and maintain and build positive school identities for at-risk boys over time?; and (ii) What changes in interactional style and academic performance are observed over time (about six months) for at-risk boys?
The third component of this award will involve the completion of a systematic literature review bringing together the literature on the African-American non-Hispanic white educational achievement gap, teacher practices implicated in this gap, the development of positive school (and social) identities, and the link between positive school (and social) identities and academic achievement.
Inge Bretherton, Human Development and Family Studies, UW-Madison, will serve as Dr. Lewis's mentor.

Felicia Saffold, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, UW-Milwaukee - "Prospective Teachers' Attitudes about Working in Urban Schools: The Role of Field Experiences."
The changing demographics of American public schools have necessitated teacher educators to address the issues of preparing teachers for diverse learners. Evidence suggests that universities are populated with teacher education students who are from predominantly white, middle-class backgrounds who hope to t each in middle-class schools similar to those in which they were educated. It has also been noted that teachers in schools where the racial composition differs from their own tend to become disillusioned and contemplate leaving early in their careers. This gap between the biographies and experiences of a monocultural teaching force has serious implications for the academic outcomes of diverse populations of students whom they serve. Teacher education programs have responded in different ways, ranging from multicultural coursework to fieldwork placements in urban schools.
Prospective teachers, Dr. Saffold says, bring to preservice preparation definite ideas about children, learning, and teaching. Unless they become aware of their own preconceptions and how those preconceptions affect their notion of teaching and learning they are unlikely to reconstruct education so that it is fair and equitable for all students. There exists a need for an examination of how effective teacher education programs are enabling preservice teachers to develop an awareness of their attitudes, regarding issues of diversity - specifically race, class and gender. Further, in order for the next century's diverse population of learners to become empowered, prospective educators must be taught to develop an understanding of an appreciation for diversity that will enable them to affirm the cultures and background of the students whom they teach. One of the first steps in the process is an investigation of the effectiveness of field experience requirements in preservice education courses on these attitudes. To address this issue, Dr. Saffold's study will describe preservice teachers' attitudes about working in urban schools after completing various levels of field experience. In doing so, she will answer the following research question: What is the impact of early field experiences on preservice teachers' attitudes about working in urban schools, and does that change over time?
Serving as mentor will be Beverly Cross, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, UW-Milwaukee.