Using a model of student dropout with only two possible outcomes--"still in school" or "dropout"--hides the complex reasons that students leave high school. We offer a model with three outcomes: in school, pushed out or pulled out. Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Survey, we find that for black students, differences in SES explain…

Cross-national research finds that "shadow education"--educational activities outside of formal schooling--tends to confer advantages on already privileged students. Shadow education in the United States, such as test prep for college entrance exams, has received considerably less attention. Drawing on the National Education Longitudinal…

To investigate the role of body size in social networks, this study estimated cross-nested multilevel network models (p2) with longitudinal data from the 16 saturated schools in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. As body mass index increased, the likelihood of being nominated by schoolmates as friends--but not the likelihood of…

Using a sample of Louisville high school senior girls and their mothers, this paper tests whether the differential presence of role modeling processes helps to explain why higher percentages of black than white women work. (Author/AM)

Longitudinal data on over 2,000 students, beginning in seventh grade, were used to examine mobility patterns among instructional tracks over students' high school careers. Results indicate considerably more track mobility than is typically assumed. Most track changes occurred in the later grades and were related to gender, race, and family income.…

This study provides an extensive test of Ogbu's oppositional culture theory that accounts for student maturation over time. Using data from the Maryland Adolescence Development In Context Study (MADICS), I test the proposition that blacks resist school more than whites, and that this difference grows with age. Analyses were conducted across 24…

Uses matched data from the restricted-use National Educational Longitudinal Survey and the Common Core of Data to hierarchically model the simultaneous influences of family/peer and educational institutional processes on the Black-White gap in achievement among high school students. Suggests strong linkages between family/peer group attributes and…