This article investigates mechanism-based explanations for a well-known empirical pattern in sociology of education, namely, that Black-White unequal access to school resources -- defined as advanced coursework -- is the highest in racially diverse and majority-White schools. Through an empirically calibrated and validated agent-based model, this study explores the dynamics of two qualitatively informed mechanisms, showing (1) that we have reason to believe that the presence of White students in school can influence the emergence of Black-White advanced enrollment disparities and (2) that such influence can represent another possible explanation for the macro-level pattern of interest. Results contribute to current scholarly accounts of within-school inequalities, shedding light into policy strategies to improve the educational experiences of Black students in racially integrated settings.
翻译:本文探讨了教育社会学中一个广为人知的经验模式背后的机制性解释,即黑人与白人在获得学校资源(定义为高级课程)方面存在的不平等,在种族多元化和白人占多数的学校中最为严重。通过一个经过经验校准和验证的基于主体的模型,本研究探索了两种基于定性观察的机制动态,表明(1)我们有理由相信学校中白人学生的存在可能影响黑白学生高级课程入学差距的产生,以及(2)这种影响可能代表对该宏观层面关注模式的另一种可能解释。研究结果有助于当前关于校内不平等的学术论述,为改善种族融合环境中黑人学生的教育经历的政策策略提供了启示。