Prospectus

Problem statement:

Our students spend 10 years or more in classrooms during the most formative parts of their lives. The time students and teachers spend together affects student maturation, intellectual development, social skills, and academic achievement. Students' identity development in a school context is less well understood. Since students spend the largest portion of their waking lives in schools it is important to understand how they see themselves as budding adults in that context. An individual's identity is constructed from many pieces of the person's life, from gender, sexual preference, race, family structure, and the neighborhood the student lives it, to a family's religious practices, and the culture of the schools that he or she attends. Today's students' ethnic and racial identity are not as clear cut as we think. Over the past 30 years the number of interracial people (individuals who claim more than one ethnic or racial category) in the US has risen significantly. President Obama's recent election makes this gap, in knowledge about a growing proportion of this society that claims multiple categories of race and ethnicity, a glaring one and a field which urgently needs to be explored.

My research will examine how these biracial/multiracial/multiethnic young men and women construct identity in school settings. Research on minority achievement focuses on how they are perceived by schools, teachers, school counselors, administrators and the school researchers, but understanding students perceptions and perspective of self-identifying is still a developing field of inquiry. This project seeks to give these students voice and gain a greater understanding of how they see themselves and how they understand how others perceive them. It also examines the implications of identity for school achievement, post high school aspirations, and social environment at school.

Related research:

80 years of research on biracial identity has shown that individuals with mixed identity are a marginalized individuals, who spend a lifetime struggling to merge their different at times 'warring' parts (Park 1928; Erikson, 1963). More recent research has found that racial identity construction is not static, especially for people who have multiple ethnicities or who belong to different racial groups (Daniel, 2003; Root; 1996; Rockquemore, 1999). Anecdotal evidence from research, shows that biracial students do not always hold the same concepts of identity that US society or US schools holds of them, yet they are affected by the same stereotyping as their minority counterparts and are understood primarily through minority research on academic successes and failures (Root 1992; Wardle, 2000). Bicultural and biracial identity research has pointed out that these students appear to have much more fluid identities. Living in and navigating disparate cultures may allow them insight in to cultures than people who feel more comfortable in one culture (Berry, 1976; Rockquemore, 1999). Some researchers would argue that to distinguish black/white biracial students as a separate cultural group from the black minority is an attempt to attain a status that is higher than the status of African Americans (Spencer, 2006, Chiong, 1998). While much research has been done on minorities in urban school settings there is prescious little research on biracial and multiracial students in secondary school environments, and their academic achievement (Ayers et al., 2008; Kinshloe et al., 2007; Tatum 1997). Popular culture, social environment, and school structures affect a person's identity. A students' social and cultural identity choices shape her conception of educational accesses and success. (Tatum, 1997; Fordham, 1996; Ogbu, 1987). This research aims to fill the gap that exists regarding how the fastest growing group of US students, develop identity and function in school environments.

Research objectives:

1. Use ethnographic methods to elicit from students how they understand their developing adult identity, how their perceptions of self differs or reinforces current social expectations and school success.

2. Use the data elicited from students to construct a deeper understanding of how biracial/multiracial students use their varied social and cultural skills to negotiate social and academic relationships in school.

3. Use the data from my research to help teachers, school administrators, counselors and other school related individuals develop a deeper understanding of how students' identity and conception of self help or hinder the student experience within school culture.

4. Explore the impact the social settings in schools has on how the students work and play in schools and how it intersects with students learning and achievement.

5. Help teachers and students develop a more open dialog about identity and help to explore and develop more culturally relevant tools and curricula for an increasing segment of the US population.

Methodology:

My research will take place between April 2010 and December 2010. Through the use of ethnographic data collection methods, interviews, observations and focus groups, the research develops a framework of identity and students' understanding of the juxapostion of self perception and societal perception within the students' school lives (Ogbu, 1981).

A) Sample of population. A purposive sample of 6-8 self identified biracial black/white students in 11-12th grade will be identified for participation in the research through informal interviews and in collaboration with school faculty, staff and administrators.

B) Data collection procedures. Data will be collected through: 1) participant observation in classrooms, hallways, the cafeteria, on school grounds, at school events, and other relevant community settings; 2) informal interviews with students, faculty, staff, and administrators about topics related to the research focus, as well as important events in the life of the school; 3) formal interviews with students, as well as faculty members, parents, and community members;  4) a parental online blogging community. These observations and interviews will focus on understanding students’ notions of what identity: gender, sexual, religious, academic, racial, ethnic means for them and how these relate to their perception of self and their educational opportunities. Specific areas of inquiry include investigating student social groupings, descriptive language students use to "classify" themselves and their social groups, social, educational and cultural factors that students describe as affecting their academic engagement, student interest in and use of popular culture, and perceptions of status, hierarchies and subgroups within the student cultures.

C) Data analysis. Much of the data analysis is conducted during the focused data collection, after the study, observational, interview and video data will be analyzed through a process of analytic induction (Creswell, 2008; Huberman & Miles, 1994; Patton, 2002). Ideally, much of this analysis and interpretation will be done in collaboration with teachers, students, and parents in order to garner more accurate results and analysis. The NVIVO qualitative analysis software will also be used in the analysis process.

Time schedule:

Data will be collected between May 2010 and December 2010. During this time period I will be present in the school 1-3 days per week, working with and observing the students for a period of three months. To begin with I will be conducting informal interviews with the selected students and their parents. Some of these interviews and observations will take place in the schools, at school function as well as in other venues away from school grounds. The formal interviews will be conducted toward the end of my sojourn in the school, once I have had time to establish myself with the group.

Personnel and contact information for investigator and adviser contacts:

Primary investigator:

Brynja E. Gudjonsson, PhD Candidate, gudjo002@umn.edu, Comparative International Development Education, School of Education and Human Development, U of M Twin Cities.

Graduate advisers:

Dr. Gerald Fry, gwf@umn.edu, Comparative International Development Education, School of Education and Human Development, U of M Twin Cities.

Dr. Peter Demerath, pwd@umn.edu, Comparative International Development Education, School of Education and Human Development, U of M Twin Cities.

Facilities:

Since much of the data collection involves informal interviewing and observations, I will not require any designated facilities until the video project begins. I will be providing the students with small inexpensive hand video recorders for the project as well as the editing software for the films, but access to a room for some filming and the editing toward the end of my project would be useful. I hope to allot time for this final student piece during free periods and after school.

Cited references:

Ayers, W., Ladson-Billings, G., Michie, G., & Noguera, P. (Eds.). (2008). City kids, city schools: More reports from the front row.

Berry, J. W. (1976). Human ecology and cognitive style : Comparative studies in cultural and psychological adaptation. Beverly Hills : New York: [Beverly Hills] : Sage Publications ; New York : distributed by Halsted Press.

Chiong, J. A.. (1998). Racial categorization of multiracial children in schools. Westport, Conn. Bergin & Garvey.

Creswell, J. W. (2008). Educational research : Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.

Daniel, G. R. (2002). More than black? : Multiracial identity and the new racial order. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Erikson, Erik H. (1963). Youth: Change and challenge. New York: New York, Basic Books.

Fordham, S. (1996). Blacked out: Dilemmas of race, identity, and success at Capital High. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Gudjonsson, B. E. (2008). Field notes on biracial success.

Huberman, A. M., & Miles, M. B. (1994). Data management and analysis methods. In Y. L. E. In N. Denzin (Ed.), Handbook of qualitative research . Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Kincheloe, J. L., & Hayes, K. (Eds.). (2007). Teaching city kids : Understanding and appreciating them. New York: Peter Lang.

Ogbu, J. U. (1981). School ethnography: A multilevel approach. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 12(1, Issues in School Ethnography), 3-29.

Ogbu, J. U. (1987). Variability in minority school performance: A problem in search of an explanation. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 18, 312-34, 368-82.

Park, R. E. (1928). Human Migration and the Marginal Man. American Journal of Sociology, 33, 881-893.

Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research & evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publishing.

Rockquemore, K. (2002). Beyond black : Biracial identity in America. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Sage Publications.

Root, M. P. P. (Ed.). (1996). The multiracial experience: Racial borders as the new frontier. London [Enk] ; Thousand Oaks, Cal.: Sage.

Spenser, R. (2006). Challenging multiracial identity. Boulder, CO. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.

Tatum, B. D. (1997). "Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?" and other conversations about race. New York: New York : Basic Books.

Wardle, F. (2006) Meeting the Needs of Multiethnic and Multiracial Children in Schools. Allyn & Bacon