Contribution of Cross-Racial Friendship to Minority Group Achievement in Desegregated Classrooms

Abstract

The hypothesis that growth in achievement for desegregated black pupils is faciliated by acceptance into the majority group peer structure is tested through path analysis of longitudinal data. The sample consists of 154 black sixth graders in 22 majority-white classrooms in Boston. The model is to some degree validated. Previous desegregation experience is found to contribute to popularity with whites both directly and indirectly through its effect on previous achievement. In turn, popularity with whites contribute to sixth grade achievement measured by GPA, but not by reading test scores. Two mechanisms are identified that may explain the effect of popularity on achievement: the facilitation of acceptance into the majority group peer structure and the normative influence of association with achievement-oriented peers. School desegregation programs frequently have as their objective the raising of minority group academic achievement and the promotion of cross-racial friendliness. Seldom, however, do such programs consider either the interconnection between these twin goals or whether the attainment of the one is related to the attainment of the other. As long ago as 1964, Katz suggested, on the basis of psychological theory and his own laboratory experiments with black students in biracial situations, that school desegregation involves both social threat and social facilitation. The numerical predominance of white classmates and their hostility or lack of friendliness, Katz argued, would be a source of distraction and intellectual impairment for black children, especially if they feared that whites