TRENDS IN BLACK-WHITE DIFFERENCES IN EDUCATIONAL EXPECTATIONS - 1980-92

This article evaluates changes in social background, resource constrai nts, and labor market incentives as complementary explanations for dif ferences in the educational expectations of two cohorts of Black and W hites high school students. Although improvement in social background can account for part of the aggregate between-cohort increase in expec tations, relative direct costs and labor market incentives are necessa ry to explain the remaining increase, why Black students adjusted expe ctations were higher than White students', why students' expectations increased more than did Black students', and why the expectations of B lack students of both cohorts were more likely to increase between the sophomore and senior years of high school.