RACE AND THE REPRODUCTION OF EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGE

Research has uncovered many mechanisms that exacerbate racial inequali ties in achievement. Due to specialization within the field however, l ittle focus has been devoted to the multitiered and often interconnect ed institutional nature of these processes. Matching data from the res tricted-use National Educational Longitudinal Survey and the Common Ca re of Data, I hierarchically model the influence of family/peer and ed ucational institutional processes simultaneously on the black-white ga p in achievement The modeling strategy used offers a more comprehensiv e understanding of the reproductive interinstitutional dynamics at wor k, suggesting strong linkages between family/peer group attributes and access to educational resources. I conclude fry suggesting the need t o extend this line of inquiry a step further still, developing a theor etically driven contextual and spatial understanding of educational op portunity and achievement.