Sociological evidence consistently demonstrates that racial progress coexists with persistent racial inequality in American society. Recently, increased evidence of police brutality against black citizens, as well as the 2016 presidential election, clearly confirms that, even in the wake of the Obama era, racial conflict plagues American democracy. There is a widely held consensus that college is an optimal time to engage American undergraduates with the challenges and possibilities of the country’s racial diversity. With that in mind, I explored whether college classrooms, in particular, might be optimal spaces for this engagement. I investigated the experience of undergraduates at a private, selective university, to ask how classroom experiences in courses on race might influence students’ understanding of race, if at all. I found that, drawing from the academic grounding that the classroom provided, students displayed increased capacity to engage with one another in intellectually courageous and empathetic ways. Further, I found that students’ understandings of race became more complex and more self-authored. I call this process—linking classroom dynamics to learning about race—brave community.

As a French-Canadian, Catholic institution, the University of Ottawa's practices and policies traditionally reflected the philosophy that universities served primarily to train boys for the professions. This ideal remained in effect until the mid-1950s when the University of Ottawa first considered actively recruiting women students. In 1959, the University hired Eveline LeBlanc to organize an initiative to actively recruit women students. This thesis explores two issues of importance to the study of women's history. Firstly, the main theme of this thesis pertains to Eveline LeBlanc and her professional role as a person of authority within the all-male, Catholic based administrative structure at the University of Ottawa during its transition to a co-educational institution. Secondly, this thesis also looks at the experiences of women students at the University of Ottawa from the mid-1950s until the mid-1960s as they struggle to obtain acceptance and define their position in a predominantly male setting.

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School quality and school choice are two hotly debated issues within current academic research, and the two topics are not wholly disconnected from one another. School quality literature includes debates over the most accurate definition, or definitions, of what constitutes school quality. Research addressing school choice often includes references to issues of school quality, albeit with different conclusions about the level of importance school quality plays in actual school choice decisions. In order to understand families' decisions about schools, one must recognize not only the ways in which perceptions of quality influence choices, but also that school quality and school choice are, at the same time, conceptually distinct topics. Therefore, the primary question guiding my research asks, is there a relationship between families perceptions of quality education and the school choices they ultimately make. More specifically, my research first explores how families determine what constitutes a quality school, and second, how that informs the schools they select for their children. I examine six distinct types of school choice options families may choose for their children: private, neighborhood public, magnet, charter, non-neighborhood public, or homeschooling. I investigate whether or not family assessments of quality vary along racial or socioeconomic lines and whether such variation explains some differences in families school choices by these sociodemographic characteristics. I explore families behavior during their search for their children school to determine if any racial or socioeconomic variation exists in how different families conduct this search. I also examine factors that may prevent some families from actualizing their ideals of school quality in their choices. In other words, are there obstacles to particular school choices for families from diverse social backgrounds? Data in this study comes from the Pennsylvania and Metropolitan Area Survey, collected with the Philadelphia Indicators project and Temple University Institute of Public Affairs. This survey includes households within five Pennsylvania counties; Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties as well as four counties in New Jersey: Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem counties. This sample includes only households including at least one school aged child (enrolled in grades kindergarten through twelfth grade) proving a sample size of N = 589 households. My findings demonstrate that significant variation by race and class exist in families perceptions of school quality, in specific school characteristics they report represent the most important indicator of school quality, in the number of school choice options families consider during the process of school choice decision making, in specific factors families report as most important for school choice decisions, and finally in the actual school choices families from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds make for their children education. Research about how families choose schools and how this decision making process differs by race and socioeconomic status can serve to inform discussions about increasing the amount of public choice schools such as magnets, charters, non-neighborhood public school transfer programs. This research has the potential to assist policy-makers in determining whether expanding such choice options may result in either an increase or a decrease in the ability of racial minorities and those with fewer financial means to attend quality schools. This research may also help determine whether current levels of school segregation along racial and class lines will improve or worsen as families ability to choose schools for their children expands. In Chapter 5 of my study, the unit of analysis for my sample size changes from families (N = 589) to the total number of school choices those 589 families made for their children, resulting in a sample size of N = 655 choices used only in Chapter 5. / Sociology

Despite the multiple and diverse types of school reform to influence instruction, curriculum and fiscal policies, many urban students have low educational success and attainment. A fundamental problem of school reform is that it fails to address the economic, social, physical and cultural challenges that plague urban communities, families and children. Many urban neighborhoods are plagued by violence, crime, homelessness, property damage, poverty and other ruinous and dire circumstances. The empirical literature on neighborhood effects has described a positive relationship between neighborhood conditions and youth developmental and behavioral outcomes. However, the results vary, and there is little consensus on which neighborhood characteristics is most important. The present study examines this issue by identifying several neighborhood characteristics that influence students' college-going behaviors and beliefs, specifically their college preparation, aspirations and enrollment. This study is difference from previous research in that it incorporates ideas from place-identity theory to conceptualize the individual experiences students face in have in their neighborhoods. To conceptualize or measure concepts related to place-identity theory, I use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to create student-level measures of neighborhood characteristics. The main data source for this study is the Philadelphia Educational Longitudinal Study (PELS), a seven-wave, longitudinal investigation of high school students and their parents. For this study, PELS is utilized to describe students' background characteristics, educational aspirations, and academic engagement and to link students to school data. In addition, census and geographic data are used to measure neighborhood disadvantage and students' spatial relationship to neighborhood liquor and beer stores and drug crimes. Consistent with findings from other neighborhood effects studies, the results from this study are mixed. Specifically, the findings reveal that the presence of some types of liquor stores and indicators of neighborhood disadvantage predict students' college-related indicators. The finding also indicate the individual-level neighborhood characteristics, that is the neighborhood features encountered the events experienced and those things seen by students, are important. Overall, I conclude from this study that student' experiences outside of school matter. Furthermore, this research suggests that future neighborhood research should utilize theories that directly hone in on individual perspectives and development, rather than focus on macro theories that solely focus on neighborhood processes, relationship and aggregate characteristics. Furthermore, future studies should incorporate GIS technologies and spatial analyses. Finally, I recommend that school reform measures to alleviate educational gaps and shortfalls should not only focus on the schooling environment, but also should incorporate broader policies to directly confront urban neighborhood disadvantage and family challenges. / Urban Education

Education is a crucial factor for nations to advance their social, cultural and economic well being. Gender equality in education is in direct proportion to gender equality in the labor force, in equal power in household and decision making. Educating females lower mother and baby mortality rates, generates higher educational attainment and achievement for next generations, and improves economic conditions of nations. Gender inequality in educational attainment and dropout rates is an agelong problem for Turkey since it was established in 1923. Girls are still have lower enrollment rates and higher drop out rates than their male counterparts in Turkey, even though education is free at all levels, there is a compulsory education law, financial aid is provided by government for parents to send their daughters to school, and there are boarding schools and free school services for girls living in rural areas. This thesis reviews a diverse literature on female education and the barriers to female education in the Turkish education system. In this thesis the background of the Turkish education system and the place of female education in that system are explored and the main barriers to female education in Turkey are analyzed through a review of the literature on gender gap, female education, and education policies. Some social and political strategies are suggested for Turkish policy makers, teacher educators, social workers, and teachers in order to promote female education and gender equity in the Turkish education system. / Urban Education

This dissertation examines the relationship between school choice and race. I examine whether the racial composition of schools influences choices and whether choices of private and public choice schools lead to greater segregation and stratification in neighborhood schools. I improve on existing research by adopting the theoretical framework used in neighborhood preferences literature to distinguish between race and race-associated reasons as motivations for avoiding racially integrating schools. This study utilizes geocoded data from the Philadelphia Area Study (PAS) and elementary school catchment maps to examine families' preferences and behaviors in the context of the actual conditions of their assigned schools. Catchment maps are integrated with Census data to determine whether choice schools have a role in white flight and segregation and stratification in neighborhood schools. The findings suggest that families are most likely to avoid neighborhood schools with high proportions of racial minorities. However, attitudes regarding racial climates are more consistent predictors of preferences than the actual racial composition of local schools. Highly segregated neighborhood schools satisfy families who desire racially homogeneous school climates, as do private schools. Families who seek diverse environments are more likely to look to charter and magnet schools. The white flight analysis shows that whites are more likely to leave schools that have modest proportions of black students, and less likely to leave schools that are already integrated. These results suggest that whites react especially strongly to schools with low levels of integration, and those who remain in the few racially balanced schools do so out of a preference for diversity or because they do not have the resources to leave. Public choice schools spur white flight in urban areas, but actually reduce flight in suburban schools. Finally, I find that choice schools do not uniformly affect the degree to which racial groups are spatially segregated from whites, and they also do not uniformly affect the degree to which racial groups attend more or less disadvantaged schools than whites. This suggests that segregation and stratification are two distinct aspects of racial inequality and should be considered separately when evaluating the effectiveness of choice programs. / Sociology

The purpose of this dissertation is to look at the problem of teen pregnancy and parenting on a national, state and local level. When dealing with the local level, the study will deal with the Adolescent Parenting Program (APP), Cambridge, Massachusetts. The first purpose of the study was to look at the research and literature on the topic of teen pregnancy and parenting to better understand the extent, magnitude, and issues surrounding this problem. The goal of the study was to contact participants of APP at Cambridge Rindge and Latin. The study utilized an author developed questionnaire and one-to-one interviews to gather research on the APP. With the results of the questionnaires and the interviews, many factors were found to have impacted on these pregnant and parenting teens, including family constellation, marital status of the parents of the respondents, marital status of the respondents, age dating was initiated, age sex was initiated, fear of sexually transmitted diseases, methods of birth control, age at birth of first child, planned/unplanned pregnancy, completing high school, employment, and relationship with baby's father. The first purpose of the study was to look at the problem of pregnant and parenting teens at a national, state, and local level. Research substantiated the need to help pregnant and parenting teens and this confirmed the need for the APP in Cambridge. The second and most important part of the study was to determine whether or not the APP was effective. The questionnaires and interviews confirmed this. The third purpose of the study was to determine whether Cambridge needed to do more in the area of teen pregnancy and parenting. There are various area that need improvement, but finances are a major issue. The fourth purpose of the study was to determine whether the APP and the First Steps Day Care could be replicated in other communities. There has been a great deal of interest demonstrated in these two programs, but there must be a commitment of not only money, but also of people to make the programs work.

Recently, many college administrators have attempted to create a climate on their campuses which emphasizes the importance of valuing all members of the campus community, encouraging diversity of the student population, and educating those who are intolerant of diversity. As a result, many students on our college campuses are resentful and angered by attempts to "force feed" them information regarding issues of diversity. Such resistance must be considered when planning a curriculum that emphasizes diversity education. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of an educational game lessens student resistance toward diversity education while increasing content, behavioral, and attitudinal change. Eighteen participants, a selected group of college students and facilitators, played the game for a 90-minute period, exploring racism and heterosexism during the playing of the game. Pre- and postgame interviews and two follow-up interviews (one week and four to six weeks later) were conducted with each participant. Participants were asked two broad questions: How did participants experience playing the game? This was based on participants' perceptions, my observations during the playing of the game, interviews, and participants' journals. Did playing the game influence the participants' knowledge, awareness, or actions regarding racism and heterosexism, and if so, how?