Previous research in the spatial assimilation of racial and ethnic groups has not assessed trends over time due to methodological difficulties and data limitations. I use an innovative method to assess the intercensal changes in neighborhood spatial attainment for African Americans, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites in Houston, Texas, between 1970 and 2000. I extend the current literature by showing that an accepted and commonly used method for assessing longitudinal change in spatial attainment is flawed and yields incorrect results. I highlight an alternative approach which makes use of data readily available in Census Summary Files to estimate individual-level spatial attainment regressions. I also show that the choice of neighborhood size affects estimates of spatial attainment effects. Although the influence of spatial scale has been demonstrated in the segregation literature, its consequences for spatial attainment research have not. I investigate and report findings from four geographic scales useful to and commonly used by spatial attainment researchers: the block group, the Census tract, the Zip Code Tabulated Area, and the Public Use Micro Data Area. I compare the benefits and drawbacks of estimating spatial attainment at each level of geography.

abstract: This study addresses racial segregation in schools by examining the self-selecting patterns of middle class Asian immigrant parents in a public non-charter school district who enrolled their children in specialized academic programs. This phenomenological study focused on the educational history and the decision-making process of school choice in a sample of 11 Chinese and Vietnamese immigrant parents; a majority of them were identified as Chinese mothers. This study was conducted to answer the research questions: (R1) How do the parents' past experiences play a role in their perception of specialized academic programs and the decision-making process of selecting a school? (R2) What kind of informational networks or sources are used to make school choice? (R3) What are parents' notions of academic achievement or success for their children? (R4) How do parents' perceive specialized programs after engaging in them? This study sought to understand the relationship between the parents' own educational experiences and their negotiation of school choice for their children by collecting data through interviews, focus groups, and artifact documents. This study found that (1) the competitive conditions of the parents' educational experiences attributed to their sociocultural belief of education as social mobility which was a significant factor in their selection of an advanced program and expectations of high academic achievement; (2) mothers identified school reviews from friends as the most important information they obtained when they made school choice; these reviews took place in their coethnic social networks in Chinese language schools that offered their children heritage language development, academic, and nonacademic-based extracurricular classes; and (3) parents indicated that school choice is a continuous evaluative and comparative process. Overall, the study highlights the participants' bimodal acquisition of school advantages for their children in market-oriented school systems and the roles parents play in establishing cultural norms in making school choice. In return, these norms have depicted the participants in the model minority role, which leads to the perpetuation of the racist stereotype of all Asians as high achievers. This study has presented a multi-layered perspective of how middle class Chinese and Vietnamese American immigrant parents capitalize on specialized academic programs. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2012

Pesquisas recentes vêm encontrando que alunos negros têm pior desempenho escolar que alunos brancos em testes cognitivos padronizados. A segregação racial é freqüentemente apontada na literatura internacional como uma das principais responsáveis por essa diferença. Nessa dissertação, foi analisado o efeito da segregação racial escolar no diferencial de proficiência escolar entre alunos brancos e negros do ensino fundamental brasileiro. Nos modelos estimados, mesmo após a utilização de diversos controles, foi encontrada evidência de que onde há maior segregação, os negros tem pior desempenho relativamente aos brancos. / Recent research have found that black students have worse schoolar performance than white students in standardized cognitive tests. Racial segregation is frequently pointed out as one of the main factors behind this scenario in international literature. We have studied the effects of racial seggregation on the black-white grade gap in Brazil. In the estimated models, even after the inclusion of several control variables, we have found that where the racial seggregation is higher, the grade differential is higher against black students.

[pt] A presente dissertação tem por tema a espacialidade da cidade como uma política de segregação pública que engendra a política de segurança pública. Para tanto, pretende-se compreender de que forma a produção do espaço social e da cidade está intimamente relacionada ao modelo econômico adotado e como as tensões entre grupos sociais etnograficamente diferentes se reproduzem no espaço geográfico e na cidade. Assim, a presente dissertação se subdivide em: (a) compreensão da cidade como espaço de disputa; (b) compreensão da cidade como uma reprodução do capitalismo global; (c) as políticas de (re)planejamento urbano, visando o mercado mundial de cidades, que culminam em reproduções de segregações baseadas em classe e raça; (d) a análise do Rio de Janeiro como cidade global e o (re)planejamento urbano ocorrido em vista dos megaeventos, em conjunto com a segregação do Rio de Janeiro; (e) a análise da necroespacialidade que culmina na necropolítica da Segurança Pública. / [en] This dissertation has as its theme the spatiality of the city as a public segregation policy that engenders public security policy. Therefore, we intend to understan how the production of social space and the city is closely related to the economic model adopted and how the tensions between ethnographically diferente social groups are reproduced in the geographical space and in the city. Thus, this dissertation is subdivides into: (a) understanding of the city as a space of dispute; (b) understanding of the city as a reproduction of global capitalismo; (c) urban (re)planning policies, targeting the world city Market, which culminates i the reproduction of segregations based on class and race; (d) the analysis of Rio de Janeiro as a global city and the urban (re)planning that took place in view of the megaeven, together with the segregation of Rio de Janeiro; (e) the analysis of necrospace that culminates in the necropolitics of Public Security.

[pt] Essa dissertação tem como objetivo compreender a forma que o estigma do lugar e o racismo impactam a vida dos moradores do conjunto habitacional Bairro São Sebastião, construído pela organização católica Cruzada São Sebastião no bairro do Leblon no ano de 1955. As políticas remocionistas de favelas da Zona Sul dos anos 1960/1970 resultaram em um processo de segregação sócio-racial no espaço urbano carioca, já que os moradores dessas favelas, de maioria negra, foram removidos para bairros distantes da capital. No entanto, a experiência singular e pioneira do conjunto habitacional estudado recebeu parte dos moradores da antiga favela da Praia do Pinto, que se localizava ao lado do conjunto. Hoje, a Cruzada São Sebastião, como é comumente conhecido o conjunto habitacional, é ainda um local composto majoritariamente por pessoas negras em um dos bairros mais embranquecidos da cidade e com um dos metros quadrados mais caros do país. Através de entrevistas com os moradores e levantamento documental de reportagens de jornais foi possível obter dados relevantes sobre como o racismo impacta os moradores da Cruzada São Sebastião, assim como eles se organizam para fazer frente às formas de preconceitos que lhes são impostos. / [en] This dissertation aims to understand how the stigma of place and racism impact the lives of residents of the Bairro São Sebastião housing complex, built by the Catholic organization Cruzada São Sebastião in the Leblon neighborhood in 1955. The policies of favela removal in the South Zone in the 1960s and 1970s resulted in a process of social-racial segregation in the urban space of Rio de Janeiro, since the residents of these favelas, who were mostly black, were removed to distant neighborhoods in the capital. However, the unique and pioneering experience of the housing complex under study received part of the residents of the former Praia do Pinto slum, which was located next to the complex. Today, the housing complex is commonly known as Cruzada São Sebastião and still is a place composed mostly of black people in one of the most whitened neighborhoods in the city and with one of the most expensive square meters in the country. Through interviews with the residents and documentary research of newspaper reports it was possible to obtain relevant data on how racism impacts the residents of Cruzada São Sebastião, as well as how they organize themselves to face the forms of prejudice imposed on them.

The thesis "Role of the U.S. Supreme Court in American system of government and the importance of Court's decisions for the political process in the United States of America" deals with the institutional role U.S. Supreme Court has in American system of government and puts emphasis on Court's decisions and their practical consequences on the politics in the United States. In history of the country the Court was an influential decision-making body on many occasions. Although shortly after the federation was established many intended to put the Court in position where weak powers given to it would not enable the institution to fully play its role of the guardian that keeps an eye on the constitutionality of adopted laws, at the beginning of the 19th century the Court found its place and became exactly what it was originally intended to be. Decision in Marbury v. Madison gained the Court the crucial power of judicial review. The power of judicial review completely changed the role of the institution that finally became the guardian of the Constitution. This thesis outlines the institutional position of the judicial branch and especially the position of the Supreme Court in American system of government. It also focuses on the political aspects of the nomination process of Supreme Court Justices and...

This research is an ethnography which investigates the effects of Hurricane Katrina upon the capacity of African American Protestant churches in New Orleans to provide spiritual and social ministry to the city's underprivileged. More than three years after Hurricane Katrina unleashed its fury upon the city, fifty per cent of the churches remain as the hurricane left them. Pre-Katrina, fifty per cent of the population lived at or below the poverty line and depended upon faith-based programs as part of their support network and ladder toward selfsufficiency. Because of the disaster, there was substantive loss of parishioners, financial resources, and program operational infrastructure that severely limited or destroyed faith-based capacity to serve. The purpose of the study is to examine what social vulnerabilities and barriers hinder churches' capacity to serve community needs in four particular areas, including providing and advocating for affordable housing, quality health care, strategies for eliminating poverty, and disaster evacuation education, preparedness and response. The researcher hypothesizes that structural and institutional racism were already undermining that capacity pre-Katrina and continues to hinder it more than three years since. The study investigates the veracity of this hypothesis. It attempts to offer strategies to help mitigate the social vulnerabilities and increase the community's resiliency and sustainability against future disasters. This research is important because it provides increased awareness and understanding of how pre-existing social vulnerabilities in combination with Hurricane Katrina contributed to the lingering diminished capacity of the church and community. It also provides insight into how the faith community's attitude and action toward handling its vulnerabilities lead to increased resiliency and sustainability, and suggest a course of action toward the alleviation of marginalization of both the faith institutions and the people they serve.

Esse trabalho de pesquisa teve por objetivo estudar o fenômeno da discriminação racial presente no ambiente escolar, para que assim, pudéssemos compreender como as práticas educativas reforçam ou não, esse processo. Optou-se por uma abordagem qualitativa na modalidade história de vida, como instrumento de coleta de dados. Foram entrevistados dez jovens negros que freqüentaram em suas séries iniciais do ensino fundamental uma mesma escola pública situada em um conjunto habitacional popular de Ribeirão Preto. Nessas entrevistas eles relataram as vivências de discriminação racial ocorridas durante sua trajetória escolar. Os resultados obtidos apontaram a maneira como a discriminação racial, enquanto um fenômeno social se manifesta no interior da escolar. Procuramos identificar, a partir da representação dos próprios jovens participantes, como as práticas racistas presentes no cotidiano escolar impactaram as relações interpessoais entre estes e os demais estudantes. A ausência de ações pedagógicas planejadas pela escola como forma de mediar os conflitos raciais também foi alvo de problematização de nossa pesquisa. / This research job has as objective the racial segregation phenomenon present in school ambient in order to understand if the educational practices reinforce this process. It was chosen a qualitative boarding considering their lives history as data collection. It was interviewed ten young black people who attended the same public school on their first classes of the fundamental teaching, placed in a popular condominium in Ribeirão Preto. On these interviews they mentioned their racial segregation experiences occurred during their school path. The achieved results indicate the manner how the racial segregation, as a social phenomenon is manifested in the interior of the school. We tried to identify, from the representation of the own participant young people, how the racist practices present on the school quotidian caused impact on the interpersonal relationship between them and the other students. The absence of pedagogical actions planed by the school as a manner of mediate the racial conflicts was also the target of our research.

Esse trabalho de pesquisa teve por objetivo estudar o fenômeno da discriminação racial presente no ambiente escolar, para que assim, pudéssemos compreender como as práticas educativas reforçam ou não, esse processo. Optou-se por uma abordagem qualitativa na modalidade história de vida, como instrumento de coleta de dados. Foram entrevistados dez jovens negros que freqüentaram em suas séries iniciais do ensino fundamental uma mesma escola pública situada em um conjunto habitacional popular de Ribeirão Preto. Nessas entrevistas eles relataram as vivências de discriminação racial ocorridas durante sua trajetória escolar. Os resultados obtidos apontaram a maneira como a discriminação racial, enquanto um fenômeno social se manifesta no interior da escolar. Procuramos identificar, a partir da representação dos próprios jovens participantes, como as práticas racistas presentes no cotidiano escolar impactaram as relações interpessoais entre estes e os demais estudantes. A ausência de ações pedagógicas planejadas pela escola como forma de mediar os conflitos raciais também foi alvo de problematização de nossa pesquisa. / This research job has as objective the racial segregation phenomenon present in school ambient in order to understand if the educational practices reinforce this process. It was chosen a qualitative boarding considering their lives history as data collection. It was interviewed ten young black people who attended the same public school on their first classes of the fundamental teaching, placed in a popular condominium in Ribeirão Preto. On these interviews they mentioned their racial segregation experiences occurred during their school path. The achieved results indicate the manner how the racial segregation, as a social phenomenon is manifested in the interior of the school. We tried to identify, from the representation of the own participant young people, how the racist practices present on the school quotidian caused impact on the interpersonal relationship between them and the other students. The absence of pedagogical actions planed by the school as a manner of mediate the racial conflicts was also the target of our research.

This study evaluated the relative association of socioeconomic, minority group and housing characteristics of census tracts with the racial composition of residential areas within one southwestern city between 1950 and 1980. The unit of analysis was the census tract; the data were taken from the U.S. Census of Population and Housing 1950-1980 for the Fort Worth, Texas SMSAs. The Index of Dissimilarity compared racial segregation in the Fort Worth urbanized area for blacks with all others (1950-1980) and for Spanish and non-black minorities with all others (1960-1980). The data show little change in the extent of residential segregation over 30 years. The multiple regression showed that the degree of segregation in census tracts became increasingly predictable based on past minority concentration in the same neighborhood. Lagged social status and minority group variables significantly predicted the percent of the population that was black or Spanish in census tracts ten years later. Beta weights for percent black or percent Spanish were always the strongest in each tract regression and largely determined the level of segregation that existed in tracts ten years later. This paper asserts that social status characteristics must approach more equal levels between minority and majority groups before integrated neighborhoods can reasonably be expected. Yet many of these variables are still highly associated with black and Spanish areas. Rising income and improved housing in black census tracts give some basis for believing that in time these variables will narrow sufficiently to give more choice in residential housing. Although Spanish tracts are only about 65% as segregated as black census tracts and although the association of the variables with Spanish residential areas are never as strong as with black census tracts, still, with increased Spanish immigration in recent years and the downward trend found in social status factors within areas of Spanish concentration, Spanish residential areas may face increasing risks of greater segregation. It is recommended that emphasis on educational attainment and occupational training be continued, possibly augmented with civic programs designed to facilitate movement away from dynamic clustering.