UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A new book by a Penn State College of Education professor offers insights into how educators can learn to create equitable and accessible high-achieving pathways and learning opportunities for low-income students of color.
“This book offers an exciting new direction for research and practice in the schooling of students of color,” said Gilberto Q. Conchas, The Wayne K. & Anita Woolfolk Hoy Endowed Chair of Education. “Aside from its contributions to theory, these studies provide specific empirical findings that can be assessed in various contexts.”
The main findings of the research presented in the book is that educational leaders can promote positive relationships and a sense of belonging, Conchas said. Students formed strong bonds with one another and with their teachers. The faculty, in turn, also reported high levels of camaraderie.
“Thus, the student voices and educational leaders demonstrated, as well as the quantitative data show, that teacher relationships and peer relationships matter in school,” he said.
“The Color of Success 2.0: Race and Transformative Pathways for High-Achieving Urban Youth” is a follow-up to Conchas’ award-winning 2006 book, “The Color of Success: Race and High-Achieving Urban Youth.” The original book revealed how and why some low-income students of color, particularly Black, Latino and Vietnamese urban high school students, achieve academic success despite limited opportunity.
“When ‘The Color of Success’ was first published in 2006, I was surprised at how well the book was received,” Conchas said. “Much has occurred since 2006 and this new edition reflects the new realities of our changing society — both the challenges and the opportunities. ‘The Color of Success 2.0’ is more than a second edition as it not only builds on the transformative approaches of the original book, but also utilizes a critical lens to examine the intersectional identities of students and the role of existing power hierarchies within schools.”
In “The Color of Success 2.0,” Conchas said he aimed to amplify student voice; explore school, family and community partnerships; and promote culturally relevant pedagogy and teacher preparation. The new version includes a chapter on Black male optimism after the election of former President Barack Obama.
“With a sense of urgency, readers will gain vital insights for understanding what is needed to create, promote and expand equitable school environments and transformative pathways for racially minoritized urban youth,” Conchas said.
For the original study in the first book, data included interviews with teachers, administrators and staff at Baldwin High School in Northern California during the 1996–97 and 1997–98 academic years. For the sequel, Conchas conducted a follow-up study of 24 Black male 10th- through 12th-grade students at Smith High School, which is in a diverse Southern California city. This case study is embedded within a larger comparative project of Latino, Asian and Black males in the Palmview Male Cooperative (PMC) during 2008–09 and 2012–13. PMC, an extracurricular social and academic academy that consists of racially, ethnically and class-diverse students, is a district-wide initiative that was designed to achieve two main goals: increase high school graduation rates and support professional career planning for “underrepresented promising male students.” The goal of the research project was to determine the effectiveness of the PMC implementation and its ability to improve the educational outcomes of its members. The data, collected through semi-structured interviews with students, presented in the new edition are derived from the 2008-09 phase of the study.
“Through these interviews, we sought to illuminate their perspectives on race and ethnicity, schooling and academic achievement within the context of their lives,” Conchas said.
The new book also includes a chapter on educational leaders and their implementation of transformative school pathways for high-achieving urban youth. This case study explores innovative approaches to educational leadership that promote college and career success, Conchas said.
“These key institutional agents purposely and strategically use approaches more likely to facilitate the necessary cultural change within systems, the analysis of practices and the successful collaboration between partners,” he said.
According to Conchas, the book demonstrates a need to devise institutional support systems and new pedagogical approaches that embrace differences and create a positive disposition toward school success — especially focused on transforming students’ perceptions of the opportunity structure.
“Before tangible progress occurs, we must wrestle with the weight of larger socioeconomic inequity, racism and their devastating impact on the perceptions of students of color regarding social mobility,” Conchas said. “The numerous voices in the book wisely reveal a deafening call that the time is ripe to challenge inequality head-on and promote public school success despite incredible odds.”
Conchas, born to Mexican immigrant farm workers in East Los Angeles, California, obtained a master of arts and a doctorate in sociology from the University of Michigan and a bachelor of arts in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. He was an educational policy and social context professor at the University of California, Irvine; an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education; and a senior program officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
