Testing the Oppositional Culture Explanation in Desegregated Schools: The Impact of Racial Differences in Academic Orientations on School Performance

Recent studies suggest that anti-achievement attitudes and behaviors that are specific to black students occur most commonly in integrated or predominantly white school contexts. Accordingly, this study examines the degree to which racial differences in achievement-related attitudes and behaviors (collectively called academic orientations) actually contribute to corresponding differences in academic performance among nearly 25,000 students attending integrated secondary schools in the United States. The findings suggest that when controlling for socioeconomic status indicators, black students exhibit more pro-academic orientations than their white counterparts. School racial composition did not significantly influence these dynamics, and the racial composition of black students’ friend groups showed modest but inconsistent influence on academic orientations. Finally, the authors demonstrate that racial differences in expressed academic orientations have only negligible consequences for student performance, and thus do not show much promise for explaining or remedying black/white achievement disparities in secondary schools.