Professor David Rangel, Assistant Professor of Education, is conducting the Families and Schools Project on Latinx families to understand how social and educational inequalities are passed down through generations and provide a comprehensive look at the ways in which class, race, and ethnicity intersect to influence Latinx students’ educational outcomes. Rangel was recently awarded funding from the Spencer Foundation to support this research. His research includes interviews with Latinx parents and data collection from schools in Texas. He is working with undergraduate student researchers to investigate how Latinx students and their families navigate educational contexts and understand how differences in identity, such as immigration status and social class, impact their experience and outcomes.
The inspiration for this research is deeply personal. “I’ve reflected a lot on my educational experiences, asking how schools can fail some students while still providing opportunities for others,” Rangel explains. As a sociologist, Rangel is interested in patterns of inequality and is exploring a number of questions related to understanding its mechanisms through this research on Latinx families.
One of the key aspects of Rangel’s work is the intersection of class, race, and ethnicity in Latinx child-rearing practices. Rangel acknowledges the dominance of class-based theories of inequality in the academic literature, noting, "There was a large and predominant focus on social class and socioeconomic explanations of educational inequality, which are undeniably important. But these explanations often missed how race and ethnicity also shaped experiences." By using Latinx families as a case study, Rangel seeks to refine existing sociological theories of inequality and highlight how race and ethnicity play a pivotal role in shaping educational outcomes.
The first paper is in progress, focused on the motivations and beliefs of middle-class Latinx parents with elementary school children surrounded by a predominantly middle-class Latinx educational setting. The primary finding is that parents frequently define the parameters of their school involvement in race-conscious ways, seeking educational advantages for their children by leveraging kindness and diminishing expertise with teachers.
As Rangel explores Latinx middle-class families’ involvement in their children’s schooling, another key finding has been how these parents approach schools in ways that differ from the existing research predictions. Latinx middle-class parents “tend to be more deferential toward teachers, favoring relationship-building over confrontation. They also take a collectivist view, addressing issues not just for their own children but for the whole classroom.” He has also found that "despite negative experiences with faculty or staff, [Latinx] parents continue to view education as a path to opportunity.” This resilience and determination are often overlooked in discussions of educational inequality, which too frequently adopt deficit perspectives.
Another facet of Rangel’s research explores the connection of Latinx parental educational attainment to infant health. "By understanding these links, I hope to uncover new ways inequality is transmitted across generations,” Rangel explains. One surprising finding was how infant health outcomes, such as birth weight, were often similar for babies born to college-educated Latino parents and those with parents who had little education. This challenges assumptions about the direct correlation between parental education and better health outcomes.
Looking ahead, one area of focus for Rangel is to better understand how teachers and school administrators perceive and respond to the efforts of Latinx families, “especially how they differ across well-resourced and under-resourced schools." Rangel hopes to give a more complete picture of how school-family dynamics contribute to or challenge educational inequality.