1979 - Effects of Biracial Learning Teams on Cross-Racial Friendships

Attribution: Slavin, Robert E.
Researchers: Robert E. Slavin
University Affiliation: Johns Hopkins University
Email: rslavin@jhu.edu
Research Question:
Studies the effects of biracial learning teams on cross-race friendship in desegregated junior high schools
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Journal of Educational Psychology
Journal Entry: Vol. 71, No. 3, pp. 381-387
Year: 1979
Findings:
  • In the post test, the experimental group indicates a significantly higher number and proportion of cross-race friendships than did the control groups. Black students named more White friends than White students named Black friends.
  • The percentage of minority students in class was not significantly related to the number or proportion of cross-race friendships.
  • However, the effect of multiracial learning groups was more pronounced in classes with high or low percentages of Black students than in racially balanced classrooms.
  • One pair of classes was analyzed in nine month follow-up. The experimental students made cross-race friendship choices three times as often as the control group students.
  • The proportion of cross-race friendships made by experimental group students was four times that of the control group students.
  • The research supports multiracial learning teams as a strategy to improve cross-racial attraction, thereby improving race relations in desegregated environments.
Keywords: Classroom CompositionCross Race FriendshipsDesegregationDiversityIntergroup RelationsRacial CompositionRegions: NortheastMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: Quasi-ExperimentAnalysis Methods: Regression Sampling Frame:Two inner city Baltimore junior high schools
Sampling Types: NonrandomAnalysis Units: StudentData Types: Quantitative-Cross Sectional
Data Description:
  • The sample is taken from two Baltimore inner city junior high schools. The initial sample was 420 students in 7th and 8th grades.
  • Complete data were obtained from 294 students (170 White, 124 Black) in 12 English classes (6 experimental and 6 control). Teachers volunteered to participate and each taught 1 experimental and 1 control class. Five teachers (1 White male, 2 Black women, 2 white women) taught English for 10 weeks.
  • Only Black and White students were included in the analysis.
  • The control group worked individually in class. The experimental group classes worked in multiracial learning teams.
  • Pre and post tests on race relations were administered–students were asked to list friends by name.
  • DV: cross race friendships
  • IV: race, treatment, race x treatment, pretest
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts