Final presentation Multiple Perspectives of Learning and Teaching Course Johns Hopkins University

1. Equitable Career Readiness
Preparation for Poor, Ethnic Minorities
Violet Ford
Johns Hopkins University

2. OVERVIEW
POP Statement
Conceptual and Theoretical Framework
Synthesis of Literature Key Highlights
Future Research
Conclusion

3. Problem of Practice
The infrastructure within which poor minority youth grow and attend school often lack
appropriate career guidance and resources leaving them to navigate postsecondary
opportunities with little to no guidance. This contributes to cyclical poverty (Holland,
2016). Minority students in America face challenges in achieving post-secondary success
within their careers paths as compared to non-minorities, causing cyclical poverty. One
reason for the gap between career path choice and successful career achievement may be
a lack of knowledge and information about careers and the education/preparation that is
needed to be successful (Jerrim, 2014). The infrastructure within which poor minority
youth grow and attend school often lack career guidance and resources that incorporate
student agency and interest, causing poor, ethnic youth by forcing them to navigate
postsecondary opportunities with little to no knowledge (Holland, 2016). Lack of
knowledge of available careers and erroneous information leads to reduced educational
achievement and lower employment stability, resulting in lower wages for minorities as
compared to non-minorities (Morgan et al., 2012; Sabates, Harris, & Staff, 2011). Learning
opportunities that spark career-related learning experience, and which are grounded
within a students’ life context such as their family, community, and school, are critical for
ethnic learners (Jackson, et al., 2011). Poverty-ridden communities in Central Oklahoma
City continually experience high victimization, violence, and delinquency rates exacerbated
by jobs that yield incomes that do not meet the socioeconomic needs of
minorities. Improper and inequitable career preparation practices perpetuate disparate
minority youth and hinder changes in their trajectory to create sustainable communities.

4. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
• Ecological Systems Theory
(Bronfenbrenner, 1994) using
Networked Ecological Systems
Theory (Neal & Neal, 2013)

5. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
• Social Cognitive Career Theory
(Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994, 2000)
• Critical Race Theory as an
educational theory
(Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995)

6. CHRONOSYSTEM
FACTOR: CYCLICAL POVERTY
• The U.S. Census (2016) reveals 24.1% of Black or
African Americans were in poverty in 2016, and 21.4%
Hispanic (any race), whereas 9.1% of Whites (non-
Hispanic) were in poverty.
• Subfactors Highlighted in Literature Review:
Residential mobility | Unstable family structures

7. MACROSYSTEM
FACTOR: EQUITABLE WAGES
• Skills mismatch and spatial mismatch effect minorities in
pursuing equitable wages leading back to cyclical poverty
(Houston, 2004).
• African Americans and Latinos have been found to achieve
upward career mobility at less than half the rate of Whites
(Cappelli, 2008; Farley, 2005).
Subfactors Highlighted in Literature Review:
Skills and spatial mismatch | Inequitable workplace mobility

8. EXOSYSTEM
FACTOR: INEQUITABLE RESOURCES
• Just one quarter of minority high schools with the
highest percentages of Blacks and Latinos offer
Algebra II. One third do not offer chemistry. Learning
opportunities offered in K-12, particularly in the areas
of STEM, help provide an important foundation for
success in college and career curriculum resources;
producing future career disparities for minorities
(Patrick & Worthen, 2014).

9. MESOSYSTEM
FACTOR: INEQUITABLE INSTRUCTION
• Research findings have found some teachers who are of a
different ethnicity are more likely to view ethnic students as harder
to work with, deeming them as more unruly, preoccupied, and less
likely to complete homework assignments (Dee, 2005).
Subfactors Highlighted in Literature Review:
Grading standards | Low Expectations and deficit thinking

10. MICROSYSTEM
FACTOR: SELF EFFICACY
• An internal barrier for low socio-
economic status students is low
educational aspirations (Watt, K.,
Huerta, J. & Lozana, A., 2007; Wolf,
2007). Racism and classism further
exacerbate poor, disadvantaged minority
students, disabling them from pursuing
higher education (Ward, 2006; Wolf,
2007).
Subfactors Highlighted in Literature
Review:
Racism | Poverty | Persistence

11. FUTURE RESEARCH
A considerable number of factors pervade the lives of
minority students, causing them to face inequities in
career readiness preparation. However, factors
involving quality instruction and student self-efficacy
more closely align with the professional context.
These two factors will provide the basis for a needs
assessment to move forward in research.

12. REFERENCES
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1994). Ecology models of human development. International encyclopedia of education pp. 1643-1647. Oxford, England: Elsevier.
Cappelli, P. (Ed.). (2008). Employment relationships: New models of white collar work. London:
Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511611544
Dee, T. S. (2005). A teacher like me: does race, ethnicity, or gender matter? American Economic Review, 95(2), 158–165. doi:10.1257/000282805774670446
Farley, R. (2005). The American people. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation. doi: 10.1177/009430610703600135
Holland, M. M., & DeLuca, S. (2016). “Why wait years to become something?” low-income African American youth and the costly career search in for-profit trade
schools. Sociology Education, 89(4), 261-278. doi:10.1177/0038040716666607
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Neal, J. W., & Neal, Z. P. (2013). Nested or networked? Future directions for ecological systems theory. Social Development, 22,722-737. doi:10.1111/sode.12018
Patrick, S. & Worthen, M. (2014) Equitable Opportunities for College and Career Ready Students. The International Association for K-12 Online Learning. Retrieved
from: www.inacol.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/iNACOL-Course-Access-Equitable-Opportunities-for-College-and-Career-Ready-Students.pdf
U. S. Census Bureau. (2016). Income and Poverty in the United States: 2016 (Report No. P60-259) Retrieved from
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