Barbara Schneider 
Handbook of the Sociology of Education in the 21st Century 

This handbook unifies access and opportunity, two key concepts of sociology of education, throughout its 25 chapters. It explores today’s populations rarely noticed, such as undocumented students, first generation college students, and LGBTQs; and emphasizing the intersectionality of gender, race, ethnicity and social class. Sociologists often center their work on the sources and consequences of inequality. This handbook, while reviewing many of these explanations, takes a different approach, concentrating instead on what needs to be accomplished to reduce inequality. A special section is devoted to new methodological work for studying social systems, including network analyses and school and teacher effects. Additionally, the book explores the changing landscape of higher education institutions, their respective populations, and how labor market opportunities are enhanced or impeded by differing postsecondary education pathways. Written by leading sociologists and rising stars in thefield, each of the chapters is embedded in theory, but contemporary and futuristic in its implications. This Handbook serves as a blueprint for identifying new work for sociologists of education and other scholars and policymakers trying to understand many of the problems of inequality in education and what is needed to address them.

Table of Content

Part I. Families, Schools, and Educational Opportunity.- Chapter 1. Family, Schooling, and Cultural Capital; George Farkas.- Chapter 2. Power, Relationships, and Trust in Sociological Research on Homes, Schools and Communities; Erin Mc Namara Horvat and Karen Pezzetti.- Chapter 3. Schools and Inequality: Implications from Seasonal Comparison Research; Douglas Downey, Aimee Yoon and Elizabeth Martin.- Part II. The Changing Demographics of Social Inequality.- Chapter 4. Race, Class, and Theories of Inequality in the Sociology of Education; Samuel R. Lucas and Veronique Irwin.- Chapter 5. Educational Achievement and Attainment Differences among Minorities and Immigrants; Phoebe Ho and Grace Kao.- Chapter 6. Gender and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Educational Outcomes; Catherine Riegle-Crumb, Sarah Blanchard Kyte and Karisma Morton.- Chapter 7. Undocumented Youth and Local Contours of Inequality; Roberto Gonzales and Edelina M. Burciaga.- Chapter 8. Sociological Perspectives on First Generation College Students; Irenee Beatty.- Chapter 9. School Experiences and Educational Opportunities for LGBTQ Students; Jennifer Pearson and Lindsey Wilkinson.- Part III. The Social Organization of Schooling and Opportunities for Learning.- Chapter 10.  School Choice and Learning Opportunities; Megan Austin and Mark Berends.- Chapter 11. Curricular Differentiation and Its Impact on Different Status Groups Including Immigrants  and Students with Disabilities; Jamie M. Carroll and Chandra Muller.- Chapter 12. Teaching Quality; Sean Kelly, Ben Pogodzinski and Yuan Zhang.- Chapter 13. Social Networks and Educational Opportunity; Kenneth Frank, Yun-jia Lo, Kaitlin Torphy and Jihyun Kim.- Chapter 14. The Social Contexts of High Schools; Robert Crosnoe, Lilla Pivnick and Aprile Benner.- Chapter 15. Work Intensity and Academic Success; Jeremy Staff, Jeylan T. Mortimer and Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson.- Part IV. Educational Opportunities and the Transition Into Adulthood.- Chapter 16. Students’ Educational Pathways: Aspirations, Decisions, and Constrained Choices along the Education Life Course; Michal Kurlaender and Jacob Hibel.- Chapter 17. Student Experiences in College; Richard Arum, Josipa Roksa, Jacqueline Cruz and Blake Silver.- Chapter 18. The Community College Experience and Educational Equality: Theory, Research, and Policy; Lauren Schudde and Eric Grodsky.- Chapter 19. College-For-All: Alternative Options and Procedures; James Rosenbaum, Caitlin Ahearn and Jennifer Lansing.- Chapter 20. The Future of Higher Education: What’s the Life Course Got to Do with It?; Richard A. Settersten, Jr. and Barbara Schneider.- Part V. Sociological Perspectives on Accountability and Evaluation.- Chapter 21. Accountability, Achievement, and Inequality in American Public Schools: A Review of the Literature; Joel Mittleman and Jennifer Jennings.- Chapter 22. Methods for Examining the Effects of School Poverty on Student Test Score Achievement; Douglas Lee Lauen, Brian L. Levy and E. C. Hedberg.- Chapter 23. School and Teacher Effects; Stephen Morgan and Daniel T. Shackelford.- Chapter 24. Experimental Evidence on Interventions to Improve Educational Attainment at Community Colleges; David Monaghan, Tammy Kolbe and Sara Goldrick-Rab.-  Chapter 25. Research-Practice Partnerships in Education; Paula Arce-Trigatti, Irina Chukhray and Ruth N. López Turley.

About the author

Barbara Schneider is the John A. Hannah Chair and Distinguished Professor in the College of Education and Department of Sociology at MSU. She is the principal investigator of the College Ambition Program (CAP), a study that tests a model for promoting a STEM college-going culture in two high schools that encourages adolescents to pursue STEM majors in college and occupations in these fields. She worked for 18 years at University of Chicago, holding positions as a professor in Sociology and Human Development and senior researcher at the National Opinion Research Center (NORC). She remains a senior fellow at NORC, where she is the principal investigator of the Center for Advancing Research and Communication in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. She uses a sociological lens to understand societal conditions and interpersonal interactions that create norms and values that enhance human and social capital. Her research focuses on how the social contexts of schools and families influence the academic and social well being of adolescents as they move into adulthood. Professor Schneider has published 15 books and over 100 articles and reports on family, social context of schooling, and sociology of knowledge. She recently was the editor of Sociology of Education.