Race, parents, and schools: Understanding how parental racial socialization operates within schools as racialized organizations

Abstract

This study brings together scholarship on racial socialization and racialized organizations to explore how parental racial socialization operates in schools. Using student-level data from the Maryland Adolescent Development In Context Study and school-level data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the Civil Rights Data Collection, I investigate the extent to which engagement in parental racial socialization affects the academic outcomes and educational experiences of Black and White high school students. I find parental racial socialization has positive impacts on students' GPAs for Black students and on students' probability of liking school for both Black and White students. Additionally, I evaluate students' perceptions of school organizational practices as racialized and find negative impacts on academic outcomes and educational experiences for all students. Finally, I find a significant interaction between parental racial socialization and perceived racialized organizational practices of schools, highlighting the moderating impact of parental racial socialization on Black students’ GPAs. Overall, findings suggest that academic outcomes and educational experiences are both a function of parental racial socialization and the perceived racialized organizational practices of schools. Moreover, within schools as racialized organizations, the variation in findings suggest parental racial socialization serves as an academic tool for Black students and a social tool for White students.