What is the
Capital Forms Gap?
Simply put, it's the disparity in learner outputs that prepares certain students to be Human Capital and others to be Capital Owners.
Overview of the "Capital Forms Model" Conceptual Framework
The novel Capital Forms Model details the systemic structure of scholastic input, process, and output components.
Regarding input, special emphasis is placed on two inputs influenced by the external environment – narrative lens and scholastic era. Narrative lens considers student membership to elite, mainstream, or marginalized societal communities, while scholastic era deals with the temporal context of schooling.
The combination of these inputs determines both the nature of schooling processes, as well as scholastic output of human capital (HC) or capital owner (CO) form.
Figure 1 here shows the intersection of the three narrative lenses against three temporal contexts (democratic equality, social efficiency, and social mobility). At the intersection of each narrative and temporal domain, is the category of scholastic output produced for a specific type of student within a specific context.
Figure 2 shows the relative novelty of the achievement gap within the context of the capital forms model. Here we can see that the achievement gap is a really a discussion of the disparities between two groups (mainstream and marginalized).
Figure 3 shows the much larger capital forms gap, which has had greater permanence across the time span of this temporal context, but less discussion. The capital forms gap subsumes the relatively newer achievement gap.
How did this research get started?
In a discussion on servicing academically low-performing students in a summer school program, my White colleague expressed her view that “although we push these kids to excel, someone has to grow up to be the janitor, the bus driver, and fill other low wage positions. Society needs these positions, too”. As I looked around at the faces of Black and Brown students gathered in her classroom awaiting her instruction, my response took the form of a question. “Who, exactly, was expected to fill these positions? Who?”
Purpose of My Study
In the premiere study of the Capital Forms Gap phenomenon, I examined the outputs for the intersection of marginalized narrative input and social mobility temporal era through the lens and lived experiences of African American public school students preparing for human capital ends.
I also examined indicators of this HC processing in relation to HC-based phenomena such as the well-research academic achievement and disciplinary gaps.
Background of Problem
Stakeholders of the education community generally agree that public schools should ensure students are job- and career-ready. The unidirectional aim of career readiness, however, exacerbates issues of inequitable capital distribution within the U.S., as students from marginalized communities make up an oversupply of human capital (HC) and an undersupply of capital owners (CO). Overproduction of individuals as HC implicates public schools in contributing to the gap between HC and CO output.
Methods
To understand mechanisms of human capital processing, as experienced by public-school students, a mixed-methods design employed sequential, equal status quantitative and qualitative components in an explanatory, sequential design.
This design allowed the study’s participants to both provide their perspectives on and tell stories of their own processing experiences.
Findings
An exploratory factor analysis confirmed the validity of two scales: resistance and reproduction.
The two scales are negatively correlated.
Reproduction and resistance are able to predict the race-based achievement gap, but not the disciplinary gap.
Reproduction and resistance are able to predict whether a student prioritized starting a business or finding a job after school. A Logistic Regression model showed that the odds of a student desiring to start a business are increasingly greater as one’s resistance increases.
As grade level increases resistance increases and reproduction increases.
To answer the question of how contemporary school processes move students towards human capital ends. I extracted and arranged four overarching themes. These themes include (1) expectations, (2) conditioning, (3) interactions with knowledge, and (4) the pipeline. Resistance along each major theme was also explored. Major themes were disaggregated into 11 subthemes.
Study Conclusions
This study drew out that as students are processed through the public school reproduction mechanisms of public schools, resistance emerges as a natural byproduct of the processing.
Fundamental disconnects between intrinsic and organizational values inspire their resistance.
Resistance is snuffed out at the pipeline to human capital, which presents a unilateral option for post-scholastic graduates.
Interested in Pursuing this Topic?
I would love to support you in this endeavor.
Please feel free to contact at me Crystal@theLondonBridgED.com
You may also click here to access the original study in ProQuest.
Click here to download the "Capital Forms Model and Gap" At-a-Glance PDF.