Benefits and Challenges of Ethnic Diversity in Middle Schools: The Mediating Role of Peer Groups

Joanna Lee Williams is an Assistant Professor at the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia. Her grant will examine how ethnically diverse peer groups provide psychosocial and academic benefits to early adolescents. Williams, a developmental psychologist, will gain expertise in social network analysis, ethnographic methods, mixed-methods research, and sociological perspectives on peer groups. Sandra Graham at the University of California, Los Angeles will provide expertise in ethnicity and school-level diversity as contexts of development. Jill Hamm at University of North Carolina will provide guidance in social network analysis and middle school peer groups. In the later years of the award, Prudence Carter, an educational sociologist at Stanford University, will provide expertise on mixed-methods data collection in diverse schools.