William Velez | University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (original) (raw)
Papers by William Velez
![Research paper thumbnail of ¿Donde Estan los Estudiantes Puertorriquenos/os Exitosos? [Where Are the Academically Successful Puerto Rican Students?]: Success Factors of High-Achieving Puerto Rican High School Students](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/104525190/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Journal of Latinos and Education, 2005
This article describes the 4 success factors that 10 working class Puerto Rican urban high school... more This article describes the 4 success factors that 10 working class Puerto Rican urban high school students attributed to their high academic achievement. These success factors were (a) the acquisition of social capital through religiosity and participation in school and community-based extracurricular activities, (b) having a strong Puerto Rican identity, (c) the influence of these students' mothers on their academic achievement, and (d) the potential for caring teachers and other school staff to influence high academic achievement. These findings have implications for Latino/a education and recommendations are provided.
Multicultural Learning and Teaching, 2007
This study uses mixed methods to identify the factors linked to varying levels of academic perfor... more This study uses mixed methods to identify the factors linked to varying levels of academic performance among Latina/o students enrolled in an alternative high school. Results from the quantitative analyses suggest students who had highly educated fathers and who reported high levels of English literacy are very likely to be classified as academic high achievers. In addition, students who received school suspensions were more likely to get lower grades than their never suspended counterparts. A majority of the students reported lack of authentic caring student-teacher relationships and a culture of low academic expectations prevailing at the school. Academic achievement was also impeded by accelerated role taking among the students, such as becoming parents and working long hours. Implications for urban small school education are discussed.
The Review of Black Political Economy, 1988
Insurance redlining and the racially discriminatory consequences of the sale of property insuranc... more Insurance redlining and the racially discriminatory consequences of the sale of property insurance have been documented in several cities throughout the United States. In this study teams of “testers”—comparably qualified insurance consumers who differed only in the racial composition of the neighborhood of the homes they sought to insure—contacted three Milwaukee area insurance companies regarding the possibility of purchasing insurance for their homes. Though no blatantly discriminatory behavior was exhibited, agents representing these companies expressed a clear preference to pursue business in white communities and placed additional barriers in the way of testers from nonwhite neighborhoods. These findings parallel changes in other institutional sectors of the housing industry where blatantly discriminatory behavior has generally given way to more subtle forms of bias. Policy recommendations are offered to reduce existing racial disparities in the availability of insurance and t...
Religion & Education, 2007
Puerto Rican high achievers are largely invisible in traditional, public urban high schools and i... more Puerto Rican high achievers are largely invisible in traditional, public urban high schools and in educational research. Over the last three decades, numerous scholars have written about the connections between the academic underachievement of Puerto Rican colonial subjects educated in the United States and socioeconomic/academic barriers like internal and direct colonialism, single-parent households, poverty, culturally irrelevant curricula, and the non-academic tracking these students face within traditional public urban schools on a ...
Marriage & Family Review, 2008
ABSTRACT This article works to dispel the myth that Puerto Rican female urban high school student... more ABSTRACT This article works to dispel the myth that Puerto Rican female urban high school students living in poverty are not capable of performing at high academic levels. This article attempts to counteract these beliefs by describing the four success factors that seven Puerto Rican female high school students attribute to their high academic achievement. These success factors are:(1) religiosity and extracurricular activities as sources of social capital,(2) affirming and maintaining a Puerto Rican identity,(3) maternal influences on students' ...
Journal of Urban Affairs, 1987
Concerns about fairness in the mortgage markets have motivated a large and growing literature and... more Concerns about fairness in the mortgage markets have motivated a large and growing literature and continues to be a regulatory issue impacting a wide range of financial institutions. However, disparate conclusions from, recent studies on redlining and discrimination leave the question of equitable lending unanswered. General inference from the existing evidence is hampered by the uncertainties surrounding regional variability and methodological discontinuity. For example, differences in data, variable definitions and statistical techniques inhibit comparisons across studies. Moreover, differing economic circumstances, employment conditions, industry representation, and, perhaps, biases, will also induce dissimilar conclusions. This article analyzes the geographic flow of mortgage credit on a national basis with a single methodology. Thus, we avoid many of the pitfalls from earlier studies that impeded general inference concerning racially induced redlining. Our tests provide statistical evidence that neighborhood racial composition may affect the flow of mortgage credit in some regions. However, the. economic significance of these results is, at most, small.
CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, 2011
The Education Longitudinal Study is used to examine Puerto Ricans' and whites' transiti... more The Education Longitudinal Study is used to examine Puerto Ricans' and whites' transitions out of high school and into young adulthood to weigh their relative chances of attending college and earning incomes above the poverty line. We found that Puerto Ricans and whites that expected to attain a bachelor's degree or more and that reached a higher level of math are significantly more likely to enroll in four-year and two-year colleges or universities. Puerto Ricans and whites with higher standardized test scores are more likely to enroll in ...
Julian Samora Research …, Oct 1, 2003
Background High achieving Puerto Rican high school students are largely missing not only from urb... more Background High achieving Puerto Rican high school students are largely missing not only from urban high schools, but also from the educational research. The purpose of this article, then, is to describe the five success factors that ten low-income urban high school students from this ethnic group attributed to their high academic achievement. These success factors are 1) the acquisition of social capital and academic motivation through religiosity and participation in school and community-based extracurricular activities; 2) student ...
Sociology of Education, 1989
This article examines the effects of a number of factors on the dropout behavior of high school s... more This article examines the effects of a number of factors on the dropout behavior of high school students drawn from the base year and first followup of High School and Beyond. The author found that cutting classes, suspensions, dating, being older, and being female substantially increased the odds of Chicano students dropping out. Among Cuban students, suspensions increased the odds of dropping out, but having disciplinary problems at school, high socioeconomic status, and having two parents at home substantially decreased them ...
Journal of Latinos and Education, 2005
This article describes the 4 success factors that 10 working class Puerto Rican urban high school... more This article describes the 4 success factors that 10 working class Puerto Rican urban high school students attributed to their high academic achievement. These success factors were (a) the acquisition of social capital through religiosity and participation in school and community-based extracurricular activities, (b) having a strong Puerto Rican identity, (c) the influence of these students' mothers on their academic achievement, and (d) the potential for caring teachers and other school staff to influence high academic achievement. These findings have implications for Latino/a education and recommendations are provided.
Multicultural Learning and Teaching, 2007
This study uses mixed methods to identify the factors linked to varying levels of academic perfor... more This study uses mixed methods to identify the factors linked to varying levels of academic performance among Latina/o students enrolled in an alternative high school. Results from the quantitative analyses suggest students who had highly educated fathers and who reported high levels of English literacy are very likely to be classified as academic high achievers. In addition, students who received school suspensions were more likely to get lower grades than their never suspended counterparts. A majority of the students reported lack of authentic caring student-teacher relationships and a culture of low academic expectations prevailing at the school. Academic achievement was also impeded by accelerated role taking among the students, such as becoming parents and working long hours. Implications for urban small school education are discussed.
The Review of Black Political Economy, 1988
Insurance redlining and the racially discriminatory consequences of the sale of property insuranc... more Insurance redlining and the racially discriminatory consequences of the sale of property insurance have been documented in several cities throughout the United States. In this study teams of “testers”—comparably qualified insurance consumers who differed only in the racial composition of the neighborhood of the homes they sought to insure—contacted three Milwaukee area insurance companies regarding the possibility of purchasing insurance for their homes. Though no blatantly discriminatory behavior was exhibited, agents representing these companies expressed a clear preference to pursue business in white communities and placed additional barriers in the way of testers from nonwhite neighborhoods. These findings parallel changes in other institutional sectors of the housing industry where blatantly discriminatory behavior has generally given way to more subtle forms of bias. Policy recommendations are offered to reduce existing racial disparities in the availability of insurance and t...
Religion & Education, 2007
Puerto Rican high achievers are largely invisible in traditional, public urban high schools and i... more Puerto Rican high achievers are largely invisible in traditional, public urban high schools and in educational research. Over the last three decades, numerous scholars have written about the connections between the academic underachievement of Puerto Rican colonial subjects educated in the United States and socioeconomic/academic barriers like internal and direct colonialism, single-parent households, poverty, culturally irrelevant curricula, and the non-academic tracking these students face within traditional public urban schools on a ...
Marriage & Family Review, 2008
ABSTRACT This article works to dispel the myth that Puerto Rican female urban high school student... more ABSTRACT This article works to dispel the myth that Puerto Rican female urban high school students living in poverty are not capable of performing at high academic levels. This article attempts to counteract these beliefs by describing the four success factors that seven Puerto Rican female high school students attribute to their high academic achievement. These success factors are:(1) religiosity and extracurricular activities as sources of social capital,(2) affirming and maintaining a Puerto Rican identity,(3) maternal influences on students' ...
Journal of Urban Affairs, 1987
Concerns about fairness in the mortgage markets have motivated a large and growing literature and... more Concerns about fairness in the mortgage markets have motivated a large and growing literature and continues to be a regulatory issue impacting a wide range of financial institutions. However, disparate conclusions from, recent studies on redlining and discrimination leave the question of equitable lending unanswered. General inference from the existing evidence is hampered by the uncertainties surrounding regional variability and methodological discontinuity. For example, differences in data, variable definitions and statistical techniques inhibit comparisons across studies. Moreover, differing economic circumstances, employment conditions, industry representation, and, perhaps, biases, will also induce dissimilar conclusions. This article analyzes the geographic flow of mortgage credit on a national basis with a single methodology. Thus, we avoid many of the pitfalls from earlier studies that impeded general inference concerning racially induced redlining. Our tests provide statistical evidence that neighborhood racial composition may affect the flow of mortgage credit in some regions. However, the. economic significance of these results is, at most, small.
CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, 2011
The Education Longitudinal Study is used to examine Puerto Ricans' and whites' transiti... more The Education Longitudinal Study is used to examine Puerto Ricans' and whites' transitions out of high school and into young adulthood to weigh their relative chances of attending college and earning incomes above the poverty line. We found that Puerto Ricans and whites that expected to attain a bachelor's degree or more and that reached a higher level of math are significantly more likely to enroll in four-year and two-year colleges or universities. Puerto Ricans and whites with higher standardized test scores are more likely to enroll in ...
Julian Samora Research …, Oct 1, 2003
Background High achieving Puerto Rican high school students are largely missing not only from urb... more Background High achieving Puerto Rican high school students are largely missing not only from urban high schools, but also from the educational research. The purpose of this article, then, is to describe the five success factors that ten low-income urban high school students from this ethnic group attributed to their high academic achievement. These success factors are 1) the acquisition of social capital and academic motivation through religiosity and participation in school and community-based extracurricular activities; 2) student ...
Sociology of Education, 1989
This article examines the effects of a number of factors on the dropout behavior of high school s... more This article examines the effects of a number of factors on the dropout behavior of high school students drawn from the base year and first followup of High School and Beyond. The author found that cutting classes, suspensions, dating, being older, and being female substantially increased the odds of Chicano students dropping out. Among Cuban students, suspensions increased the odds of dropping out, but having disciplinary problems at school, high socioeconomic status, and having two parents at home substantially decreased them ...