Expertise

Education, Stratification, Race/ethnicity, Asian Americans, Vietnam

Biography

I have been interested in how education works to both reinforce inequalities and provide opportunities since my transition from a public high school in a small town to an Ivy League university. Most of my research focuses on how social background and race shape educational experiences. For example, my dissertation concerned variation in how Asian American students negotiate the transition from high school to college. Other work has focused on whether social background and occupational expectations account for rising college expectations over time, and how social background relates to application behaviors and choice of college majors.

In related projects, I also look at how race affects the elementary and secondary schools families choose for their children, and the implications that these choices may have for racial residential segregation. I have done other research on higher education in Vietnam on how increasing privatization of universities affects access to postsecondary education and the fields of study available.

Curriculum Vitae

Selected Publications

  • Mullen, Ann and Kimberly Goyette. 2019. “Aiming High: Social and Academic Correlates of Applying to and Attending “Reach” Universities.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 40(8):1072-1089.
  • Goyette, Kimberly. 2017. Education in America. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
  • Lareau, Annette and Kimberly Goyette, eds. 2014.  Choosing Homes, Choosing Schools. New York: Russell Sage Press.

Courses Taught

  • Sociology of Education
  • Research Design and Methods
  • Data Analysis
  • Statistical Methods in Sociology
  • Urban Dynamics
  • Ethnicity and the Immigrant Experience in the U.S.