E(race)d Opportunities: A Multilevel Analysis of Educational Opportunity on Racial Differences in Advanced Mathematics Course-Taking

• In Event: Roundtable Session 52
  In Roundtable Session: Racialized Perspectives on Math Education for Black Students

Abstract

Increasing the number of people in STEM fields has been marked by a “demographic challenge”: the growing majority of Americans, racial minorities, are least likely to enter or persist. Extant literature suggests that students of color have less access to STEM learning opportunities, which contributes to racial differences in STEM participation. The present multi-level data analysis uses the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 to examine whether there are racial differences in educational opportunities, such as high-level teacher instructional emphasis, and if school-level learning opportunities change the relationship between student race and college-preparatory mathematics course enrollment. Analyses indicate that: mathematics educational opportunity positively predicts advanced mathematics course enrollment, and that Black students’ opportunities impacts their chances for participation.

Author

• Davinah S. Childs, Temple University