Ya’at’eeh: Race-Reimaged Belongingness Factors, Academic Outcomes, and Goal Pursuits Among Indigenous Community College Students

• In Event: Race-Reimaging Motivation in Education Research: Investigating Motivation Through Racialized and Cultural Perspectives

Abstract

Objectives
Belonging is a multidimensional construct linked with students’ academic motivation, self-regulation, and achievement. For U.S. Indigenous students, belongingness may feel differently compared to what racialized Majority students may experience. Furthermore, the way sense of belonging has been conceptualized tends to be assimilationist, neglecting cultural perspectives of Indigenous students. Therefore, sense of belonging and the factors that support it require race-reimaging (DeCuir-Gunby & Schutz, 2014) to align with the cultural milieu of Indigenous peoples.
Perspectives
In light of these issues, we examined Native-specific belongingness factors, informed by Indigenous ways of knowing and being and Holm et al.’s (2003) peoplehood framework, which stressed interconnectedness of place, language, sacred history, and ceremony. When studies assume a color-blind conception of belongingness, belongingness factors are traditionally defined as interpersonal relationships with instructors and peers. However, a race-reimaged lens is needed to operationalize Indigenous belongingness factors that integrate the interconnectedness of family, community, cultural identity, and self-empowerment. Furthermore, we situated our study in community colleges where threats to belongingness are heightened.
We sought to first determine if peoplehood belongingness factors were distinct for Indigenous students, and second investigate how strongly they are linked with academic achievement and goal pursuits. We asked the following questions: RQ1: Do Indigenous community college students interpret belongingness items differently than their non-Indigenous counterparts? RQ2: How are race-reimaged and traditional belongingness factors associated with various academic goals and outcomes? Given belongingness issues associated with the community college context as well as the sociohistoric identities of U.S. Indigenous culture, we hypothesized that a peoplehood sense of belonging would be distinct and positively associated with the study’s outcomes.
Method
Inspired by a critical quantitative (QuantCrit) approach that incorporates tenets of critical race theory, we used a sample of 887 U.S. students who self-identified as Native American from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement. For RQ1, after selecting traditional and reimaged belongingness items, we conducted principal components analysis and measurement invariance testing with the Indigenous sample and a non-Indigenous subsample identified by propensity score matching. For RQ2, we conducted linear and logistic multilevel models (Indigenous students nested within community colleges) assessing relations between race-reimaged and traditional belongingness factors and academic goals and outcomes (GPA, goals for transfer to four-year institution, an associate degree, a certificate, and personal enjoyment) while controlling for demographic variables.
Results
Findings from RQ1 indicated that belonginess consisted of three factors: campus support, family/friend support, and self-community values. Measurement invariance tests indicated a lack of metric and scalar invariance (Table 1), suggesting that Indigenous students interpreted belongingness differently from their non-Indigenous counterparts. These factors were not only distinct for Indigenous students but also were positively associated with goal pursuits and GPA; self-community values was the most salient factor along with traditional belonging factors (Table 2).
Significance
Incorporating sociocultural perspectives of Indigenous students re-conceptualizes traditional constructs of belonging and more accurately assesses their unique educational experiences. We highlight the need to race-reimage constructs such as belongingness for specific racial groups, speaking against absolutist thinking that propagates misappropriation of research and theory.

Authors

• Adam Alejandro, Texas State University

• Megan Krou, The University of Texas

• John Segovia, Texas State University

• Karen Johnston-Ashton, Texas State University

• Carlton J. Fong, Texas State University