Applying an Intersectional Framework to the Study of Systemic Inequity in U.S. Schools

• In Event: Interrogating Systemic Inequity: From Standards to K–12 Spaces

Abstract

Understanding the contradictions and inequities underlying education policy is important for examining the educational outcome gap in the U.S. This study employs a critical quantitative lens to examine how schools contribute to differential science outcomes based on intersectional student backgrounds. Using nationally representative PISA 2015 data, this study uses structural equation modeling with intersectional student background groups to examine how U.S. students’ educational experiences in schools – opportunity to learn, sense of belonging, and perceptions of academic climate – mediate the relationship between student background and science achievement. The direct and indirect findings from this study provide important insight about school mediators that can help account for the gap in science outcomes in the U.S. and inform more equitable policies and practices.

Author

• Alison Wilson, South Dakota State University