Intersecting Identities: High School Outcomes of Racialized English Learners

• In Event: Intersecting Pathways: Exploring Access, Outcomes, and Attitudes in the Education of Secondary English Learners

Abstract

Objectives: This descriptive paper looks at the intersection of race/ethnicity and language status in NYC public schools to understand how students holding these identities experience structural barriers in the education system. The paper asks: How do secondary and postsecondary outcomes for English Learners (ELs) differ based on their race/ethnicity? The study therefore challenges common approaches that analyze ELs as a monolithic group, and instead explores how ELs experience school barriers differently based on their racial/ethnic identity.

Perspectives: This paper draws upon intersectional work within education, which explores the compound effects from multiple categories of student background (Codiroli Mcmaster & Cook 2019; Jang, 2018). This approach exposes inequalities normally left unseen by conventional methods, which treat EL status as the only relevant category of measurement (Covarrubias, 2011; Lopez et al., 2017; Sablan, 2019). Due to their sample sizes, research exploring outcomes for racialized ELs tends to lack the scope to compare outcomes of multiple racialized EL groups on a large scale. With data from the largest and most diverse school district in the United States this study is able to explore outcomes from multiple racial groups, while most studies often neglect experiences of Black non-Hispanic and White ELs (Blanchard & Muller, 2015; Carhill-Poza, 2017; Garver 2020; Kanno 2014).

Methods: This paper uses descriptive statistics to highlight the demographics, 4-year graduation rates, and college attendance of NYC public school students.

Data Sources: These longitudinal data are taken from the Research Alliance for NYC Schools and include student-level data from the New York City Department of Education and National Student Clearinghouse. We sample all NYC public school students who were first-time 9th graders in the 2015-2016 academic year (n = 63,237), and follow them through expected four-year graduation and postsecondary enrollment in 2019. We disaggregate the data by those who were categorized as ELs in 9th grade, as well by five categories of race/ethnicity (see Table 3.1).

Results: Outcomes for ELs are differentiated by race and ethnicity in several ways. First, Hispanic students who were classified as ELs in 9th grade struggle the most in NYC public schools (see Figures 3.2, 3.3, and 3.3A), with 4-year college enrollment rates of about half the average EL in NYC. Second, Asian ELs appear to be better positioned for secondary and postsecondary success, with comparable 4-year college attendance to Hispanic and Black students not classified as ELs (see Figure 3.3B). Third, the differences between ELs and non-ELs vary substantially by race/ethnicity (see Figure 3.4), with gaps between Black ELs and non-ELs notably smaller.

Scholarly Significance: Although this study is not designed to support causal inferences about why these differences emerge, this paper clearly shows that ELs do not all experience the same outcomes in schools, and that race/ethnicity represents an important mitigating factor. The findings support calls to disaggregate student outcomes by multiple dimensions of background and demonstrate, in particular, that more intersectional work on language status and race/ethnicity is warranted.

Authors

• Ben Le, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Kristin Black, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Michael J. Kieffer, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Lindsay Romano, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Coleen D. Carlson, University of Houston
  Presenting Author

• David J. Francis, University of Houston
  Presenting Author

• Jeremy Miciak, The University of Texas
  Presenting Author