Illuminating Youth Critical Consciousness and Ethnic-Racial Identity Development within Ethnic Studies

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 5:10 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Consciousness and Political Efficacy: Impacts of Action Civics and Ethnic Studies on Youth Activism (Table 1)

Abstract

Objectives
Students enrolled in ethnic studies––a consciousness-raising system––attain higher grades, graduate high school at higher rates, and are more likely to matriculate in college than unenrolled students (Bonilla et al., 2021; Cabrera et al., 2014). However, studies provide little empirical insight into ethnic studies students’ psychological changes that lead to beneficial outcomes (Sleeter & Zavala, 2020). Given that ethnic studies’ is designed as a consciousness-raising system (i.e., ethnic studies employs practices canonical to critical consciousness development), it explicitly aims to equip students with critical consciousness (CC), a critical analysis of social inequality as well as motivation and action to challenge inequality (Watts et al., 2011). In addition to CC, ethnic studies is designed to promote healthy ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development by counteracting deficit views about people of color (Tintiangco et al., 2015). ERI refers to people’s beliefs and attitudes about their ethnic-racial group and the processes by which individuals develop these beliefs and attitudes (Umaña-Taylor, 2023). Both CC and ERI are linked to positive youth outcomes (Heberle et al., 2020; Rivas-Drake et al., 2014). While ethnic studies is theorized to contribute to CC and ERI, little research has empirically examined its association to these competencies, which is necessary to ascertain the specific beneficial changes that students incur while enrolled in ethnic studies. Homing in on the consciousness-raising elements of this curricula can help strengthen implementation as it is scaled up to state and national contexts. Consequently, this longitudinal study examines whether ethnic studies fosters students’ CC and ERI.
Methods
To accomplish our research aims, we conducted a longitudinal convergent mixed methods study in which 459 9th-grade students completed a 25-minute close-ended survey that assessed their critical consciousness (Diemer et al., 2022), ethnic-racial identity (Douglass & Umaña-Taylor, 2015), and perceptions of school climate (Byrd, 2019); further, 19 of these students participated in focus-group interviews to add student voice to our quantitative data. Quantitative data was analyzed using multigroup latent change score modeling, whereas qualitative data was analyzed via Consensual Qualitative Research approaches.

Results
Analyses of both quantitative survey data and qualitative focus group data revealed that ethnic studies-enrolled students grew more in their CC and ERI than non-enrolled students. Furthermore, critical class content and teacher pedagogy were essential elements of ethnic studies consciousness-raising according to the data. Specifically, CC and cultural socialization were associated with more growth in CC and ERI and critical content along with effective ethnic studies teachers (e.g., effective scaffolding, empathetic) emerged as themes in the focus group interviews. For instance, students shared that they appreciated when teachers discussed their lived experiences with key course topics such as discrimination and then asked students if they had experiences that resonated with those ideas.
Significance:
In all, this study highlights the consciousness-raising elements that link ethnic studies enrollment to CC and ERI. Thus, it offers insights to teachers, school leaders, and policymakers, so that they better understand how ethnic studies benefits youth from racially marginalized backgrounds. The implications of these findings for policy and practice will be unpacked.

Author

• Andres Pinedo, Vanderbilt University