“I Didn’t Feel Safe”: Intersectional Tracking of Queer Students of Color

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Transforming Queer and Trans Research: Youth, Bridge Building, Cultivating Spaces

Abstract

This paper explores the research question: How do queer students of color experience educational tracking in Utah? Building on the theoretical framework of Queer of Color Critique, we broaden understandings of educational tracking by examining how hostile peer dynamics, racism, cisheteronormativity, and insufficient teacher support intersect to operate as mechanisms of exclusion. We found that student participants withdrew from Advanced Placement (AP) courses due to feelings of unsafety rooted in intersecting oppressions. This research underscores the importance of rethinking educational tracking, not merely as a matter of policy or academic placement, but as ongoing, lived experiences of institutional exclusion, particularly affecting youth with intersectional identities—such as queer students of color.

Authors

• Sonny Partola, University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point

• Leticia Alvarez Gutiérrez, University of Utah