Measuring Program Design and Relational Mechanisms in a Math Afterschool Program Serving Latina/o Youth

• In Event: Constructing Measures of Culturally Sustaining Practices for Systemic Change: Concepts, Uses, and Next Steps

Abstract

Overview
Many Latina/o youth in urban communities continue to face structural barriers that limit their school performance and achievement in math as well as their pursuit of other STEM domains (Alvarez et al., 2017). Enrichment opportunities such as math afterschool programs can serve as important structural supports that buffer the rampant disparities in the STEM pipeline faced by Latina/o youth (Afterschool Alliance, 2015). To be effective, research suggests programs and staff need to be culturally responsive (Simpkins et al., 2017). The current study addresses the important need to identify and measure specific elements of program and staff practices that support and promote culturally responsive practices and improve staff development.

Study Context and Methods
The study context is an afterschool program that serves approximately 150 students each year from two target middle schools in a large urban city in Southern California. Approximately 98% of the students are Latina/o and over 90% are free/reduced school lunch recipients. Only 15% of the students at these schools meet or exceed the state math standards. As part of the program, approximately 80 college students are recruited as mentors to serve as program staff/mentors for middle school students each year. Utilizing qualitative methods, we conducted in-depth interviews with college students (N = 20) about their experiences and interactions with the Latina/o students in the program, with the goal of identifying specific elements of program design and youth-staff relational mechanisms to develop a measure that would support and promote culturally responsive practices and staff development.

Findings
Findings highlight three program elements and two relational mechanisms that served as a foundation for culturally responsive practices. The three program elements included 1) the program mission based on supporting low-income Latina/o youth, 2) the program structure which exposed and facilitated staffs’ interactions with individuals from various cultural backgrounds, and 3) the program curriculum and training activities which provided staff with engagement and learning opportunities across diverse cultures and perspectives. With respect to the two relational mechanisms, we found the importance of staff engaging in personal conversations with youth and learning by doing. Importantly, our study also highlights how the alignment of program elements and relational mechanisms is critical to supporting youth math outcomes. The next step of our study is to develop a measure based on our qualitative findings to pilot with the afterschool program, with the goal of supporting staff development and exploring quantitative correlations between culturally responsive practices and students’ math outcomes.

Significance
Our study addresses an important gap in the literature related to the need to address issues of equity and diversity at multiple features and levels of program design and implementation to inform systemic change. Importantly, our findings also help to illuminate the specific structures and processes that support and promote culturally responsive practices in afterschool programs and by staff. By doing so, we advance SRCD strategic goals related to integrating diversity, translating research for practice, and building the field’s capacity to measure and enact culturally responsive practices in these important contexts for youth development.

Authors

• Mark Vincent B. Yu, McREL International
  Presenting Author

• Ta-yang Hsieh, Search Institute