Ethnic Studies Course-Taking in a Large Southern California School District as It Begins to Scale Up a Graduation Requirement

• In Event: Ethnic Studies Access, Considerations, and Cultivations in Times of Uncertainties Across State and District Contexts

Abstract

Objectives and Theoretical Framework
This paper emerges from a broader project that seeks to understand whether and how Ethnic Studies (ES) can help mitigate persistent inequality in student academic and non-academic outcomes. Our focus in this paper is understanding who takes ES and what types of ES courses they are taking. The theoretical framework for ES courses was discussed in session description.
Methods and Data Sources
For the quantitative portion of this paper, we perform statistical descriptive analyses on district administrative data spanning a decade, including enrollment, demographic, academic, and social-emotional learning data. Qualitative data come from principal and teacher interviews and classroom artifacts (e.g., syllabi, student work). Due to the pandemic, our data collection was limited to a few school staff at two different school locations.
Preliminary Findings and Implications
The district instituted an ES high school graduation requirement, scheduled to roll out over the next few years. Our data suggest this commitment is gradually being realized. In 2021, around 8% of high school students took a district-approved ES course, an increase from 1.6% in 2010. As of 2021, 60% of high schools offered a district-approved ES course, which leaves about 40% of schools that do not offer any. We estimate that over 75% of twelfth graders in 2021 finished high school without taking ES. This is despite the fact that a large majority (over 70%) of these twelfth graders who never took ES were enrolled in schools that offered ES.
Students taking ES vary across certain demographic and academic characteristics. Ninth graders take ES courses at much higher rates than twelfth graders. Students whose parents do not have HS degrees are also more likely to take ES courses relative to children of parents who went to college. Among the racial/ethnic subgroups least likely to take ES are Asian-American students and White students. African-American students are not particularly over- or under-represented in ES courses overall, but are over-represented in ES courses that focus on the African-American experience. Similarly, Latinx students are more likely to take ES courses that focus on the Mexican-American experience. Students classified as English Learners, Special Education or Gifted/Talented are also less likely to take ES. These patterns are likely to continue to shift as ES rolls out district wide and point to additional supports needed as the district scales the requirement.
Preliminary qualitative data indicates that schools in this district use ES courses flexibly to meet the needs of their students. For example, the courses that have been approved for the district’s ES graduation requirement are all single semester courses. However, some schools are implementing a more intensive version of ES by coupling different ES courses in a year-long series of ES content. The teachers in our study focus on deeply exploring students’ identity, their heritage, and their local community (de los Rios, 2017; Kwon & de los Rios, 2018; Sleeter & Zavala, 2020). Students engage with counter-narratives, explore structural inequalities, and develop their voice to tell their own (or their community’s) story (Sleeter and Zavala, 2020).

Authors

• Kyo Yamashiro, Loyola Marymount University
  Presenting Author

• Lucrecia Santibanez, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author

• Andrea N. Kern, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author

• Edward Flores, Claremont Graduate University
  Presenting Author

• Leonard Wainstein
  Presenting Author