It Takes a Community: The Role of Neighborhood Resources for Mexican-Origin Children in STEM

• In Event: Understanding Latinx Adolescents' Academic Outcomes: Individual and Contextual Factors

Abstract

The retention and participation of Mexican-origin students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is important to the future of the US for two main reasons. First, these disciplines have substantial underrepresentation of Mexican-origin individuals despite an increasingly diverse student population. Second, STEM fields are high-growth sectors of the economy that necessitate broadened participation and are under-utilizing the skills of a large and influential segment of the population (NAS, 2011).

In order to attend to these societal issues, it is important to investigate systems of support for Mexican-origin youth during critical points, such as the transition to middle school. Historically, communities have driven changes toward educational equity for Mexican-origin youth, so they may be key to their STEM education, as well. Yet, too often, communities are overlooked as learning contexts with social and institutional resources to support children’s learning (García Coll & Szalacha, 2004; Huston & Ripke, 2006). Furthermore, neighborhood institutions may be more culturally-sensitive and adaptive settings that better respond to Mexican youth’s STEM learning than schools can manage alone (Delgado, 2002; Flower III, 2014). Thus, the goal of this study is to disentangle the role of neighborhood resources, over and above, the school characteristics and resources.

We focus on a national subsample of N ~ 760 Mexican-origin students (72% immigrant) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort: 1998/1999 to estimate the relative contribution of neighborhood resources to their math and science achievement, math interest/confidence, and teacher-rated math/science proficiency in grade 8. In addition to drawing on these data for child, family, and school characteristics that are relevant to students’ STEM outcomes (e.g., computer lab availability, library availability), we append neighborhood data from publicly-available sources (i.e., Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Center for Charitable Statistics, U.S. Census 2000, Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Using cross-classified models (crossed random effects models), which account for children simultaneously nested in parallel and overlapping contexts (schools, neighborhoods), we estimated a series of models to examine whether potential STEM role models (i.e., %residents in STEM), available public libraries, museums, and non-profit organizations contribute to children’s math and science outcomes, over and above the association that schools have on these outcomes.

Results demonstrate that neighborhood resources play a significant and complex role in Mexican-origin youth’s math and science achievement and math interest/ confidence (see Table 2). For instance, whereas more museums and educational non-profits are linked with higher math achievement, more libraries and STEM non-profits are associated with children’s lower math achievement and math interest/ confidence. Children’s science achievement had an inverse association with percentage of residents in STEM and quantities of general youth-serving organizations. These results suggest that the availability of neighborhood resources matters to Mexican-origin youth’s math and science success, but much remains unclear. Processes within organizations, access, and quality still need to be examined within these resources. Furthermore, the findings underscore that resources that support math and science likely differ. The implications of these findings are discussed with regard to future directions in research, policy, and practice.

Authors

• Natalya Zaika, Tufts University
  Presenting Author

• Sae Hyun Oh, Tufts University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tama Leventhal, Tufts University
  Non-Presenting Author