African American Students' Sociocultural Experiences, Motivation, Identity and Performance in Math

University Of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Research has shown that, on average, African American students perform less well on STEM standardized tests, opt out of advanced coursework despite requisite ability, and choose to major in non-STEM fields in college despite relevant preparation. This project will use a combination of a primary quantitative analysis and a supplemental qualitative analysis to examine the interrelations between African American middle school students' experiences of stigma in math, developing gender and racial identities, racial socialization experiences with adults at home and in school, and motivational constructs of competence beliefs and values in math. Intellectual Merit: To inform efforts to broaden STEM participation among African American students, there is a need for more research using within-group designs and attending to race and gender simultaneously. The quantitative analysis will investigate this complex system of interrelations and the development over time of these dynamics, while a supplemental qualitative analysis will explore both the precise effect mechanisms at hand and qualitatively distinct intersectional effects across these pathways. The overall project represents longitudinal, multi-informant research, using in-depth interviews to supplement survey data analyses of reports from students, parents, and teachers. This project targets 6th through 8th grade, a critical developmental juncture for students in terms of formation of identity and math motivation. The combination of these techniques will ultimately reveal how race- and gender-related experiences interrelate to shape African-American early adolescents' motivation and achievement in math. Broader impacts: The study will advance research on African American adolescents' motivational processes and sociocultural and contextual correlates of achievement in math contexts. Moreover, this study will identify the ways in which middle school-based experiences can affect personal and contextual factors in ways that are malleable to efforts aimed at promoting high math achievement and persistence for African American adolescents. Finally, the project's partnership with the local school district will increase the possibility for reciprocal relationships in which the research team can continue to learn from those school settings and help address challenges the schools encounter with empirically-based responses.