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This study integrates an intersectional framework with data on 15,000 U.S. ninth graders from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 to investigate differences in ninth-grade math course placement at the intersection of adolescents’ learning disability status, race, and socioeconomic status (SES). Descriptive results support an increased liability perspective, with the negative relationship between a learning disability and math course placement larger for adolescents more privileged in terms of their race and/or SES. Adjusted results suggest that the lower math course placements of youth with learning disabilities are due to cumulative disadvantage rather than disability-related inequities in the transition to high school for youth of diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. In addition to demonstrating the importance of intersectional perspectives, this study provides a roadmap for future studies by introducing the new perspective of increased liability to be used in conjunction with the widely employed perspective of multiple marginalization.
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The Relationship between Ninth Graders’ Perceptions of Teacher Equity and Their Math Identity: Differences by Student Race and School Racial Composition
Using data on ninth graders, math teachers, and schools from the nationally representative High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, we investigate the following questions: (1) How do ninth graders’ perceptions of their math teachers as equitable relate to their math identity at the intersection of adolescents’ race and gender? and (2) Do differences in the percentage of students at the school who share the adolescent’s race moderate (i.e., differentiate) the salience of perceptions of math teachers for adolescents’ math identities? Our results suggest that adolescents who perceive their math teachers as equitable typically have higher levels of math identity regardless of their race or gender. Adolescents’ perceptions of their math teachers as equitable are most salient for adolescents’ math identity in racially diverse schools, where racial differences and stereotypes may be more visible. Findings also indicate the seeming resistance of Black youth to racist stereotypes, whose math identity remains high regardless of their perceptions of their teachers.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1652279
- PAR ID:
- 10392291
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Sociology of Education
- Volume:
- 96
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 0038-0407
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 129-148
- Size(s):
- p. 129-148
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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