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Abstract Despite increasing racial diversity in the United States, and the particular growth of multiracial populations, questions about how children perceive others’ (bi)racial identities remain poorly understood. In two preregistered studies, we asked White and racially minoritized American children (N = 157; 4–11‐years old) and White and multiracial adults (N = 226) how acceptable it was for monoracial people (Black or White; Study 1) and/or biracial people (Black–White; Studies 1 and 2) to claim either a monoracial or biracial identity. Consistent with past research with adults, children said that monoracial people should claim (only) the monoracial identity which matched their ancestry. Judgements about biracial identity were more variable. White and multiracial adults (Study 2) reported that biracial targets could claim a racial identity that matched either or both of their parents, with biracial claims being evaluated most positively. Exploratory analyses on children's judgements about biracial people's identity claims (Study 1) revealed different patterns of development for White children and children from minoritized backgrounds. Whereas White children became more likely with age to report that all identity claims were acceptable, children from racially minoritized groups became more likely with age to endorse biracial targets who claimed a biracial identity. These findings suggest that children's own racial background and age may have a larger impact on their perceptions of biracial people's identities, compared to their perceptions of monoracial people's identities.
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Seeking Racial and Ethnic Parity in Preschool Outcomes: An Exploratory Study of Public Montessori Schools vs. Business-as-Usual Schools
Montessori pedagogy is a century-old, whole-school system increasingly used in the public sector. In the United States, public Montessori schools are typically Title I schools that mostly serve children of color. The present secondary, exploratory data analysis examined outcomes of 134 children who entered a lottery for admission to public Montessori schools in the northeastern United States at age 3; half were admitted and enrolled and the rest enrolled at other preschool programs. About half of the children were identified as White, and half were identified as African American, Hispanic, or multiracial. Children were tested in the fall when they enrolled and again in the subsequent three springs (i.e., through the kindergarten year) on a range of measures addressing academic outcomes, executive function, and social cognition. Although the Black, Hispanic, and multiracial group tended to score lower in the beginning of preschool in both conditions, by the end of preschool, the scores of Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students enrolled in Montessori schools were not different from the White children; by contrast, such students in the business-as-usual schools continued to perform less well than White children in academic achievement and social cognition. The study has important limitations that lead us to view these findings as exploratory, but taken together with other findings, the results suggest that Montessori education may create an environment that is more conducive to racial and ethnic parity than other school environments.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1951038
- PAR ID:
- 10418532
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Montessori Research
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2378-3923
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr.v9i1.19540
