Applying a critical quantitative intersectionality approach in the United States

Educational inequality is multidimensional and social problems, policies, and practices are the product of intersecting race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and/or gender categorizations. By not considering the complex impact of multiple marginalized categorizations or constructions, policy makers’ and school leaders’ are unable to hear voices of students belonging to multiply marginalized groups and to act as advocates who challenge the injustices, inequities, and oppression these students face.
The paper discusses the importance of the ideas and theory of intersectionality to researching structural racism and exclusion and advancing social justice. The critical quantitative intersectionality framework is based on the combination of epistemological (critical), methodological (quantitative), and theoretical (intersectionality) approaches. A critical quantitative framework is a powerful tool for connecting the findings of advanced statistics to the lived experiences of students because policymakers typically have a strong desire to rely on numbers from research when designing educational policies (Covarrubias & Velez, 2013). By differentiating experiences across social categories, for example women of color from White women, critical quantitative intersectionality studies can identify the diverse patterns of inequalities that originate in multiple social categorizations.
This paper discusses the findings from a study using a critical quantitative intersectionality framework with the National Center for Education Statistics High School Longitudinal Studies 2009 data in the United States.
The study addressed three main research questions focusing on educational outcomes tied to the multifaceted social constructs of race or ethnicity, gender, and SES of Southeast Asian high school girls in the United States:
Research Question 1: How is the intersectionality of race or ethnicity, gender, and SES associated with the educational outcomes of Southeast Asian female students?Research Question 2: How do associations among the intersectionality of race or ethnicity, gender, SES, and student experiences differ across schooling context for students overall?Research Question 3: Do these patterns differ for Southeast Asian female students?
This study used three statistical research techniques to answer the proposed research questions: multiple regression, logistic regression, and linear mixed effect modeling. The study found that math achievement scores of Southeast Asian students were significantly higher than those of other race or ethnicity groups. However, Southeast Asian female students’ intention to pursue higher education was significantly lower than that of Southeast Asian males and the lowest among all female students. The school organizational characteristics used in this study did not mediate or differentiate the intersectionalities related to Southeast Asian female students, and the patterns held regardless of schooling contexts. As a consequence, the findings challenge the model minority stereotype related to Asian populations and differentiates between the school experiences and educational outcomes of Southeast Asian female students in the United States. Copyright © 2019 AERA.