Racialization of Hispanic and Asian American Students

1. Racialization of Hispanic and Asian American Students NEA Module

2. MODULE OBJECTIVES • Provide an analytic and data framework to understand racialization in the educational system and the impact it has on the social development and academic achievement of students • To begin a dialogue among administrators, teachers and parents on the role of racialization in schools and how to promote policies, practices and analytic frameworks towards the creation of a supportive environment for all students

3. TODAY’S NORMS • Respect • Open-Mindedness • No One Dominates • Seek to Understand as well as Teach • Share what’s on your mind and in your heart • We are all in this together

4. Building Bridges to Close the Gaps

5. ICEBREAKER • Find Someone You Do Not Know That Has The Same Color Shirt / Top and Pair Up • Introduce yourselves e.g. name, where from, occupation, and favorite cartoon character • Share two moments in your educational experience where… : • you felt as though you did not belong • You felt as though you did belong

6. Cultural Knowledge and Sources • List three things you know about Asian Americans • How do you know what you know about Asian Americans? • List the primary sources of your knowledge e.g. How do you know what you know about Asian Americans? (family, friends, classes, media etc?)

7. Cultural Knowledge and Sources • List three things you know about Hispanics • How do you know what you know about Asian Americans? • List the primary sources of your knowledge about Hispanics e.g. How do you know what you know about Asian Americans? (family, friends, own experience, classes, media etc?)

8. K-12 Enrollment in California2008-09 • 6.25 million students served • 54% Economically Disadvantaged • 24% English Learners Source: Dr. Aru Ramanathan, Education Trust-West Data from Presentation “What’s Right for Kids

9. CST 8th Grade English-Language Arts, by Ethnicity (2009) Source: Education Trust-West, 2010 via California Department of Education, 2009

11. High School Graduates and A-G Graduation Rates, by Race/Ethnicity, 2007-08 Source: California Department of Education, 2009; Graduation rates calculated using Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR; Raising the Roof data tool) from Presentation by Dr. Aru Ramanathan, Education Trust-West, “What’s Right for Kids”

12. Racialization • Social and historical process of assigning individuals and groups a racial identity and social status • Creation of a racial identity and social status includes a series of political processes which construct racial meanings, shape the identities of individuals and groups, and place them into positions of dominance or the dominated • The processes of racialization are always legitimized through ideologies and operate in the various institutional systems/arrangements that are the foundation of our society

13. RACIALIZATION CONT’D • The educational system historically has been part of our nation-building processes and functioned as the place where our national ideologies are inculcated and disseminated • Classroom dynamics and pedagogical practices tend to reinforce wittingly or unwittingly racial ideologies by clearly evidencing the concrete reality of a racial hierarchy in the classroom • The way students of color are disciplined, often with racially diverse consequences, tends to legitimate culturally racialized notions of how violent or unruly some racial groups are in contrast with the majority group • Racialization leads to higher or lower expectations of students on cultural assumptions and ascriptions e.g. Asians are high achieving (model minority); Latinos are low achieving • The role of education in the racialization process has deep roots in our history and requires meaningful changes in institutional policy and culture

14. Color-Blind Ideology • Racial inequality is seen as the outcome of individual or group deficiencies that can be remedied if individuals and groups adopt the dominant culture • Post-Civil Rights Movement period, legal, political and pedagogical discourse around race has shifted dramatically towards a “color-blind ideology” • The de-mobilization of the Civil Rights Movement, the major social and economic changes that transformed the nature of our economic system, and the demographic changes in the racial and ethnic composition of the nation, have created the illusion that we have now become an inclusive society • Elements of traditional liberalism are used to discount race from being a factor in the inequities and have guided educational policies that fail to address the persistence of racial inequity • Color-Ideologies are often pushed by both liberal and conservative groups wherein culture of poverty explanations are the primary lens to explain racial disparities in education e.g. Asians are simply more studious; Latinos are not willing to assimilate and embrace the english language

15. Color-Blind Ideology Cont’d • How is Color-Blind Ideology actualized and what role does it play? • Minimizes the existence of racial disparity (normalizes difference • Blames the pathology of non-White cultures (modern version of culture of poverty theory) for inequality • Racial phenomenon is explained as “natural” (people of color like to self-segregate; therefore segregation occurs) • Upholds abstractly the ideals of equality and meritocracy without grounding them. Absolutist view that when a group is dominant or privileged it always “deserved” it

16. Legal & Social Constructions • Race does not exist as a biological or genetic artifact • Race was constructed legally using pseudo-science to establish racial privilege and justify racial segregation • Ideological justification of race was arranged via institutional arrangements including school systems and curricula

17. Let’s Reflect… • What do we hear about Asian American academic achievement? • What do we hear about Hispanic academic achievement? • Data (as shown earlier) may reflect what we hear…that Asians are doing well and Hispanics are struggling, BUT… • How do we explain what the data suggests? And how might a bit more data further complexify our understanding and help more clearly disentangle “Racialization” from “Color-Blind ideology”?

18. ANALYTIC & DATA FRAMEWORK • Data can often unmask outcomes of racialized processes if we disaggregate data points • Disaggregation of data points must include race/ethnicity, gender and economic background…however…

19. CAUTION!!! • If we only look at each of these social identities (race/ethnicity, gender and economic background) we are only looking at part of the picture • If examine data uni-dimensionally we may inadvertently reinforce our faulty mental models and racialized narratives • How might Race/Ethnicity AND Class intersect that may display outcomes of racialized processes? e.g. How do Low-Income Whites perform compared to Non-Low Income Latinos?

20. Gaps exist WITHIN each group by economic background…but Low-Income Asians and Whites fare better than Non-Low Income Latinos and African Americans

23. Comparing CSTs by Race/Ethnicity AND Economic Background California CST English–Language Arts Table 3: Percentages of Economically Disadvantaged Students Scoring at Proficient and Above* Table 4: Percentages of Not Economically Disadvantaged Students Scoring at Proficient and Above*

24. Comparing CSTs by Race/Ethnicity AND Economic Background California CST Mathematics Table 8: Percentages of Economically Disadvantaged Students Scoring at Proficient and Above* Table 9: Percentages of Not Economically Disadvantaged Students Scoring at Proficient and Above*

25. Educators often confound Latinos as being English Learners to Explain Underperformance… • NUMBER OF ENGLISH LEARNERS AS A PERCENT OF ENROLLMENTCalifornia K-12 (2007/08) • At State Level… • CA EL= 1.6 MILLION (25% of CA is EL) • CA EL SPANISH = 1.3 MILLION (81% of EL are Latino) • CA LATINOS = 3 MILLION (43% of Latinos are EL) • Most Latinos at state level are NOT English Learners • At County Level… • ORANGE COUNTY EL= 142,000 • OC EL SPANISH = 117,000 (82%) • OC LATINOS = 223,000 (52% of Latinos are EL) • At District Level…??? • Do you know your District or School level data?

26. QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? REACTIONS?