The Color of Education: Discriminación Y Comportamientos

Abstract

ABSTRACT Discrimination is overwhelming immigrant communities across the U.S.A. and impacting educational outcomes and the fragmentation of families. This article employs intersectionality and Latina/o critical theory (LatCrit) as its theoretical framework to analyze education and the institution of familismo as a counterweight to anti-Latinx discrimination. Specifically, we investigate the relative importance of feeling discriminated against, family composition (dual-parent), and demographic variables (family composition, urbanicity – whether or not the student attends school in a city – region, SES, nativity) affect academic behavior for a national sample of Latinx students. Utilizing the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS), we employed hierarchical regression modeling and found (1) that for females two-parent households had no effect on academic behavior when demographic variables were held constant; and (2) for males, those in households with more children possessed less positive academic behavior. Differences between female and male student groups speak to, among other things, the importance of educators employing more advanced theoretical frameworks and nuanced methodologies to fully understand the academic behaviors of Latinx students. Practice and policy recommendations that follow data findings are offered.