The Influence of Race, Class, and Gender on Self-Esteem for Fifth, Eighth, and Eleventh Grade Students in Pennsylvania Schools

Abstract

Grant and Sleeter1 recently presented a review of the research literature which focused upon investigations involving the variables of race, class, and gender in educational research. They summarized the results of studies in the American Educational Research Journal, Harvard Educational Review, the Review of Educational Research and the Teachers College Record for the years 1973 through 1983. Grant and Sleeter concluded from their review of the 71 studies that few of the investigators have integrated the three factors in their designs and analyses. Rather, the great majority had attended to only one or at most two of the three factors. They argued that this lack of integration of race, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES) oversimplifies the analysis of student behavior in school. It provides a narrow focus, treating individuals as if they are members of just one group and ignores the joint contribution of each of the factors. Reyes and Stanic2 presented similar arguments. They pointed