Disparities in school experience for minoritized students during the COVID-19 pandemic

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-2062106/v1

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Disparities in school experience for minoritized students during the COVID-19 pandemic

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2062106/v1

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We investigate disparities in perceptions of school climate during the COVID-19 pandemic across multiple indicators of minoritized group membership (low SES, non-binary gender, non-heterosexual sexual orientation, racial/ethnic minority). Furthermore, we examine the effects of belonging to multiple minoritized groups. Across a range of school climate indices, belonging to a minoritized group is associated with significantly lower quality of school climate, however, specific effects vary across minoritized group and aspect of school climate.

School climate - the norms and values, teaching practices, and quality of the relationships within the school (Cohen et al., 2009; Wang & Degol, 2016) - is the atmosphere in which all other school activities and initiatives are taking place. To that end, it is a part of everything, from how safe students feel attending school, to how likely they are to focus, learn, and perform. A positive school climate is thus associated with many academic indicators, including student engagement (Fatou & Kubiszewski, 2018) and achievement (Bear et al., 2011; Thapa et al., 2013; Zullig et al., 2010), as well as a more positive social atmosphere, such as decreased bullying (Bandyopadhyay et al., 2009; Loukas et al., 2006; Wang & Dishion, 2012), and a sense that teachers care about the students (Hoffmann et al., 2022).

Yet, school climate is not just about the school, but also about the interactions between individuals and their school. Indeed, there is reason to believe that the experience of school is not homogenous for all students. Students attending the same school could report vastly different experiences (Gage et al., 2016; Wang & Degol, 2016). For example, past research has shown that Black students tend to report lower perceptions of relationship quality than their White peers, and students who identify as LGBTQ report less social and emotional safety their their heterosexual classmates (Seibyl et al., 2021). A study of 400 middle schools pre-COVID found that Black and Hispanic students reported less safety and connectedness, poorer relationships with adults, and fewer opportunities for participation than White students. Moreover, when the disparities in experience were bigger, so were the academic achievement gaps (Voight et al., 2015).

Although there are well-documented disparities in academic achievement (Hussar et al., 2020), there is relatively little known about the associations between minoritized identities and subjective experiences of school, such as school satisfaction, feelings of safety, and student relationships. Furthermore, it is unclear how previous indications may have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the current study was designed to examine demographic and intersectional differences in adolescent school experiences during the pandemic (December 2020 - January 2022). Rather than evaluating a single element of student identity, we collected information on socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, and racial identities. This approach allows us to provide a novel contribution to the field as we examine whether intersectional identities combine to reflect amplified difficulties for students. We also expand upon previous examinations of student inequities by evaluating student perceptions of school climate. Our assessment of school climate is noteworthy: we build upon previous evaluations of demographic disparities by assessing specific aspects of the school experience (e.g., student relationships, physical safety), thereby determining which elements of school life may be driving these inequities.

This study used a large sample of 21,765 students from 50 middle and high schools in the United States, from 16 states, including rural, suburban, and urban communities. The sample included students in grades 6–12, ages 11–21 (M = 13.81, SD = 1.90). The sample reported identifying as 46% male, 43% female, 3% non-binary, with 9% not answering the question. The racial and ethnic makeup of the sample was 53% White/Caucasian, 16% Hispanic/Latin, 7% Black or African American, 5% Asian or Asian American, 4% Biracial or Multiracial, and 2% Middle Eastern, with another 5% reporting another race, and 8% not answering the question.

Measures

School Climate. As part of several larger studies, students were asked to complete the School Climate Walkthrough (Hoffmann et al., 2022), a multidimensional, web-based application that measures students' perceptions of their school climate covering nine domains: physical safety, emotional safety, social safety, student relationships, adult relationships, student-adult relationships, teaching quality, respect for diversity, and school pride. Students completed the measure during a typical school day, on a day when they were physically in the building. Reliability estimates for each subscale were high (Cronbach’s alpha = .80-.85).

Demographic information. Students reported on their perceived SES, gender identity, sexual orientation, and race/ethnicity. Low SES was determined by an SES score of 4 out of 10 or lower. We note that sexual orientation and SES were removed from some schools’ survey packets at the request of schools. As a result, data is not available for some comparisons across sexual orientation.

Data Analysis Plan

We conducted regression analyses within MPlus software (Muthen & Muthen, 2019) with cluster robust-standard errors to correct for the nested nature of our data. Variables are dummy coded to allow for evaluations of unique effects of specific group membership (e.g., specific gender or racial identities). To assess the role of membership to multiple minoritized identities, individuals who reported membership in more than one minoritized group (low SES, non-binary gender, non-heteronormative sexual orientation, or racial minoritized groups) were assigned a one. Students belonging to only one, or none, were assigned a zero. Low SES group membership was determined by an SES score of 4 or below (scores can range from 1 to 10).

Data Availability

The data used in this study are part of a large, ongoing study and are therefore not available.

See Table 1 for a summary of all results. Results show that membership in a lower socioeconomic status is associated with worse outcomes on all school climate subscales as compared to students reporting membership in a higher socioeconomic classification. Students reporting a gender identity outside of the gender binary also report significantly lower scores on all subscales as compared to their peer identifying within the binary. Students reporting non-heteronormative sexual orientations report worse outcomes on all study variables with the exception of Adult-Adult Relationships as compared to their heteronormatic peers. Hispanic students reported no significant differences in perceptions of school climate, with the exception of lower levels of Adult-Adult Relationships as compared to all other racial/ethnic groups. Asian/Asian American students reported no significant differences in perceptions of school climate, with the exception of Student-Student Relationships as compared to all other racial/ethnic groups. Students identifying as Black or African American reported significantly worse outcomes on all variables with the exception of Supportive Teaching as compared to all other racial/ethnic groups.

Table 1

Results from regression analyses.
	Supportive Teaching	School Pride	Student Adult Relationships	Respect for Diversity	Student-Student Relationships	Adult-Adult Relationships	Physical Safety	Emotional Safety	Social Safety
SES	.06***	.07***	.07***	.05***	.07***	.04***	.06***	.07***	.07***
Non-binary gender	− .21***	− .20***	− .21***	− .24***	− .23***	− .12***	− .24***	− .25**	− .23**
Non-heterosexual	− .15***	-0.08	− .15***	− .20***	− .18**	− .02	− .15**	--	--
Hispanic	< .01	− .04	-0.04	− .04	− .04	− .05**	− .04	− .07	− .01
Asian/Asian American	.03	.06	-0.02	.09	.12***	.02	.04	.06	.07
Black/African American	− .03	− .19***	− .07***	− .13***	− .10***	− .07**	− .08***	− .09*	− .15*
Multiple minority group identity	− .18***	− .20***	− .22***	− .19***	− .21***	− .09*	− .19***	− .28***	− .30***
Note. p < .05, p < .01, **p < .001

Finally, we examined whether belonging to multiple minority groups was associated with significant differences in school climate. Membership in more than one minoritized group was associated with worse outcomes in every study variable as compared to those in one or none of the minoritized groups. Importantly, for Student Adult Relationships, Emotional Safety, and Social Safety, the strength of the effect for multiple minority students was higher than the association of any single group membership. See Supplemental Material Figs. 1–7 for graphs depicting the scores for each demographic group and their appropriate reference category.

A promising trend in educational measurement is the movement toward examining interpersonal variance, such as inconsistencies in disciplinary practices within a school for students of differing races (Bottiani et al., 2016). The current study sought to add to this literature, examining the disparities in educational experiences for students of various intersecting identities. Our sample is large and approaching national representativeness in terms of gender identity, sexual orientation, and racial identity, and therefore provides a powerful examination of how demographic components, and intersectional identities, create fundamental disparities in school experiences. We were able to expand upon previous evidence by examining a) a measure of school climate, which includes a range of aspects of student experience, such as feelings of physical safety, student relationships, social safety, and supportiveness of teachers, and b) examining whether intersectional identities combine to reflect amplified difficulties for students.

Our results show that across aspects of minority group membership, these identities are tied to significant disparities in educational experiences and outcomes. Of particular concern, individuals reporting membership in at least two groups report significantly worse outcomes in every variable studied. These findings point to the significant disparities in not only academic achievement scores, but also in how school is experienced on a fundamental level. In North American society, education is essential for upward social mobility and financial stability within an individual’s lifespan, but also intergenerationally. Students’ perceptions of school climate in secondary school are key to setting students on a path to complete their education, and launch successfully in the postsecondary career of their choosing. These findings are a start toward identifying strategies for closing the gap and ensuring every student feels safe, supported, and seen at school.

Competing interests

All authors declare no competing interests.

Contributions

J.D.H. obtained funding for the project reported on in this manuscript, developed the study, and oversaw data collection. K.D. analyzed the data ad drafted the paper. All authors contributed extensively to the work presented in this paper.

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Disparities in school experience for minoritized students during the COVID-19 pandemic

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