Investigating the Relation Between Critical Consciousness and Academic Achievement for Adolescents of Color and White Adolescents.

Objectives: A handful of studies have previously reported on positive associations between critical consciousness and academic achievement for youth of color. The present study contributes to this scholarship by investigating how the association between critical consciousness and academic achievement varies for youth (N = 179) across different content areas in school, as well as whether this association differs for youth from different racial–ethnic groups. Method: For three different measures of critical consciousness, we fit single-level ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models to investigate their relationship to students' academic achievement in four different subject areas. We also included moderation models to investigate whether the relation between critical consciousness and academic achievement differed for students of color versus White students. Results: OLS regression analyses revealed that different components of critical consciousness differentially predicted students' academic achievement in different subject areas. Additionally, moderation analyses suggest that these associations between critical consciousness and academic achievement are stronger for students of color than White students. Conclusions: These findings may encourage more K–12 schools and school systems to adopt culturally relevant and sustaining curriculum (such as ethnic studies coursework) that offer more opportunities for youth from both dominant and marginalized identity groups to learn about issues of power, oppression, and resistance to oppression. Public Significance Statement: More than 30 states in the United States have recently adopted or introduced laws that limit teaching in K–12 schools about race and racism. The present study finds that, in a racially diverse sample of high school students, young people's ability to understand and analyze racism was significantly associated with higher levels of academic achievement in several subject areas, and that these associations were particularly strong for high school students of color. These results may encourage more K–12 schools to adopt culturally relevant and sustaining curriculum that offer opportunities for youth to learn about issues of power, oppression, and resistance to oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]