ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. STEM Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1645533
This article is part of the Research TopicRacial Equity and the Organization: An Educational Change Call to ActionView all 5 articles
Strength-based strategies and assets that Black and Latina/o middle and high school students use to navigate contextual barriers of math engagement
Provisionally accepted
Ta-Yang Hsieh1*
Mark Vincent B Yu2Samantha E. Holquist3Alyssa Scott3
Marisa K Crowder4Claire G. E. Kelley3Olivia Reyes3Adapted Measure of Math Engagement Research Group5- 1Search Institute, Minneapolis, United States
- 2McREL International, Denver, United States
- 3Child Trends, Bethesda, United States
- 4The ElevatED Initiative, Denver, United States
- 5Adapted Measure of Math Engagement Research Group, Bloomington, MN, United States
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Background: Racial disparities in math remain a critical issue in the United States (U.S.). For example, the U.S. educational system often fails to recognize or uplift the funds of knowledge and other cultural assets that Black and Latina/o students possess, which has implications for their engagement in math. The goal of this study is to understand, from the perspectives of Black and Latina/o students, what are the salient barriers for math engagement. Importantly, aligned with our strength orientation, we also aim to understand what assets-based strategies Black and Latina/o students use to navigate the barriers. Results: Black and Latina/o students (n = 107) reported barriers to math engagement that span across the micro- (e.g., classroom management and structure), exo- (e.g., distractions from personal technology use), macro- (e.g., math stereotypes and misconceptions), and chrono-system (effects of COVID). To navigate those barriers, Black and Latina/o students identified various assets, such as study strategies, interactive instruction, good use of technology, peer support and collaborative learning, teacher support, positive teacher-student relationships, and family support and capital. Conclusions: In presenting both the barriers Black and Latina/o students face for their math engagement, as well as the strength-based strategies they utilize to navigate such barriers, we present a holistic view of math engagement that centers the role of culture and contexts. Overall, our findings contribute to a more humanizing way to understand the educational inequities that Black and Latina/o students navigate in STEM.
Keywords: Math engagement, barriers, strength and assets, community cultural wealth, cultural microsystem model
Received: 11 Jun 2025; Accepted: 29 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hsieh, Yu, Holquist, Scott, Crowder, Kelley, Reyes and Research Group. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ta-Yang Hsieh, dianeh@search-institute.org
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.