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Abstract: Social-emotional competence may be a protective factor for academic achievement among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students. This study used Fisher's r to Z transformations to test for group differences in the magnitude of relationships between social-emotional competence and achievement. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to determine the variance in academic achievement explained by student race, poverty, and social-emotional competence, and the schoolwide percentage of students by race. Data are from 335 students across 6 schools. This study suggests that promoting social-emotional competence among AI/AN students could be a strategy for reducing disparities in academic achievement and the consequences of these disparities.
INTRODUCTION
American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students, on average, experience high rates of adversity and systemic oppression (Alaska Federation of Natives, 2011a, 2011b), such as poverty, racism, and insufficient access to resources and services, as well as the long-term consequences of historical trauma and displacements (Brave Heart & DeBruyn, 1998; EvansCampbell, 2008; LaFromboise, Albright, & Harris, 2010; Krogstad, 2014; Whitbeck, Adams, Hoyt, & Chen, 2004). In addition, AI/AN students in the U.S. are implicitly asked to acculturate to a "mainstream" education system. Mainstream academic environments may not reflect AI/AN cultures, and an emphasis on assimilation may undermine the value of AI/AN cultures (Fryberg et al., 2013b; Gone, 2013).
The cumulative effects of these risk factors and barriers pose threats to AI/AN students' academic achievement (Brayboy, 2005; Dalla & Kennedy, 2014; DeVoe & Darling-Churchill, non-Native peers (Aud, Fox, & KewalRamani, 2010; National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). This early achievement gap leads to more AEAN students disengaging, underperforming, and dropping out of school (Gentry & Fugate, 2012; National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). In the long term, the achievement gap contributes to the persisting disparities observed in employment, rates of poverty, and mental and physical health between AI/AN and other communities (Aud et al., 2010; Gone & Trimble, 2012). This paper explores the achievement gap between AI/AN students and their non-Native peers.
The Native Achievement Gap: A Theory of Cultural Misalignment
Many theoretical and empirical explanations for the observed gap in achievement between AI/AN students and their non-Native peers have been offered (Castagno & Brayboy, 2008; Gentry & Fugate, 2012). Culturally transmitted values and histories of oppression, assimilation, and...