Teacher Perception of Asian American Students as Model Minority in STEM: Does Having Multicultural Perspective Help?

Background: In the United States, Asian Americans are often stereotyped as “model minorities” who are naturally proficient in STEM fields. While this stereotype may appear positive, it can obscure the diverse experiences of Asian American students, including those who face academic challenges or racial trauma, ultimately undermining their psychological well-being. Despite growing attention to race-related experiences in STEM education, most existing research focuses on college-level settings, leaving early educational environments underexamined. Purpose: Given that teachers play a critical role in shaping students’ academic pathways, this study explores how teacher perceptions of student STEM abilities are influenced by student race/ethnicity and the teacher’s multicultural perspective. Prior research suggests that teachers’ multicultural awareness and attitudes can significantly impact their evaluations of ethnically diverse students. This study addresses three research questions: (1) Are Asian American students more likely than White, African American, or Latinx peers to be referred to an advanced STEM program, after controlling for social desirability and teacher characteristics? (2) Are Asian American students perceived as more likely to succeed in such programs than their peers? (3) Does teachers’ multicultural perspective moderate these perceptions? Methods: A total of 301 in-service secondary school teachers in the U.S. were recruited via Prolific and randomly assigned to evaluate a vignette of a hypothetical student whose ethnicity varied across conditions. Teachers also completed measures assessing their multicultural attitudes, social desirability, and demographic characteristics. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: Findings revealed that v Asian American students were significantly more likely to be referred to advanced STEM programs and were perceived as more likely to succeed compared to White students. However, while multicultural attitudes positively influenced evaluations of non-Asian students, perceptions of Asian students remained relatively stable regardless of teachers’ multicultural awareness. Notably, implicit bias favoring Asian students was most evident among teachers with lower levels of multicultural perspective. Conclusion: These findings highlight important insights into teacher perceptions and implicit biases in students’ academic evaluations, emphasizing how teachers’ multicultural attitudes shape expectations for different student ethnic groups.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School Psychology

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Choi, Nayoung

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Gonzalez, Jorge E.
• Keller-Margulis, Milena

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Hassett, Kristen
• Aguirre-Muñoz, Zenaida
• Kim, Han Joe

• Psychology

Language dc:language.iso

English

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10657/20641

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/20641