As an integral component of the multicultural policy scheme, multicultural education has been receiving more attention from educational policymakers and researchers around the world (Banks 2008; Cha and Ham 2014; Grant and Lei 2001). Despite the concerted attention given to multicultural education as a policy agenda, systematic research on how effectively such policy effort has achieved the intended goals is less extensive than might be expected. As an attempt toward filling this void in research, this study aims to develop an empirical knowledge base that provides insight into how student learning varies depending on multicultural policy contexts. A particular analytic attention is given to examining the effect of multicultural curriculum policy on student engagement in learning by analyzing extensive international data from the TIMSS 2011 survey.
"To examine what national-level characteristics are associated with multicultural education policies across education systems around the world, we used a cross-national research design. Data on multicultural education across countries were available from the third edition of the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX), which measured policies to integrate international migrants in many countries as of 2010 (Huddleston and Niessen 2011)."
