As a high school English and film teacher in the post-quarantine world, Mark Fusco has read about "lost generations" and "learning loss." But he believes these assessments of today's students today are incomplete. What valuable skills did young people actually gain during their time away from school? Fusco has seen a surge in…

In the face of systemic neglect of low-income urban neighborhoods, Hip Hop was much more than entertainment: it was a countercultural revolution embodied as a way of life bound to community action and social change. Hip Hop represents resilience, resistance, and redemption for those living on the margins; to this day, it is an art form for the…

This report is the second in a series that presents evidence about the conditions under which Career and Technical Education (CTE) may be most and least effective and for whom. It focuses on a different set of schools: Comprehensive high schools in New York City (NYC) that offer CTE alongside other educational options. Like the CTE-Dedicated high…

We evaluate the impacts of small high schools on youth risky behaviors and mental health in New York City, using a two-sample-instrumental-variable approach to address endogenous school enrollment. We find heterogeneous effects. School size, overall, has little effect. Among "students" most likely to attend small schools opened…

This dissertation investigates the relationship between stigma, knowledge, and help-seeking attitudes among high school students in two New York City Jewish day schools: a Modern Orthodox all-boys high school and a Sephardic Orthodox Jewish all-girls high school. The primary focus is on understanding how these factors: stigma about mental illness…

The current case demonstrates the complexities of utilizing Youth Court as a restorative practice in an urban high school, by focusing on the complexities it presents for one student in particular. In this case, there are reasons why Youth Court clearly is not working at this particular school site as intended. However, more importantly for…

Mathematical spaces extend far beyond the classroom and physical environments into virtual spaces. Today's students have more to consider than just their face-to-face experiences with mathematics inside or outside the classroom; they have the online perspectives of others to consider as well. To gain critical insight, we conducted this research…

This brief reports on findings and implications from an evaluation of the Saga Education Virtual Math Tutoring Program. Research has demonstrated that Saga provides an effective tutoring model when delivered in person. This research studied whether the program was also effective when delivered virtually. The findings reveal that, overall, students…

In the context of heightened worldwide migration, emotion-based discourses portraying migrants as fearsome and dangerous continue to regulate nation-state boundaries. This paper reports on a critical visual research study in which migrant youth living in New York City were given digital cameras and asked to take pictures of places they thought…

Few sexual health studies have examined subgroup differences in youth risk behaviors that sufficiently account for sexual orientation and gender identity. This study used 2017 New York City Youth Risk Behavior Survey data (N = 10,191), a stratified cluster-sampled survey, to examine descriptive differences in the prevalence of risky sexual…

The Sullivan County School District, a pseudonym, is a specialized district in NYC catering to newcomers and students at risk for high school dropout. In the 2022-2023 school year, there was a significant increase in enrollment of asylum-seeking students living in shelters. Using an improvement science approach, the aim of this study was to…

Students who struggle to build strong relationships with their teachers are more likely to drop out of school. This problem directly impacts high school graduation rates in urban areas. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore best practices urban high school teachers in NYC used to develop positive relationships with their students…

During adolescence, many students engage in maladaptive behaviors that may reflect a lack of knowledge in social-emotional skills. Oftentimes these behaviors lead to conflicts and school-related disciplinary actions. Therefore, conflict resolution skills are vital for academic and social success. Conflict resolution is one component of a…

This study examined New York City Black and Latinx high school students' perceptions of their college counseling experiences. In particular, I sought to understand how the students perceived the role their high school guidance counselors' expectations of their abilities played in the choice of colleges to which they were counseled to apply. Data…

Newcomer immigrant adolescents (NIA) represent a particularly vulnerable group in the United States, facing numerous stressors placing them at risk for social-emotional and academic concerns. Schools play a critical role in supporting NIA in the United States. Despite this, insufficient research addressing the needs of this group within schools…