Dual language immersion programs are growing in popularity across America. This article examines the explanations middle-class parents of various racial/ethnic backgrounds give for enrolling their children in Mandarin Immersion Programs. The author addresses the following questions: Why do American parents enroll their children in Mandarin…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down public school buildings across the United States in early 2020, research on academic indicators has documented disproportionate--and potentially long-lasting--impacts on Latino students. This report examines several strategies and practices that have tremendous promise for accelerating Latino students'…

The authors investigated cultural resourcefulness among seven Black middle-class families who proactively collaborated to ensure their children's academic excellence in a highly racialized suburban community in southern California. Their children achieved high grades and successfully entered and completed higher education at elite U.S.…

This study seeks explores how Latina student mothers mediate their educational success by understanding how students balance their educational responsibilities with motherhood. This qualitative study utilizes funds of knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & González, 1992) as a theoretical framework to identify and document the wealth of knowledge,…

We investigated the relationship of self-sexualization to self-objectification, weight concerns, self-efficacy, academic outcomes, and career aspirations among preadolescent girls. Participants were 89 six- to nine-year-old girls; parental reports were also obtained. Two thirds of girls showed signs of self-sexualization by choosing a sexualized…

The academic achievement, bilingual proficiency, and sociocultural competence of exiting middle school students was analyzed to provide dual-language program stakeholders with evaluative information for local control funding and accountability planning. Informed by equity as a guiding principle of additive bilingualism, researchers used…

Charter schools are a popular option in school choice reform. Parents often choose to enroll their children in charter schools because they are disenchanted with traditional public schools. Many charter schools are independent from local school districts and promise to be innovative when implementing their curriculum. Despite charter schools'…

The educational pipeline has become a commonly referenced depiction of educational outcomes for racialized groups across the country. While visually impactful, an overreliance on decontextualized quantitative data often leads to majoritarian interpretations. Without sociohistorical contexts, these interpretations run the risk of perpetuating…

Research Findings: Children from families of lower socioeconomic status (SES) enter kindergarten with less developed mathematical knowledge compared to children from middle SES families. This discrepancy is present at age 3 years and likely stems from differences in the home learning environment. This study reports SES-related differences both in…

Drawing on sociocultural and related theories, 4 questions examined career and educational aspirations and expectations among 24 immigrant Latina/o early adolescents and their parents as predictors of students' grades. First, adolescents' career aspirations and expectations were correlated, and both parents and adolescents held educational…

Educational leaders and institutions struggle with increasing the persistence and graduation rates of Black male college students. Research on Black male college students has often been approached from a deficit lens that shows their challenges and poor academic tenure. This study explored what internal and external tools were utilized by Black…

Relatively little research has examined the ways in which immigrant Latino parents can effectively support their adolescent children's schooling. To address this gap, we conducted in-depth interviews with 32 Mexican-heritage 9th graders. Students identified parents' advice giving as the most salient form of involvement. Parental advice emphasized…

At UCSB the number of degree seeking undergraduate Chinese international students increased from 6 to 163 between 2010 and 2012. With such a controversial and much discussed topic of international student enrollment at U.S universities, this was the perfect time for me to interview Chinese international students. With the help of Kathy Charmaz'…

Largely because of their high aspirations for their children, many Chinese immigrants are acutely aware of the University of California's new undergraduate-admissions policy. With the new policy, the Board of Regents hopes to widen the applicant pool and give campuses more flexibility in selecting students. Asian-Americans bitterly oppose it,…

Informed by research studies that demonstrate a positive relationship between parent engagement and student academic attainment, state and national parent outreach initiatives have aimed to bridge the gap between Latina/o parents and schools. Such was the case with the Latina/o Family, School and Community "Avanzando" Project, which…