Nonverbal behavior is a ubiquitous, everyday cue that is often used as a basis for social evaluation. Numerous studies indicate that children are sensitive to these signals and form evaluative judgments after viewing positive or negative nonverbal cues directed toward a target. Furthermore, they generalize these judgments to other members of a…

Previous literature reported that Black students receive out-of-school suspensions (OSSs) and expulsions at disproportionately higher rates and have lower test scores than White students. This study provides recent evidence on the relation between racial disparities in discipline and in achievement, with particular focus on achievement gains, in…

In large urban districts, schools enrolling more white students tend to have higher performance ratings. We use an instrumental variables strategy leveraging centralized school assignment to explore this relationship. Estimates from Denver and New York City suggest the correlation between school performance ratings and white enrollment shares…

This doctoral dissertation investigates the effects of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policy on educational equity in New Jersey, focusing on three primary research questions. Firstly, the study examines whether the implementation of NCLB mandates led to the closure of achievement gaps between black and white students, as evidenced by disparities…

A growing number of studies have shown the benefits of K-12 integrated science and engineering education. With this study, we add to the literature by documenting the relationship between STEM learning and engagement, and the demographic characteristics that impact achievement in STEM. This longitudinal study followed a diverse group of 245 middle…

The reading achievement gap between Black and White students was 29 points in Florida, depicting an alarming eight-point increase over that of the United States. Within School District A, the reading achievement gap was over 40% for over 4 years resulting in a district-wide plan for reconciliation and to determine the contributing factors of the…

This brief examines where STEM deserts were located within Houston Independent School District (HISD) boundaries and the students most likely to live in a STEM desert. STEM deserts are areas in which students have more limited access to STEM endorsement paths or STEM course offerings. The analyses showed STEM deserts were more common in the…

Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the primary reasons that students are assigned exclusionary discipline consequences. Another purpose involves ascertaining the degree to which differential consequences are present by student ethnicity/race in the discipline consequence assigned for the same misbehavior.…

School assignment in Boston and New York City came to national attention in the 1970s as courts across the country tried to integrate schools. Today, district-wide choice allows Boston and New York students to enroll far from home. Although 1970s desegregation efforts likely benefited minority students, urban school transportation is increasingly…

There is a clear and well-documented link between physical activity (PA) and health. However, many youth do not participate in the recommended levels of PA in order to gain health benefits. Given the health disparities among urban youth, specifically among African American youth, and mindful of the lack of data for Arab Americans, the purpose of…

The current study examined whether the extent to which students perceived their teachers provided positive support influenced associations between teachers' emotional intelligence and social emotional learning (SEL) beliefs and multiple dimensions of students' other-oriented cognitions (i.e., perspective taking empathetic concern, and prosocial…

Two developments in teacher expectation research formed the basis for the current study. First, researchers have begun investigating the self-fulfilling prophecy effects of teacher expectations on a variety of psycho-social outcomes in addition to the effects on academic achievement. Second, researchers have started to realize that some groups of…

Increasingly, teachers are using consciousness raising pedagogies such as culturally relevant, responsive, sustaining, and social justice pedagogies. However, little attention has been paid to teachers engaging in this work with students of privileged backgrounds (e.g., white, affluent students) and in mathematics. The present study addresses this…

The enduring misperception that rural places are homogeneously White may contribute to the underrepresentation of Black students in rural gifted education programs. In this study, we sought to understand this relationship by examining the underrepresentation of Black students in rural gifted education programs through a theoretical framework of…

Race matching has positive effects on students' academic achievement and self-rated sense of belonging. However, when most public-school teachers identify as White, race matching is not always possible at the individual level. The present study extends current research to explore the effects of school-level diversity and race matching. Do the…