The persistence of underperformance in schools within large urban districts remains a significant challenge in the U.S. K-12 education system. Education policymakers have enacted legislation aiming at improving these schools through "turnaround" initiatives. However, students attending underperforming schools face multifaceted challenges…

When Ana, a student in Miss Jerome's American Literature course, watched a makeup tutorial instead of completing her assigned work, it became a critical incident highlighting how one educator used student counterscripts to critically center students' ways of knowing and ways of being in the English curriculum. Using culturally sustaining…

Even though study abroad programs in Spanish-speaking countries are increasingly popular, there are hardly any programs specifically designed for Spanish heritage language learners (Beaudrie, Ducar, & Potowski, 2014). However, there are many heritage language learners who still choose a Hispanic country to study abroad. How can we as…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the complex nature of identity construction of one adolescent Mexican-American immigrant English Learner (EL) through the frame of figured world theory (Holland et al. Identity and agency in cultural worlds, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998). We use case study methodology to explore the…

This article explores how critical pedagogy unfolds in the everyday interactions between teachers and students. Specifically, Freirean constructs of critique and dialogue were explored in two key literacy events drawn from an ethnographically informed case study of one fourth-grade classroom. The events were first examined from an ethnographic…

This study examined the impact of a first-year seminar (FYS) on educational outcomes among students attending an emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution (eHSI) in the southeastern United States. Four undergraduate cohorts of first-year students between 2012 and 2016 were the focus of this study. After accounting for a variety of demographic…

Many scholars have found that student--teacher relationships are an integral part to student success in schools. The quality of relationships has implications for student engagement and performance. The most successful student-teacher relationships have characteristics of the ethic of care. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the…

Discourses of languagelessness that suggest that Latinxs are not fully proficient in either English or Spanish have a long history in the United States. These discourses produce raciolinguistic categories that frame the bilingualism of Latinxs as deficient and in need of remediation. In this article, the researchers examine one such…

This study sheds light on the interrelations of universal, school-based social-emotional learning strategies and ethnic-racial identity over time. We assessed exposure to social-emotional learning practices and ethnic-racial identity exploration and resolution among 367 middle school students (70% African American, 30% Latinx; 51% girls) across 3…

The immigrant political incorporation scholarship tends to stress the positive role that schools play in integrating undocumented Latinx youth. Yet, the racialization in school literature indicates that school is often a disempowering place for students of color. This study helps to explain this divergence. It draws from a case study of a…

This paper presents a collaborative self-study of three teacher educators and how they understood, practiced, and promoted democratic education in response to the divisive rhetoric of 2015-2016 at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in Southern California. The prevalence of neoliberal ideologies throughout the 2016 election season challenged our…

This article explores the merits and challenges of a community partnership that was forged between a Religious Studies professor at DePaul University and the nonprofit Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants (ICDI). Through this partnerhip, students in a Religious Studies class participated in a set of ICDI-related, half-day immersion…

Little is known about the experiences of school counselors in their role of disseminating college information to Latinx students. In this study, ten school counselors provided qualitative data which was then analyzed by the researchers for major themes. Themes highlighted the critical role of social capital: school counselors serve an overwhelming…

Access to higher education begins with a student's decision whether and where to apply to college. This paper examines racial and ethnic differences in college application behavior of high school graduates, using two recent graduation cohorts from Texas. We estimate racial and ethnic differences in the probability of applying to college,…

Research: The goal of this study is to understand the experiences of Black and Latino former high school students who dropped out, or were pushed out, of a large urban school district in Southern California. Specifically, this paper examines the barriers students faced that contributed to them leaving high school and their journey afterward.…