This article outlines a dialogical approach to understanding how South Asian-American women living in diasporic locations negotiate their multiple and often conflicting cultural identities. We specifically use the concept of voice to articulate the different forms of dialogicality--polyphonization, expropriation, and ventriloquation--that are…

One theme that is reflected throughout this special issue on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) is a paradox of anti-oppressive education activism, namely, the paradox of defining a group for which to advocate while refusing to say what makes for that group. This Afterword reflects on the challenges of developing educational research…

The United States Census Bureau projects that about 50 percent of the U.S. population will be black, Hispanic or Asian by 2050. As the nation's population changes, trends in the education of minority students and the characteristics of the schools they attend are especially important for today's education advocates. The Facts for Education…

This study examined the degree to which achievement gaps existed among different ethnic and racial groups before kindergarten entry. Using published data on the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, this study found statistically significant differences in language knowledge and skills, literacy knowledge and skills, and mathematics…

Over half of all racial/ethnic minority students matriculating at 4-year colleges fail to graduate within 6 years. One explanation for those low graduation rates is minority students' inability to find membership in the cultures and subcultures of their respective campuses. This study was focused on understanding the role of ethnic student…

Nearly 10 years ago, the author wrote an essay for "The Chronicle" on the underrepresentation of Asian-Americans in academic leadership, especially in institutions and disciplines that have a high percentage of students and faculty members of Asian or Pacific Island ancestry. There have been changes over the past 10 years, but not so much for…

Increasing diversity in the United States has impacted the goals of education to focus greater attention on issues of race, culture, and equity. In school mathematics data indicate that African American, Latino, and Native American students continue to trail their White and Asian American peers on most measures of achievement and persistence and…

The purpose of the study was to identify factors that affect students' persistence in completion of the GED. Exploration of characteristics of participants that do/do not persist and obtain their GED assists the high school dropout, potential GED recipient, GED program staff, and society as a whole. More information was needed in order to…

The "Struggle for Identity in Today's Schools" examines cultural recognition and the struggle for identity in America's schools. In particular, the contributing authors focus on the recognition and misrecognition as antagonistic cultural forces that work to shape, and at times distort identity. What surfaces throughout the chapters are…

This paper presents results of English Language Arts Criterion-Referenced Test (CRT) of third grade students for the year 2008-2009. In 2005, 77% of third-grade students who took the 3rd grade Language Arts CRT were proficient; in 2009, 80% of third-grade students were proficient. Third grade proficiency on the Language Arts Test has gradually…

In this article we assess the literature on cultural explanations for ethno-racial differences in K-12 schooling and academic performance. Some cultural arguments problematically define certain ethno-racial identities and cultures as subtractive from the goal of academic mobility while defining the ethnic cultures and identities of others as…

Many immigrants regard college education as a primary means for socioeconomic advancement and assimilation into U.S. society. However, despite their growing numbers in American higher education, little consideration has been given to how immigrant students negotiate acculturative stress, social integration, cultural values, and academic engagement…

Purpose: To examine older adults' perceptions of the link between physical activity (PA) and nutrition to the maintenance of cognitive health. Design and Methods: Forty-two focus groups (FGs) were conducted with 396 ethnically diverse (White, African American, American Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Hispanic) community-dwelling older adults. FGs…

The authors examined how witnessing community violence influenced social support networks and how these networks were associated with male-to-female intimate partner violence (IPV) in ethnically diverse male college students. The authors assessed whether male social support members themselves had perpetrated IPV (male network violence) and whether…

Little attention has been paid to the role of peer social capital in the school context, especially as a predictor of adolescents' academic outcomes. This study uses a nationally representative (N = 13,738, female = 51%), longitudinal sample and multilevel models to examine how peer networks impact educational achievement and attainment. Results…