Background: African-American and Latinx youth are disproportionately exposed to neighborhood violence and are overrepresented in the U.S. juvenile justice system. Perceived neighborhood violence is associated with negative health outcomes. Objective: We examined associations between African-American and Latinx youths' perceived neighborhood…

Background: Though minoritized undergraduate engineering students earn less than 25% of engineering bachelor's degrees, minority-serving institutions (MSIs) are leading the way in producing a large percentage of those underrepresented engineering bachelor's degree holders. However, much of the published research about the experiences of…

Limited research attention has been devoted to disparate vulnerabilities to social-ecological risk factors and how these may explain group differences in bullying by race. To address this gap, the present study used data of early adolescent respondents (M[subscript age] = 11.2 years) from 36 public middle schools (N = 2701) to assess the nexus of…

Research in mentoring has shown that students may at times be more willing and able to absorb information that is delivered to them by their near-peers, rather than by traditional figures of authority, like teachers and professors. In this study, underrepresented minority high school students participated in an informal learning experience that…

The Individual with Disabilities Education Act specifies that families should be include in the special education process and they must provide informed consent. However, families from Spanish-speaking backgrounds, often report barriers to participation. In this study, we provided a forum for Spanish-speaking families to tell their stories using…

The author explores the overrepresentation of Black and Latino students in special education in the United States and offers critical strategies to begin to address the issue with culturally responsive teaching and minimization of subjectivity.

There is growing concern about zero tolerance disciplinary practices in schools throughout the US. High suspension rates, specifically amongst African American and Latinx students are strongly correlated with negative student outcomes, and for some students may create an entry point into the school-to-prison pipeline. Furthermore, discipline data…

The 21st century world is increasingly globalized and interconnected, and migration is a reality that substantially impacts the US educational system, and often requires specialized services for migrant students to successfully transition to higher education. While higher education has many benefits, it also presents inherent risks and challenges…

The intransigence of the achievement gaps in schools in this nation and in the school districts in which I served as a building administrator or district support staff member was the motivation for conducting this examination of the role of expectations for success relative to achievement on assessments. This study investigated the possible…

In this study, the lack of teacher preparation to incorporate Social Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies in the classroom that could benefit African American and Latina girls in urban secondary schools was examined. Research showed that over 50% of students in urban schools experienced SEL challenges which correlated with higher risks for…

Many college students, especially first-generation and underrepresented racial/ethnic minority students, desire courses and careers that emphasize helping people and society. Can instructors of introductory science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses promote motivation, performance, and equity in STEM fields by emphasizing the…

We use data from the Stanford Education Data Archive to describe district-level trends in average academic achievement between 2009 and 2019. Although on average school districts' test scores improved very modestly (by about 0.001 standard deviations per year), there is significant variation among districts. Moreover, we find that average test…

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the educational experiences of diverse student populations throughout the country and among Virginia public schools. English Learners (ELs) had a unique set of needs and services prior to the pandemic, and potentially were more vulnerable to pandemic-related disruptions in typical school operations than other student…

Although not a universal practice, many U.S. postsecondary mentoring programs employ paid student mentors as part of a structured student-to-student (peer) mentoring model. Limited research has explored how student mentees view paid mentorship and if mentees can detect whether their mentor is paid or unpaid through mentor behavior. This…

This paper looks at the stories shared by Latina school leaders regarding their ascendance to the superintendency in New Mexico. The social, political, and cultural supports and challenges that they experienced along the way to their top positions in school leadership are discussed including the impact of gender barriers, power differentials, the…