Racial disparities in school discipline may have collateral consequences on the larger non-suspended student population. The present study leveraged two longitudinal datasets with 1201 non-suspended adolescents (48% Black, 52% White; 55% females, 45% males; M[subscript age]: 12-13) enrolled in 84 classrooms in an urban mid-Atlantic city of the…

The present study examined relations between concern for mianzi, or the social perception of one's prestige and standing in the group, and adjustment in Chinese adolescents. Participants were seventh- and ninth-grade students in rural and urban regions of China (n = 794, M[subscript age] = 14 years). Data were obtained from multiple sources…

This study leverages naturally occurring lotteries for oversubscribed Boston Public Schools prekindergarten program sites between 2007 and 2011, for 3,182 children (M = 4.5 years old) to estimate the impacts of winning a first choice lottery and enrolling in Boston prekindergarten versus losing a first choice lottery and not enrolling on…

This study examined indirect associations of MyTeachingPartner coaching with pre-K students' (N = 1,570; 73% low income) school readiness, via improvements of teachers' (N = 393; 47% Black; 41% Head Start) classroom interactions. Data were collected across 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 in 10 urban sites across the eastern United States. The number of…

This study investigated contextual antecedents (i.e., cross-ethnic peers and friends) and correlates (i.e., intergroup attitudes) of social identity complexity in seventh grade. Social identity complexity refers to the perceived overlap among social groups with which youth identify. Identifying mostly with out-of-school sports, religious…

In 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, a metropolitan school system in the southern United States embarked on a unique mission to improve the quality of its public prekindergarten programs through a partnership with a group of developmental researchers in an iterative, data-based venture. Data on 407 children in Year 1 and 433 in Year 2 (who were enrolled in…

Using a quasi-experimental design, the effects of a student support intervention were estimated for the math and reading achievement of first-generation immigrant children (n = 667, M = 11.05 years of age) attending high-poverty, urban elementary schools. The intervention was designed to help schools identify developmental strengths and barriers…

This study examined reciprocal contributions between shyness-sensitivity and social, school, and psychological adjustment in urban Chinese children. Longitudinal data were collected once a year from Grade 3 to Grade 6 (ages 9-12 years) for 1,171 children from multiple sources. Shyness-sensitivity positively contributed to social, school, and…

To examine the unique functions of same- and cross-ethnic friendships, Latino (n = 536) and African American (n = 396) sixth-grade students (M[subscript age] = 11.5 years) were recruited from 66 classrooms in 10 middle schools that varied in ethnic diversity. Participants reported on the number of same- and cross-ethnic friends, perceived…

Publicly funded prekindergarten programs have achieved small-to-large impacts on children's cognitive outcomes. The current study examined the impact of a prekindergarten program that implemented a coaching system and consistent literacy, language, and mathematics curricula on these and other nontargeted, essential components of school readiness,…

This study investigated the relation between teachers' (N = 22) use of sophisticated and complex language in urban middle-school classrooms and their students' (mean age at pretest = 11.51 years; N = 782; 568 language minority and 247 English only) vocabulary knowledge. Using videotaped classroom observations, teachers' speech was transcribed and…

This study examines the efficacy of "ParentCorps" among 4-year-old children (N = 171) enrolled in prekindergarten in schools in a large urban school district. "ParentCorps" includes a series of 13 group sessions for parents and children held at the school during early evening hours and facilitated by teachers and mental health…

This study uses latent class analysis (LCA) to empirically identify victimization groups during middle school. Approximately 2,000 urban, public middle school students (mean age in sixth grade = 11.57) reported on their peer victimization during the Fall and Spring semesters of their sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Independent LCA analyses at…

Using longitudinal data collected over 2 years on a sample of 2,745 urban elementary school children (1st-6th graders, ages 6-11 years) from economically disadvantaged communities, effects of stressful experiences within 3 contexts (school, family, neighborhood), cumulative stress, and multiple context stress on 3 indices of children's adjustment…

Three aspects of racial-ethnic identity (REI)--feeling connected to one's racial-ethnic group (Connectedness), being aware that others may not value the in-group (Awareness of Racism), and feeling that one's in-group is characterized by academic attainment (Embedded Achievement)--were hypothesized to promote academic achievement. Youth randomly…