For learners from disadvantaged backgrounds with limited science fair-related skills, knowledge, and community support, investigating the advisability of various ways of arriving at a science fair project topic is needed. This mixed-methods case study with an ex post facto criterion-group design uses questionnaire data and science fair awards…

Acquiring mathematical literacy requires students to apply mathematics in various real-world contexts. However, mathematics classes often provide brief, content-focused descriptions of reality-based tasks and tasks that describe the situation as more complex, closer to reality, are still lacking. Students with different sociodemographic…

Internationally, Out-of-School Time (OST) provision is widely seen as providing professionally-supervised activities through which young people, living in high-poverty contexts, can improve their after-school safety, as well as academic and personal development outcomes. However, even when practical barriers to access are removed, participation is…

The Marginalization-related Diminished Returns (MDR) phenomenon refers to the weaker effects of parental educational attainment for marginalized groups, particularly ethnic minorities. This literature, however, is limited to Blacks and Hispanics; thus, it is not clear if the MDR phenomenon also applies to the educational performance of Asian…

Past research finds that the effect of socioeconomic origin on the probability of making educational transitions decreases over the educational career from primary to graduate school. Some have argued that this pattern of waning is the result of selective attrition, since those of modest social origins who make a given transition may have…

The aim of this study was to explore the predictive effect of hope for resilience in socio-economically disadvantaged adolescents. Participants of the study were 692 (395 female, 297 male) students attending to 9th, 10th and 11th grades. The age range of the sample was 14-19 (M = 16.24, SD=0.89). A convenient sampling was used to select the…

Early exposure to college and career readiness supports were offered to disadvantaged grade 10 and 11 high school students through the Launch Ignite Scholar Program. Ignite Scholars were encouraged to build a stronger foundation for college and career through participation in one-on-one advising, college and industry tours, and college and career…

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) Miles Ahead Scholars (MAS) Program was launched in October 2019 with a $22 million grant sponsored by Senator Boris Miles and funded through a Texas Education Agency Student Success Initiative (SSI) Community Engagement Grant. Scholars were mentored by men of color in the community who shared their…

In this paper we explore the role of outdoor residential experiences on the sense of efficacy and examination attainment of a group of under achieving students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. The article reports on a three year project which focuses on two groups of Year 9 (age 14) to Year 11 (age 16) students. The results reported here…

Students' post-school options are limited if they have not completed mathematics subjects involving the study of calculus. This paper employs a sociocultural approach to identify institutional practices that might promote sustained engagement with these subjects among students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Drawing on interviews with mathematics…

We investigate Grade 10 learners' mathematical identities, with a focus on influences on the learners' identities. A mathematical identity questionnaire was given to learners and their test scores accessed. Four learners were purposively selected for interviews on the basis of interesting relationships between their questionnaire responses and…