Peer nominations are used widely in psychological and sociological research to examine intergroup dynamics, even though this assessment tool suffers from thorny methodological problems: Gender, ethnic, age, and trait compositions vary across subsamples, subjects differ in the number of nominations they make, and the issue of sampling without…

This is the first major study of the professional lives and workplace experiences of Latina teachers who work in urban, multiracial schools. While there is a plethora of research on Latina immigrant women working in factories, the informal economy and low skill-jobs in the U.S., the work experiences of college-educated Latina professionals, with a…

Researchers have found that self-concept in students fluctuates during times of change, such as the physical transition between elementary school and junior high. Since Catholic school students typically do not have the physical transition or social network changes in junior high, it was hypothesized that their self-concepts would not fluctuate.…

This study examined disciplinary exclusion data from 77 schools implementing school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS). The authors examined (a) patterns of exclusion in schools implementing SWPBS; (b) associations between decreased exclusions and SWPBS implementation at the whole school level, the classroom level, the nonclassroom level, and…

Last year, Hispanic and African American high school graduates met ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks in English, reading, mathematics, and science at substantially lower rates than did Asian and White graduates. For example, the rate of White graduates who were college ready in English (77%) was twice that of their African American peers (35%).…

Two hundred and sixty two K-12 teachers, ranging from pre-service to experienced teachers, and from elementary to high school, were surveyed regarding their perceptions of students based on gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and behavior. Utilizing a five point scale that surveyed teachers' responses to narratives of student stereotypes…

This edited volume presents an overview of research and policy issues pertaining to children from birth to 10 who are first- and second-generation immigrants to the U.S., as well as native-born children of immigrants. The contributors offer interdisciplinary perspectives on recent developments and research findings on children of immigrants. By…

The Nation's Report Card[TM] informs the public about the academic achievement of elementary and secondary students in the United States. Report cards communicate the findings of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a continuing and nationally representative measure of achievement in various subjects over time. Since 1969, NAEP…

Most studies of school achievement use free-lunch eligibility or other basic indicators to adjust for differences in students' socioeconomic backgrounds. This study determines whether these variables are enough to separate the confounding effects of students' backgrounds from the main variables of interest in education studies. The Early Childhood…

This nationwide study examined the relationships among gender, ethnicity, and poverty with fifth graders' (n = 8,741) science performance. Extant fifth grade data files (2003-2004), from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K), were used. An ANOVA test revealed that males performed significantly better than…

The mortgage foreclosure crisis has affected millions of households around the country. Researchers and policy makers have begun to pay attention to the external costs that these foreclosures impose on surrounding properties and neighborhoods (Schuetz et al., 2008; Harding et al., 2009). But few have considered the collateral costs for children,…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessment measures students' knowledge and skills in mathematics and students' ability to apply their knowledge in problem-solving situations. At each grade, students responded to questions designed to measure what they know and can do across five mathematics content areas: number…

This study examined the effectiveness of Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction (FORI) on improving reading fluency for an ethnically diverse sample of second-grade students. FORI incorporates the repeated reading of a grade-level text over the course of an academic week. This approach to reading uses scaffolding by expert readers. Results indicate…

This study evaluated the extent to which a range of risk factors (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, low socioeconomic status) predicted kindergarten children's likelihood of later displaying recurring psychopathology. It used multilevel logistic regression to analyze teacher ratings of frequent and recurring externalizing and internalizing problem…

This project engages elementary school students, parents, teachers, and administrators in ocean-themed family science nights based on a proven model. Our key goals are to: (1) educate participants about ocean and earth science issues that are relevant to their communities; and (2) inspire more underrepresented students, including Native Hawaiians,…