We provide a composite counter story based on our own experiences grappling with investigating elementary Latinx learners' experiences and how we have leaned on each other to resist the whiteness of learning to do research in pursuit of a Ph.D. As the counterstory shows, we collectively worked together to write our own continuations of the story…

The purpose of this dissertation study was to identify the nature of 23, 4th grade children's talk in social justice awareness circles about topics representative of DEI issues. Omitted in prior research on student talk is the "situatedness" of the classroom discussion and how local context, school climate, media coverage of sensitive…

This study examined whether optimism is a unique predictor of fourth and fifth graders' academic performance. The few studies that have examined this relationship with students in middle childhood have ignored relevant covariates and have focused on higher socioeconomic White students. In the present study, we examined the relationship between…

Charter schools continue to expand, particularly in urban communities. To critique the civic side of charter schools, we applied Wilson's counter-public framework from a macro level to analyze the 2014 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)- Civics results. We employed a multilevel regression model to ascertain whether Black and…

Writing attitude, strategy use, and confidence surveys help educators understand how students perceive writing and cope with writing challenges in schools. The dimensions (i.e., constructs reflected by survey items) of these surveys have been studied in general students in the U.S., and we investigated how these surveys would reflect the…

Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the degree to which ethnicity/race and economic status are related to the assignment of exclusionary discipline consequences and to the number of days assigned to exclusionary discipline consequences to Grades 4 and 5 girls. In the first study, the extent to which differences…

A problem influencing mathematics performance and student's perceptions of their ability to learn mathematics is mathematics anxiety. This mixed method study examined the perceptions, correlations, and mathematical conversations of Hispanic fourth and fifth grade low-performing students and their parents. A psychological approach provided the…

Background and Context: Despite the growing initiatives in K-12 computer science (CS), there is a continued disparity in the participation of Latinx and multilingual students, a historically underrepresented group in computing. The inequitable participation may be understood by examining students' early development of CS attitudes. Objective: This…

Background or Context: Dual language education aims to foster the development of bilingualism, biliteracy, sociocultural competence, and academic skills in all school subjects. Early correlational research suggests that participation in dual language education is associated with higher achievement. Recent studies leveraged more comprehensive sets…

Researchers examined the outcomes of a year-long, after-school environmental club for Hispanic 4th and 5th grade students. Two instruments, the Student Attitudes toward STEM Survey and Draw a Scientist Test, were administered to students to assess their perceptions of science and scientists before and after club participation. After participation,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between schools' multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) implementation, students' perceptions of their social-emotional learning (SEL), educators' perception of students' SEL, and academic achievement for Hispanic/Latino, African American, and Asian elementary school students as measured by…

Integrated Reading-Writing Instruction (IRWI) is an approach for English Language Arts (ELA) instruction that has gained much attention since the adoption of college and career standards. Previous studies have shown that connecting reading and writing during instruction positively affects students' literacy outcomes as related cognitive processes…

Effective mathematics education for Latinx students with learning disabilities (LD) necessitates teachers who uphold high academic expectations, facilitate access to rigorous math curricula, and champion inclusive and meaningful student participation. This study delves into teachers' perspectives on instructing Latinx students with LD, including…

This study examined the contribution of three writing enabling skills (i.e., feedback perception, self-efficacy, and self-regulation) on writing performance among Hispanic students. Participants were 261 students in grades 3-5. Approximately 60% of students were Emerging Bilingual (EB) enrolled in dual language programming. Students completed…

Administrators in school systems strive to ensure that the identification of giftedness in elementary students results in proportional demographic representation. Overly stringent or biased gifted identification results in deserving students receiving fewer opportunities-to-learn and exacerbates the excellence gap. My aim in this action research…