High school athletes are not immune to mental health challenges. The persistent lack of state or national mental health guidelines for athletes has impacted high school athletes' abilities to access and apply resources in a mentally healthy manner. This can impact not only a high school athlete's career but can leave lasting effects on collegiate…

The arrival of refugees over the past two decades changed the face of classrooms in Kansas City, Missouri, resulting in refugee youth being unprepared for post-secondary opportunities. This critical narrative study aimed to explore the lived experiences of African refugee youth (aged 18 and above) attending public high school in the Midwest United…

While little research has been conducted on Asian undocumented students in higher education, it was the powerful story of an Asian undocumented high school student, Tereza Lee, that inspired Senator Richard Durbin to co-author immigration legislation known as the 2001 DREAM Act. Tereza's story represents an important counter-story to what many…

We report on a grounded theory study of late-arriving immigrant youth (LIY) who arrived in the United States at 16-18 years of age and were referred to daytime General Education Diploma (D-GED) programs. These programs provide an alternate path to a high school diploma for youth with insufficient knowledge of English to complete graduation…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the experiences of a high school senior, a doctoral student, a university professor and an online academic coach with a rapid, unplanned shift to online learning in the USA during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand the challenges and distinct skills they identify as essential for success in a 100% virtual…

Understanding identity labels as "jaulas" [cages] and testimonios as theory and method, this article centers bi/multilingual Latinx students' experiences in high school English Language Development (ELD) classes. We present how two teachers, now researchers, built long-term relationships with former elementary school students, affording…

The number of homeless students in U.S. public schools continues to rise. Although many homeless students drop out due to challenges they face, research is lacking on how some homeless students overcome challenges and graduate high school, which is referred to as being academically resilient. The purpose of this qualitative narrative study was to…

This article looks at the American Dream as a merit narrative to understand how it supports barriers to educational success for educators working to improve the lives of students in urban schools. Hard work/perseverance and individualism are interrogated as components of merit narratives used to sustain the American Dream. We analyze data from six…

In the context of advocacy of the rights of minorities, communities should research about the learning rights of individuals with hearing loss. This article reports a case study that looked into the retrospectives and perspectives of three hard-of-hearing participants (HHs) on learning another language. The data on retrospectives refer to the…

The gendered and racialized narrative of Black male adolescents in urban spaces is one often fraught with deficit-based assumptions and presuppositions about their abilities, competencies, and proclivities with regard to schooling in general and mathematics in particular. Yet despite these conventional beliefs, compounded by the dearth of Black…

To achieve top scores, students need not only talents and study skills but also they have to conquer various adversities successfully. This research focused on the study paths, the concept adopted from Hickman, Bartholomew, Mathwig, and Heinrich (2008), of Finnish straight-A graduates in general upper secondary education. In this article, we refer…

This qualitative study uncovers the voices of five Latin@ students who are high-"achieving" and undocumented and have strong aspirations in science, in a Southern, Title I high school. Through critical race methodology and these students' "testimonios"/counter-stories, these students' struggles and successes reveal their…

Over the last few years, increasing scholarly and media attention has been paid to the plight of undocumented immigrant college students. However, only a small fraction of undocumented youth actually moves on from high school to postsecondary opportunities. Indeed, the exclusion from financial aid eligibility and low family socioeconomic status…

With the study rise of the Hispanic population in the United States over the last 25-years there has been a languished progression of this populations' educational attainment. The purpose of this qualitative study was to tap into the "black-box" of ten academically successful Latino students from San Antonio by capturing the life history…