Purpose: The purpose of this manuscript is to demonstrate how school and district leaders supported the youth of color leadership initiatives at the district and school levels in ways to advance youth agencies and transformative change. The specific research question guiding this study was: What actions do formalized leaders engage in to share…

This paper examines video data of a high school robotics team to explore practices that empower youth from underrepresented groups in engineering to disrupt traditional boundaries around what engineering is and who is considered competent to participate in its practice. We analyze in-the-moment positioning work with a focus on care and maintenance…

This study explores the association between sanctuary policies and the high school completion and college enrollment of Hispanic undocumented youth. Sanctuary policies, which city, county, and/or state governments implement, prohibit local political leaders and police officials from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement officers…

Drawing from theories of identity, language, and race, we conceptualize gateway moments to literate identities in high school English language arts classrooms enrolling language-minoritized youth. Gateways were interactions that afforded particular kinds of literate identities for youth. Deficit literate identities often invoked racialized…

Aspirations predict students' trajectories, and knowledge of how youth develop and achieve goals is crucial to supporting success. However, rural students may encounter constraining conditions that can curtail their aspirations, and students of color often face institutional barriers that impact their postsecondary pathways. Guided by theories…

This study investigates the impact, both proximal and distal, of inter-scholastic sports participation on the academic experiences of Latino male high school students. I utilize the notion of imbrication and a nested ecological framework to interrogate these larger constructs to illuminate differences and commonalities that exist amongst and…

California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) continues its five-year grant, "An Equitable Pathway to In-Demand STEM Careers," that began in Fall 2021 to facilitate Hispanic students' degree completion and career preparation in STEM fields. In the second year, the grant team has made satisfactory progress in offering summer and winter…

Objectives: At the K-12 level, "CS for All" initiatives across the country strive to increase equitable access to and participation in computer science (CS). However, there are many open questions about the implementation and effectiveness of these initiatives, including the extent to which exposing young people to CS early on can shape…

The Complete College Tennessee Act (CCTA) established benchmarks for increasing state college completion rates to the national average by 2025. This investigation explored responses on the High School Senior Opinion Survey to identify trends between two subpopulations for strategic enrollment management (SEM)--Latino American and African American…

Youth development researchers have focused on persistent challenges facing youth in diverse urban settings; thus, we know less about youth in rural communities. Using multilevel modeling, we explored contextual factors associated with school grades and educational aspirations. We find that, on average relative to students from urban schools,…

Case studies of two biology teachers, Cathy and David, from the same minority-majority, urban U.S. high school, provide insights into their instructional practices while they engaged in long-term professional development (PD). Findings suggest why science teachers engaged with PD may, or may not, adopt more adaptive pedagogical approaches in the…

During the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years at a public high school in El Paso, Texas the author developed and led an after-school arts-based literacy class. This arts-based literacy class was part of the design of a larger ethnographic study spanning the same timeframe that examined how Texas' high-stakes accountability policies shaped…

This study examined the phenomenon of college readiness in Hispanic first-generation college students. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between first-generation Hispanic student participation in an Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) elective course and college readiness. The researchers used logistic…

This study examined the role of a state need-based financial aid policy in Latina/o high school students' meaning making of postsecondary access. Utilizing narrative research, the analytical focus on the meaning making uncovered patterns of individual agency in the journeys of eight Latina/o high school students who were recent enrollees in the…

I investigated how two U.S.-born Salvadoran eleventh grade boys formulated college-going mindsets at the nexus of family-based cultural influences, adolescent development, masculinity, and academic self-appraisals. With asset-based theories, findings show how immigrant families encouraged college going by shielding their sons from noneducational…