Guided by coping theory, the social-ecological diathesis-stress model, and the theory of intersectionality, this study examined how social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies, gender, and immigrant status contributed to the heterogeneity of the association between school victimization and substance use among 2,795 Hispanic/Latinx adolescents…

This article analyzes how guns emerged as both urgent topics of dialogue and common features of everyday life for 228 students and their teachers in six communities across the United States who participated in the Digital Democratic Dialogue (3D) Project, a year long social design-based experiment aimed at foregrounding youth voice and fostering…

This study assessed the prevalence of weapon-related behaviors and experiences in secondary schools in California, their intercorrelations, and predictors at the individual and school levels. This study is based on a representative sample of 889,726 secondary school students in California based on the California Healthy Kids Survey. Prevalence…

Formal schooling in the U.S. has a long and violent history towards Indigenous peoples, today morphing into exclusion and erasure. Using a novel longitudinal dataset of U.S. textbooks (n = 193) from California and Texas, published from 1850 to 2019, we seek to shine light on the issue through a comprehensive analysis of depictions of Indigenous…

Guided by the theory of intersectionality and social identity theory, this study examined the interactive influences of both racial/ethnic majority status and immigrant status on students' school victimization experiences in predominantly Hispanic/Latinx high schools. Participants included 3,176 high school students in Grades 9 to 12 from four…

The practice of temporarily removing students from school as a form of punishment (i.e., suspensions) remains quite common. This study uses longitudinal data from a large, urban school district in California to assess whether the use of suspensions improves school safety in the following school year. Additional analyses by student race and…

This qualitative study explored the factors that affected King Unified School District's (KUSD's) successful attainment of their goal to instruct 100% of their administrators on their comprehensive safety plan, with a specific focus on active shooter violence prevention. Documents from the district were analyzed, and administrators from both the…

Drawing upon an ongoing school mental health survey being conducted in California, this article examines associations between high school students' mental wellness, including covitality (as measured with the Social Emotional Health Survey--Secondary), and school safety perceptions and experiences. Student self-reports reveal a strong positive…

The Common Core State Standards were designed to prepare all students for college and careers. Using theories of cultural capital and culturally relevant pedagogy, this study of 54 college-bound, inner-city high school seniors seeks to determine how students perceive their college readiness during the implementation of the new standards. While the…

The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature on the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in school-aged youth (i.e., [less than or equal to] 18 years). Inclusion and exclusion search criteria led to the identification of 96 articles published during a 25-year period. Articles containing international samples…

Improving school climate remains a priority for improving academic achievement and social emotional learning, and for reducing violence and promoting safe schools. This study examined staff member experiences of school climate with the goal of identifying the quality of climate (negative or positive) that staff experience and how certain…

To better understand the intersections of race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation, this report presents data drawn from the California Healthy Kids Survey (2017-2019) regarding high school students' social and emotional well-being, school experiences, engagement, and their perceptions of the supports they received at school. With…

In this research article, Cati V. de los Ríos examines US-Mexican transnational youths' engagement with the Mexican musical genre corridos, border folk ballads, and its subgenre, narcocorridos, folk ballads that illuminate elements of the drug trade and often glamorize drug cartels. She draws from ethnographic methods to present empirical…

The present study explores the causal link between school climate, school violence, and a school's general academic performance over time using a school-level, cross-lagged panel autoregressive modeling design. We hypothesized that reductions in school violence and climate improvement would lead to schools' overall improved academic performance.…

Multilayered disciplinary policies including sophisticated surveillance mechanisms and harsh punitive practices increasingly characterize schools in the United States. Researchers contend that these modalities funnel students into prisons and produce "prison-like" conditions and/or militarized spaces. Most studies have examined the…