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…

There is an urgent need for more Latinx students to pursue careers in STEM related fields as this has historically been an unserved population in schools. This mixed methods study examined the impact of a summer STEM pipeline program focused on hands-on chemistry concepts for 28 Latinx students in the 5th grade. Findings include statistically…

Purpose: This study explored principals' leadership actions from three leadership frameworks, instructional, socio-cultural and cultural-psychological, to understand how each contributes to influencing teachers' work and learning opportunities for Hispanic English learners. Design/methodology/approach: The research was conducted as a case study,…

Latinos comprise a significant portion of the total school enrollment in the U.S., and an increasing share of Latinos are pursuing higher education today. However, Latino students still face many educational barriers, and research has repeatedly demonstrated that Latino children lag their peers in terms of their academic achievement. In addition,…

This article focuses on the reported experiences of three focal students who participated in a Spanish/English dual language program in their southern California school district throughout their elementary and middle school years. All three students identify as Mexican-origin and speak Spanish, English, and the Indigenous language of Zapoteco and…

Are parental inputs complements or substitutes to education quality? Using variation induced by identification into a gifted and talented (GT) program, I find no aggregate effects on parental behavior as a result of their child's access to a higher quality education. However, there are heterogeneous effects. Non-minority parents decrease…

The purpose of this research is to examine the English language proficiency trajectories of 2,201 fourth- through eighth-grade Latino English learner (EL) students who differed by current English language proficiency and were enrolled in a dual language program. Results showed that (1) students in the four English language proficiency groups…

California's shift towards continuous improvement in education makes understanding how districts and schools can learn to improve a more pressing question than ever. The CORE Improvement Community (CIC), a network of California school districts engaged in learning about improvement together, is an important testing ground to learn about what this…

This article analyzes language practices that 5th grade students in a two-way bilingual education (TWBE) program used to position themselves relative to peers and to transcendent scripts (Gutiérrez, Rymes, & Larson, 1995; Reyes, 2006) about ethnicity and ability (academic and linguistic) that attach themselves to students through their various…

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to identify and describe effective instructional strategies for English language arts and mathematics perceived by expert fourth and fifth grade elementary teachers in southern California to reduce the achievement gap in high poverty and high English language learner (ELL)…

This study utilized latent class analysis (LCA) to identify 5 discernible profiles of Latino children's (N = 1,253) social-emotional, physical, and cognitive school readiness at the time of kindergarten entry. In addition, a growth mixture modeling (GMM) approach was used to identify 3 unique literacy achievement trajectories, across Grades 2-5,…

The influence of parental beliefs and behaviors on children's math confidence and performance is well documented, but few studies examine these associations over time, or in large samples of Latino/a families. This study used longitudinal data from 247 (114 sons and 133 daughters) mother-child dyads to examine whether maternal math gender…

Effectively engaging students in mathematics discourse is challenging, especially in a language other than the one in which you learned mathematics. Teachers must manage the academic as well as social function of language. In Spanish-English bilingual classrooms in the U.S., changing the language of instruction to Spanish may not be enough to…

Despite post-racial rhetoric, stereotypes remain salient for American youth. We surveyed 150 elementary and middle schoolers in Northern California and conducted case studies of 12 students. Findings showed that (a) students hold school-related stereotypes that get stronger in middle school, (b) African American and Latino students experience…

This article combines interview data from a group of boys of color at an urban single-sex school and content analysis of "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" to demonstrate the complexities of readers' responses to literature. Textual relevance, or the ability to construct personal…