Sense of school belonging has been shown to contribute to a range of academic and psychosocial outcomes, especially among adolescents, and may have particular salience for immigrant students of color, due to their ethnic-racial positionality and frequent marginalization in school. In this study, we examined the ways that immigrant and island-born…

Puerto Rican students are a growing population in U.S. mainland schools, yet few recent studies have focused on the school contextual and identity-based experiences of Puerto Rican youth. Using stage-environment fit and LatCrit theories, this qualitative study examined seven Puerto Rican adolescent students' perspectives on domains of school…

A growing body of evidence points to increased interest in and positive outcomes of participating in Career and Technical Education (CTE). We examine selection into CTE high schools of choice in Massachusetts, a state that has made large investments in CTE, and CTE-dedicated high schools, where interest in attending the schools regularly exceeds…

A tension in designing classroom learning involves balancing the questions and interests of students with the goals of teachers and standards. One approach to navigating this tension in science classrooms is to simultaneously support and constrain students' questions about an observable natural phenomenon in the classroom and then take up those…

Background: Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is a clinical guideline that can help delay, prevent or reduce substance use behaviors in youth. We aimed to describe the experiences of middle and high school (MS and HS) students attending a school with an SBIRT program. Methods: This was a survey study conducted in 2…

Early adolescents often hear messages like "Don't spend too much time on your phone!" Yet little is known about how middle school youth regulate their smartphone usage. To help fill that gap, the authors held a week-long summer workshop to explore early adolescents' perspectives on positive and healthy social media usage. A…

One result of the growing concerns over the numbers of young people moving into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related careers has been the expansion of formal and informal STEM education programming for pre-college youth, from elementary school through high school. While the number of programs has grown rapidly, there is…

Ethnic-racial climate is a salient dimension of school context, especially amid the current sociopolitical climate. This study examined perceptions of school ethnic-racial climate among adolescent students of color, and the significance they place on being part of a diverse student population, in two urban middle schools, using interviews and…

This study explores the relationship between discipline and perception of school climate among students in Grades 5 through 12 (N= 769). Students reported how many times they got in trouble (i.e., sent to the office, detention, suspension) and rated their perceptions of school climate overall and on specific subscales. The results suggest that…

Developing innovative science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curricula that elicit student excitement for learning is a continuous challenge for K-12 STEM teachers. Generating these lessons while meeting conflicting pedagogical objectives and constraints of time, content, and cost from various parties is truly a challenging task…

This study was designed to understand how a school can transform its instructional practices and collaborative structures to bring about rigorous, relevant, and engaging learning for all students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to determine how a school can create a culture of innovation in teaching practices. This case study…

In this paper we present data from one-on-one interviews conducted with students who have taken intermediate and advanced inquiry-based mathematics courses in a program that prepares future preK-8 teachers. Many of these students entered college with a fear of math, but then gained confidence from a required introductory math course and chose to…

This year's report examines the critical role community plays in education. Integrating learning that takes place inside and outside of school has always been a powerful strategy to support student success, but it gained special relevance this year, as school closures made family and community members integral parts of students' daily learning.…

Modern teens have pervasively integrated new technologies into their lives, and technology has become an important component of teen popular culture. Educators have pointed out the promise of exploiting technology to enhance students' language and literacy skills and general academic success. However, there is no consensus on the effect of…

Technology including social media and other technology applications enabled by different technology devices offer many possibilities for second language learners to improve their learning, if they are interested in doing so. We investigated purposes for using technology among urban adolescents, including both English language learners (ELLs) and…