Life experiences can affect students' educational experiences as they continue through the middle years (grades 7-9). Children carry negative experiences, societal and family influences, and early educational experiences with them. All of these factors can contribute to student anxiety while learning mathematics. Anxiety in mathematics may present…

This article is based on the journeys of four women who completed their doctorates in the discipline of Sociology. The four former doctoral students studied at the same distance education institution in South Africa, but they hail from Nigeria, Lesotho and Cameroon, respectively. Together with their former supervisor, autoethnography is used to…

Space is the product of spatial and social relations (Massey 2005). Educators are constantly moving in and out of physical or virtual spaces in classrooms. In geography education particularly, space is integral to teaching and learning. For example, students situate spatial knowledge within social contexts to make sense of geographical concepts…

The "Opele" Report of 1992 provided a window into the concerns surrounding educational opportunities and quality of education for underrepresented Black students at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UHM) (Takara, 1992, p. 4). By providing a comprehensive analysis, the "Opele Report" suggested multiple ways to improve Black…

In this post the author reflects on their own experience alongside those of peer freshmen across U.S. college campuses. Data were collected through 10 focus groups conducted over two months in-person and via Zoom using a combination of purposeful and snowball sampling to identify diverse demographics. While this is a small data set for a large…

The authors, youth leaders in Philadelphia and New York, believe that researchers can do a better job of listening to and including youth in their research. Since October 2021 they have been collecting essays from high school students (and some middle school and college students too) written during this time of community, national, and global…

Community colleges are utilizing unique support programs and disparate modes of learning to build community in the era of COVID-19. Student of different backgrounds are finding themselves facing similar challenges during the pandemic. This article profiles a student-athlete, an immigrant, a full-time worker, and a student of color from an…

The spread of COVID-19, which happens easily in a campus setting, raises critical questions about what educational institutions can and should do. The raised issues are remarkably varied and call for all those involved in running institutions to approach these concerns thoughtfully and quickly, given the speed with which the virus is spreading,…

This article is based upon autobiographical narratives of two students exploring their experiences in finding commonality through an institutionalized domestic and international student community. Both students' paths intersected at the East-West Center (EWC), an independent, public, nonprofit organization formed by the US Congress in 1960 with…

Adults with unresolved Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) present a unique opportunity for universities to support students as they strive toward positive change. As marginalized students seek to improve their lives, they often utilize higher education as their means. Traditionally, this path has not been easy to for students to navigate, nor…

Teachers are essential partners in addressing the needs of English learners (ELs), yet most professional development fails to mention the specific needs of such students who have experienced trauma and exhibit signs of toxic and post-traumatic stress. Such students are not readily identified and even so, are often hesitant to seek the professional…

Scholars have attempted to reveal the structural barriers that dis/abled students cope with and navigate during college, but it remains unclear how these students interpret their experiences on campus and what strategies they employ to manage and respond to unsupportive and hostile campus climates. In this paper, we describe freedom movements that…

Racial stress and trauma negatively impact the psychological and academic outcomes of Black youth. Riana Elyse Anderson, Farzana Saleem, and James Huguley encourage parents and teachers to explore racial experiences and resulting stress and trauma through racial socialization, or competent conversations and behaviors regarding race and racism, to…

This article is a cross-section of stories of three young men navigating the expectations of a school with a 100% college admissions goal. Similar to their classmates, none of these male teens had a parent who had attended college. In addition, each of them had at one point in their high school lives declared that they would be dropping out of…

On May 14th and 15th, 2020, the historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) Action Nation Town Hall, co-hosted by United States Distance Learning Association, the Online Learning Consortium, National Coalition of 100 Black Women, and Tennessee State University, brought together many esteemed panels of experts that came together to share…