The present study is one of the first to synergistically examine how out-of-school interests, achievement goals, and peer groups predict academic achievement within a predominantly African American high school. For males, neither after-school interest-based activities nor achievement goals predicted math performance. For females, mastery goal…

The summer between high school and college as a point of intervention to help more students successfully transition from the K-12 sector to higher education is gaining notice. This qualitative study builds on recent research on the "summer melt" and offers a fresh perspective of students from an urban Los Angeles public high school who,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of parental factors on the environmental science performance of Black Caribbean and Black American students in a Mid-Atlantic U.S. state. The study employed two instruments: (a) a student background questionnaire and (b) an environmental science teacher designed test. The instruments were…

National reports recognize a growing gender gap in postsecondary enrollment as a major challenge impacting the lives of young men, particularly African Americans. Previous gender and race specific research is largely inconclusive. It is, for example, unclear from previous research how persistent the gender gap is across various school contexts,…

Suburban schools have traditionally remained homogenous enclaves for White middle class families. On the surface, these racially integrated spaces reflect the dream of Brown v. Board of Education--to have students of all races learning and developing together. A closer look at these racially mixed environments unveils the systemic problems…

Sixty years have passed since the pivotal 1954 Supreme Court case of "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" and almost fifty years have elapsed since the Higher Education Act of 1965. The Brown decision dismantled public segregated schools in many parts of the country, especially in the South, and racial access in schools…