Students from urban high schools are usually faced with adverse environmental factors in their pursuit of academic success. These factors make learning more challenging and may confound the measurement of academic performance itself. This study explores how one such factor, ambient noise, affects the measurement of mathematics achievement.…

This article reveals inequity as a longitudinal construction involving the cumulation of micro/macroaggressions for children who live in high-poverty communities and attend poorly funded schools. Drawing on critical race theory and empirical research that documents forms of micro/macroaggression, a longitudinal analysis is used to identify forms…

Describes Project Austin-East EXCEL, a pilot college preparatory program for inner-city minority high school students in Knoxville (Tennessee). Develops an "academic ethos" through the following components: (1) reading, writing, and foreign language program; (2) "demystification" of the college experience; and (3) career…