It is well-established that the effects of poverty are devastating for children in school. More generally, scholars have documented that low "socio-economic status" (SES), whether measured by family income, parent education, or parent occupation, is usually the most powerful predictor of achievement and test score performance, sometimes swamping…

Social-capital explanations of school outcomes, particularly of the school outcomes of immigrant children and children of immigrants, have come into wide use in recent years. These explanations attempt to account for individual or group variations in school performance by viewing the family and community relations that surround children as forms…

It is argued that high academic achievement among Vietnamese refugee and immigrant students is, in some part, the reflection of a survival strategy that has been employed over centuries of Vietnamese confrontations with more powerful peoples. Historical circumstances have reinforced a Vietnamese belief that a causal link exists between the…

The myth of Asians as "the model minority" may hide the instructional needs of Asians and mislead policymakers. There is growing concern that Asians' low verbal scores are masked by their higher than average math scores and high school grade point averages. Principals and key staff at 12 (out of 20) schools identified as having…