This article analyses findings from a research project examining the Pear Tree Community School in Oakland, California, USA -- a small, social justice-focused school primarily serving Black, Indigenous and other students of colour in grades from kindergarten to Grade 5. Through this multi-year case study, which included observations, interviews…

High school calculus has become indispensable for students seeking a college degree in a STEM field. However, in the present study, we argue that the mathematics opportunities that students seize (when afforded) in middle grades are the key to earning calculus credit in high school. To take calculus in high school, students usually need to take…

Student-teacher relationships are important to student outcomes and may be especially pivotal at the high school transition and for minoritized racial/ethnic groups. Although interventions exist to improve student-teacher relationships, none have been shown to be effective among high school students or in narrowing racial/ethnic disparities in…

College students' experiences vary significantly by race and ethnicity. Often, institutions prioritize structuring their undergraduate experience to cater to white students' needs and desires, such as by hiring predominantly white instructors, and creating classroom learning environments that privilege white students. Though scholars researching…

While U.S. public education is experiencing an increase in student body size and diversity, there is also an increase in racial and socioeconomic isolation. Participation rates among White students are decreasing as rates among Latine and Asian American and Pacific Islander students increase, and Black student participation rates hold steady.…

Minority-serving institutions (MSIs) are considered models of excellence to support underrepresented racial and ethnic students; however, multiple definitions of MSIs complicate the consumption and production of research on these critical institutions. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) uses set criteria to define MSIs, based primarily on…

Conversations about digital inequality in education often revolve around access to technology. However, research into youth culture has shown that many Black and Latinx teens are able to access technology and have developed the same digital skills as their white peers. Social scientist Matt Rafalow observed three California middle schools where…

African Americans and other ethnic minorities are severely underrepresented in both graduate education and among the professoriate in ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB). In the present research, we take a social psychological approach to studying inclusion by examining interrelationships among challenges to inclusion, the sense of belonging,…

Fall-to-fall retention and persistence are important early indicators for students working toward degrees and certificates. Data examined by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center indicated that the overall rate for students who began at a community college in fall 2016 and persisted the next fall (enrolled in the same college or…

Transfer is an important outcome of science and engineering education, but little work has explored factors that facilitate transfer of science concepts from engineering tasks. The transfer literature suggests that noticing deep structure is critical for transfer, but students often fail to do so in engineering tasks. This case study investigates…

Five decades of rhetoric and reform in teacher education underscore the importance of multicultural education in preparing teachers to meet the needs of all students. State and national policy initiatives targeting multicultural education build on two assumptions: first, that preservice teachers lack the multicultural awareness to function as…

Researchers have suggested that student group involvement during college is beneficial for students on various academic and psychosocial measures. Most research has not focused on how different student groups provide different environments and support that impact students' experience. This ethnography focuses on one Christian student organization…

To better understand underrepresented undergraduates' motivation for pursuing their major, we examined undergraduates' articulated explanations for their major choice and its association with their motivational beliefs within an introductory chemistry course. Students' (n=503, 68% female, 56% First-Generation College-Going, 34% Hispanic)…

Differences by race and ethnicity exist in student borrowing trends. Statistics about debt loads, repayment trends, default rates, and forgiveness opportunities routinely appear in research papers, policy briefs, talking points, and news reports. But real progress over time depends on setting up the right conversation and narrative. So far, too…

When identifying parental socialization processes influencing children's reading achievement, building self-regulation is a potential underlying mechanism. Yet socialization (i.e., warmth, stress) of self-regulation may vary based on the sociocultural context of ethnic minority families. Using the ECLS-K: 2011 (N = 17,020; M[subscript Age] = 73.43…