This article explores the disjuncture between refugee's pre-migratory educational aspirations and their everyday encounters with urban public schools. This study engages with two main questions: How do refugee youth's experiences with their urban public schools act as barriers to their educational aspirations? How do these experiences inform their…

Discussions on Latino/a students' interpretation of the opportunity structure and schooling treat racial/ethnic identification among Latino/as as static, despite skin color variation. This article provides findings from interviews with six Mexican students who discussed teachers identifying them as "White-looking" or…

This study examined mostly lower-middle-income Latino (37%) and African American (33%) adolescents' (N = 90, M[subscript age] = 15.90) conceptions of how U.S. wealth is and ought to be distributed, and whether these judgments are related to adolescents' views about societal and legal fairness and their immediate academic plans. Individually…

Healthy social, emotional and cognitive development of deaf children depends upon complex interactions between the many individual and environmental factors associated with deafness. Deaf children and adolescents have been reported to possess greater rates of mental health problems than hearing children and adolescents. Dysfunction in one or more…

The purpose of this study was to determine what life is like for foster youth pursuing postsecondary education. At a time when few foster youth are pursuing and completing higher education, this study attempted to gain an understanding from foster youth about 1) the reason(s) for their success in pursuing postsecondary education, 2) how they were…

This article examines the aspiration-attainment gap and educational resilience among children of Mexican immigrants in the midst of the post-1965 U.S. demographic transformation. Two widespread theoretical explanations are used to understand the educational disparities faced by this subpopulation: the cultural argument, which emphasizes their…

In the 1970s, a person could obtain employment in the United States with little to no high school education, but in 2007, most jobs started to require some form of postsecondary education. This trend continues today. Fewer students are pursuing postsecondary education after graduating from high school. Those without some postsecondary education…

In impoverished communities in Mexico, most adolescent mothers do not attend school; but typically, they become pregnant once they dropped out. Understanding the experiences of adolescents who have had a pregnancy and continue in school is complicated since few manage to do it. The goal of this study is to describe experiences within the family…

This qualitative case study explores the career and educational aspirations, college choice process, and college barriers and opportunities of 26 rural, African American high school students. Data included interviews with 26 students and 11 school staff members. Findings suggest that the students' rural context shapes aspirations. In addition,…

This report focuses on three questions: 1) What are the college readiness and completion experiences of young Latino men in urban Massachusetts (namely, Boston, Holyoke, Lawrence, Springfield, and Worcester); 2) What helps or prevents young Latino men from successfully obtaining a post-secondary credential; and 3) What influences young Latino…

This report, the latest in a series of studies by the Center for an Urban Future examining opportunities to expand economic mobility in New York City, takes an in-depth look at college readiness and success among the city's public high school students. It explores opportunities to dramatically boost the rate at which New York City's students enter…

This study examined the perceptions of 10 African American 12th-grade students from one suburban high school regarding their high school career counseling experiences. The purpose was to better understand how students perceive their career counseling interactions and to ascertain what factors were relevant in the counseling relationship. An…

The Latina/Latino population is the largest minority group in the United States and has the highest high school dropout rate of any ethnic group. Nationally, just over one-half of Latina/Latino students graduate on time with a regular diploma, compared to nearly 80% of Whites. Because of the growing population and the wide achievement gap, there…

This study investigated students' experiences of a career development program that was established to foster interest in and aspirations for higher education within high school students residing in rural and isolated areas of Australia. Nine students who participated in the program were interviewed 18 months later to explore their recollections of…

Student goals and aspirations are an important determinant of success in secondary schools and promote access to post-secondary education. This paper reports on changes in student attitudes, goals, and aspirations that result from the implementation of a universal scholarship program. The Kalamazoo Promise is an innovative reform effort that…