The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how high school counselors and AP Spanish teachers in high-poverty schools in AZ recruited Latino students into AP Spanish courses. How high school counselors and AP Spanish teachers recruit Latino students into Spanish AP courses was unknown. Peplau's Theory of Interpersonal Relationships…

Using data from 223 Latino adolescents residing in poor, urban neighborhoods, we investigate whether spirituality, religious importance at home, and religious involvement moderate the relation between community violence exposure and psychological well-being. Results showed significant interaction effects between community violence exposure and…

We provide novel evidence on the broader impacts of school choice systems by quantifying disparities in peer continuity from middle to high school in New York City. We find that Black and Hispanic students and those in high-poverty neighborhoods attend high school with a much smaller fraction of their middle school or neighborhood peers than their…

This mixed-methods, longitudinal study utilized survey data from a sample of (primarily) Black and Latinx adolescents' (n = 643) and qualitative interviews with a subset of adolescents (n = 39) to consider changes in adolescents' beliefs about poverty and economic inequality throughout high school as well as the sources of their beliefs.…

Exposure to community adversities and violence can be associated with a cascade of neurocognitive, mental health, and behavioral challenges among urban adolescents. Influenced by the bio-ecological framework, this study examines if problems with executive functioning (EF) exacerbate the relation between exposure to community adversity and violence…

Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the degree to which school choice was related to the academic achievement of Texas high school students. Schools of choice were compared to neighborhood high schools in terms of their students' passing rates in the standardized End-of-Course (EOC) exams in English I and…

Research shows that gang-associated youth are less likely to complete high school and earn a postsecondary educational credential. However, scholars have not determined "why" gang youth do not persist into higher education. This ethnographic study aims to focus on the narratives of 13 Latino high school young men to understand what…

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) are traumas experienced from birth to an individuals' eighteenth birthday. These traumas may involve various physical and psychological stressors that cause elevated levels of toxic stress throughout the body. These traumas tend to impact children and their progress in learning and possibly interfere with…

This paper examines whether schoolwide free meals affect disciplinary outcomes, focusing on the use of suspensions. Under the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), schools serving sufficiently high-poverty populations may enroll their entire student bodies in free lunch and breakfast programs, extending free meals to some students who would not…

Background: Many "dropout" studies use the concept of risk as a framework for understanding the persistent problem of high school noncompletion among students of color in urban schools. This research, which frames risks as statistical probabilities and largely focuses on static and individual risk factors, does not account for the myriad…

Demographic and income disparities may impact food accessibility. Research has not yet well documented the precise location of healthy and unhealthy food resources around children's homes and schools. The objective of this study was to examine the food environment around homes and schools for all public school children, stratified by…

This exploratory sequential mixed methods study examined the use of Restorative Justice practices from a sample of three public urban high school settings in the west coast of the United States to gather data on the impact of such practices on disciplinary outcomes for African American and Latino males with disabilities. The three school sites…

This article presents a 2-year critical case study of an urban high school innovating to enhance the academic performance of low-income Latina/o students, highlighting high-leverage practices that promote boundary crossing between school and community. First, we highlight foundational elements of school logic, mission, and community ethos that…

Teacher expectations for student behavior and academic performance have a lasting effect on student academic achievement--not only in the immediate school year, but also many years later. Yet, we know very little about how students interpret and understand teachers' expectations for them. This article expands the literature on teachers'…

This research examines the complex patterns by which distinct dimensions of critical consciousness may lead marginalized adolescents toward distinct forms of political action. Structural equation modeling was applied to nationally representative data from the Civic Education Study (2,811 ninth graders; M[subscript age] = 14.6), first establishing…