Fathers' vocabulary to infants has been linked in the literature to early child language development, however, little is known about the variability in fathers' language behavior. This study considered associations between fathers' work characteristics and fathers' vocabulary among a sample of employed African American fathers of 6-month-old…

Diverse education professionals learned about African cultures in a workshop experience by making African masks using authentic symbolism. Analysis of reflections to evaluate the workshop for applicability to participants with and without African heritage showed that both groups expanded their cultural knowledge of traditional African ethnic…

The purpose of this study was to explore the tenacities, practices, and discourse of family-based literacy practices and their connection in African American families. It scrutinized the influence of the practices of African American families on the multiple contexts of literacy practices in their passageway across the school-community periphery.…

In their seminal work "Poetic Inquiry: Vibrant Voices in the Social Sciences," Prendergast et al. (2009). point out that: "[t]he need for a plurality of methods that can be applied to individual research projects on the human condition has never had a stronger calling than it does now ... [p]oetic methods are qualitative and call for…

From 1959 to 1964, approximately 1,700 Black children in Prince Edward County, Virginia were denied schooling, due to the county leaders' decision to close schools--a defiant response to federal racial desegregation mandates stemming from "Brown v. Board of Education" (1954, 1955). Yet from one of the most extreme cases of injustice in…

Academic achievement for African American and Latino students is lower than for White and Asian students. To help overcome the achievement gap, policymakers and social scientists have focused on the relationships between student outcomes and family, community, and schools. Family, church, and community have always played significant roles in…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a critical content analysis of the African American characters found in Newbery Medal award winning books recognized between the years of 1991 and 2011. The John Newbery Medal is a highly regarded award in the United States for children's literature and esteemed worldwide. Children's and adolescents' books…

This study assesses how a sample of African American families with a loved one with schizophrenia cope using a commonly used family coping scale (F-COPES). The scale's overall performance and psychometric properties were tested to highlight how such families cope. The results demonstrated that families used proactive verses passive ways of coping.…

Educators often do not recognize biliteracy and bidialectalism in African American Language (AAL) speakers. Chronicling the experiences of twin four/five-year old AAL and emergent Standard English speakers, we discuss the importance of recognizing and building on the routines and identities of African American children and families. We present…

Academic achievement gaps for African American children have been associated with disparities in early cognitive development, inequitable access to high-quality education, and father absence, often resulting in lower rates of graduation. Examining ways that may mitigate this problem is important to families and educators. The purpose of this…

This study tested the longitudinal measurement invariance and developmental changes of a newly developed battery of executive function (EF) tasks for use in early childhood. The battery was administered in the Family Life Project--a prospective longitudinal study (N = 1,292) of families who were oversampled from low-income and African American…

Mainstream education often misunderstands the ways that some rural black families display involvement in their children's lives. Teachers may tend to attribute children's academic struggles to what they perceived as a lack of care, concern, and involvement of the families. Such views could keep children from reaching and exceeding their potential,…

In this study, observed maternal positive engagement and perception of work-family spillover were examined as mediators of the association between maternal nonstandard work schedules and children's expressive language outcomes in 231 African American families living in rural households. Mothers reported their work schedules when their child was 24…

The current laws that mandate special education originated through the advocacy of families (Turnbull & Turnbull, 1990). Over the years, families have challenged the system to provide free and appropriate public educations for their children. We share, through qualitative measures, the experiences of one African American family and the…

Juvenile delinquency is an ongoing social problem particularly among low-income urban youth who are regularly exposed to numerous risk factors. Although much research has been conducted in this area, the most at-risk youth have been largely neglected. This study examines the role of peer deviance in mediating the influence of adult monitoring on…