The opportunity gap between Black and Brown students and their White counterparts in math performance is present in our middle school math classrooms. This opportunity gap creates an urgent need for educators to prepare middle school math teachers with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to build the math content and math identity of…

This study investigated perspectives on extracurriculars by immigrant, non-immigrant Latinx, and non-immigrant Black parents of high school students, as well as potential barriers, if any, to their children's ability to participate in extracurriculars. Drawing upon previous research that demonstrates the positive impact of extracurricular…

Despite ongoing efforts to increase diversity in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEM) fields, disparities persist. MYHealth Summer Launch is a virtual, out-of-school STEM outreach program aiming to increase participation of historically marginalized students in health research to develop researcher identity and…

Can summer programs, as remedial supplements to regular schooling, extend learning opportunities and other benefits to disadvantaged students? To frame this question, we compare logics from "social reproduction" and "partial compensation" perspectives, and then apply them to a large mixed method study of four kinds of summer…

It has been proposed that boarding schools in England can be used to provide a stable education "and" care environment for vulnerable children in need, and the government is expanding their use. However, for vulnerable children to be placed in boarding schools, social workers will need to be willing to contemplate boarding as a viable…

Since 2004, the English Access Microscholarship Program, a U.S. public diplomacy initiative, has impacted at least 150,000 nonelite youths. U.S. Department of State employees created the program in response to suicide bombings committed by Moroccan youths at international sites in Casablanca. The program later expanded throughout the Middle East…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is twofold. Firstly, this research aims at helping countries implement an equitable, innovative and context-appropriate stay-home game plan for the millions of disadvantaged and under-privileged students severely affected by the forfeiture of school closures; and secondly, this study proclaims that the burgeoning…

Head Start teachers are central to providing constructive adult-child interactions that prepare preschool-age students for school and future successes. The qualitative study included interviews with teachers and explored teacher values, teacher perception of the organization, and teacher well-being in regards to improving student outcomes.…

College students previously in the foster care system are facing a lifelong achievement gap when looking at college retention and completion rates (Salazar, 2013). These college students uniquely face a myriad of challenges including an absence of social capital to help guide them through the bureaucracy of college, low socioeconomic status that…

This paper examines the economics of education in the United States, highlighting twelve key facts that illustrate the pivotal role of education in empowering individuals and driving economic progress. It underscores the persistent racial and economic disparities in educational achievement and attainment, particularly exacerbated by the COVID-19…

More than 1.6 million children and youth in the United States attend 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLCs), which are federally funded after-school programs available in each state, particularly for students who attend high poverty and low-performing schools (US Department of Education, 2020). These 10,125 centers are intended to do…

Limited literature assessed the relation between family engagement in education and young children's socioemotional and behavioral functioning. This study investigated these associations longitudinally among urban and low-income, predominantly Latinx preschoolers (n = 69) and their mothers. Initial home-school conferencing predicted lower levels…

Research Findings: Peer play interactions are important contexts for supporting early learning both at home and at school for preschool children from low-income backgrounds. The current study used structural equation modeling to examine whether teacher-reported learning behaviors in the classroom mediated the relationship between parent-reported…

Purpose: The primary aims of this study were to: (1) to describe average change in the writing quality of fifth grade students from the fall and spring of the school year; (2) examine relations between linguistic features and writing quality rating; and (3) test for differential growth between groups of students who differ in linguistic and…

Research in the United States (U.S.) documents that young Latino children whose families are characterized by demographic risk factors disproportionately lack the early literacy skills needed to successfully transition to kindergarten. Quantitative studies using comparative samples have found lower quality home learning environments and lower…