Two models of vulnerability to socioenvironmental risk were examined in 337 African American children (M = 7.8 years) recruited to overrepresent prenatal alcohol or cocaine exposure: The cumulative risk model predicted synergistic effects from exposure to multiple risk factors, and the fetal patterning of disease model predicted that prenatal…

To highlight the individual and systemic practices that perpetuate the overuse of and reliance on kinship care and instead emphasize family reunification as the permanency plan for African American children in the child welfare system, the authors first discuss how kinship care is affected by federal child welfare policy and provide a historical…

The Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994 and the Interethnic Adoption Provisions of 1996 (MEPA-IEP) require states to develop plans that "provide for the diligent recruitment of potential foster and adoptive families that reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of children in the state for whom foster and adoptive homes are needed." This…

Guided by a general critique that asks, Highly qualified for whom?, I problematize recent characterizations of highly qualified mathematics teachers by focusing on the question, Who should teach mathematics to African American children? I discuss how responses to this question in mainstream mathematics education research and policy contexts have…

African-American student academic performance, as a group, in most educational settings causes alarm to educators, policymakers, and laypeople, alike. Some suggest that the problems associated with the academic under-achievement of many African-American students are perhaps the most pressing issues facing both educators and researchers. Much…

America is failing its young Black boys. In metropolitan ghettos, rural villages and midsized townships across the country, schools have become holding tanks for populations of Black boys who have a statistically higher probability of walking the corridors of prison than the halls of college. Across America, the problem of Black male achievement…

The purpose of this study was to understand how culturally relevant pedagogy promotes academic success among low-income African American children. The characteristics and instructional practices of four elementary school teachers, defined as culturally responsive by their school administrators, were examined. The study explored how personal…

This study examined the longitudinal effects of 2 first-grade universal preventive interventions on academic outcomes (e.g., achievement, special education service use, graduation, postsecondary education) through age 19 in a sample of 678 urban, primarily African American children. The classroom-centered intervention combined the Good Behavior…

Background: Rates of overweight in youth have increased at an alarming rate, particularly in minority youth, and depressive symptoms may affect the ability of youth to engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors to manage weight and reduce their risk for health problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between depressive…

This short-term longitudinal study investigates whether maternal educational attainment, maternal employment status, and family income affect African American children's behavioral and cognitive functioning over time through their impacts on mothers' psychological functioning and parenting efficacy in a sample of 100 poor and near-poor single…

During the early 1970s, scholars, parents, and educators began a campaign for schooling experiences that were culturally affirming for Black children. This community of concerned individuals vested their energy and support in schools that subscribed to a worldview and ideology of education that focused on enriching the holistic development of…

Two studies focused on perceived ingroup and outgroup variability in children as a function of status. In the first study, 7- and 9-year-old White and Black children distributed White and Black faces along the levels of several dimensions. White children perceived more ingroup than outgroup variability, whereas Black children perceived more…

Educators and policymakers often believe that immigrant children perform better in school if they and their families culturally assimilate and assume the characteristics prevalent in the dominant mainstream society. Therefore, ethnic retention (i.e., immigrant families and people of color embracing their own ethnic values, artifacts, and…

Using data collected from surveys completed by grandparents for their grandchildren (N = 72), this quantitative study examines the effects grandparent primary caregivers have on the reading achievement of their African American grandchildren. The study sought to answer the following question: How do the six types of parental involvement (Epstein,…

African American children are overrepresented in foster care by more than twice their proportion in the population (U.S. Government Accountability Office [USGAO], 2007). Building upon research relating faith (religiosity) to positive health and mental health, this study utilized cognitive and religious coping theories to examine the influence of…