This article presents a case study of development of reading identity in Angelica, a 15 year old Latina. The paper explores the literacy experiences in school that positioned Angelica as a struggling reader. It also examines the efforts of significant others in school and out-of-school contexts, as well as her own efforts, to contest this…

This article discusses competing perspectives on the value of the General Educational Development (GED) credential. Although scholars and journalists debate the worth of the credential, urban youth continue to pursue the GED, especially as proxy for inadequate schooling. Using qualitative data from a participatory action research project, the…

Adopting a constructivist perspective of adolescent development, we argue adolescents' perceptions of "being known" reflect teachers' authentic recognition of adolescents' multiple emerging identities. As such, adolescent perceptions of being known are a distinct factor associated with high school students' engagement in school. A mixed method…

This study investigates student reasons for resisting engagement with school in a rural Appalachian area. The concept of student resistance to school is considered within a White, working-class student population. Through classroom observations, students displaying resistant behaviors were selected to participate in interviews. Coding of interview…

Despite the historical mission of career academies to expand opportunities and engagement of minority students, particularly African American students, more recent curricular changes in the career academy model have increased the rigor of these types of programs. These new initiatives have undoubtedly resulted in a demographic shift with more…

Socialization into the dominant civic and political discourse lies at the heart of social studies. As they become proficient in the discourse of home and school, Latino immigrant youth demonstrate the potential to uniquely benefit from this socialization. This qualitative study explores ten Latino immigrant young adults' perceptions of how their…

Educators and researchers have long been interested in determinants of access to honors level and college prep courses in high school. Factors influencing access to upper level mathematics courses are particularly important because of the hierarchical and sequential nature of this subject and because students who finish high school with only lower…

Even with the history of debate over the merits of homework, there are significant gaps in the research record regarding its benefit to students. The focus of this study is on the association between time spent on homework and academic performance in science and math by assessing survey and transcript data from two nationally representative…

Identifying what commonalities exist in high schools where students consistently outperform other demographically similar students is of particular interest to administrators and practitioners looking to increase graduation rates among all students. Schools that particularly improve the performance of students with special needs and those from…

Predictors of parental home and school involvement for high school adolescents were examined within two groups of urban African American parents from various socioeconomic levels. Home involvement was defined as parent-adolescent communication about school and learning, while school involvement was defined in terms of parent attendance and…

Popular media is a social phenomenon, especially for young audiences. This qualitative study examined how eleven Latino/a high school students and a Latino teacher understood the impact of media messages in an animated children's film. Findings suggest participants identified negative cultural messages embedded throughout the film regarding…

In the decade since the attacks of September 11th, the political climate in the United States has become increasingly intolerant of opposing viewpoints. This climate, made nearly ubiquitous by 24-hour news cycles and increased exposure to political media, poses quite a challenge to teachers wishing to broach political topics as part of their…

This study analyzes the reporting of the September 11th terrorist attacks in social studies textbooks from a Muslim perspective and reports on findings from a study of the responses of American Muslim children to the treatment of the events of September 11th in social studies textbooks. Constructivist grounded theory was used to centralize the…

In this paper, the author examines the mobilization and regulation of toxic xenophobia in the post-September 11th era. The graphic posters from the far-right, anti-immigration Swiss UDC party are examined along with artistic responses to this graphic xenophobia. The paper argues that using the visual forms of xenophobia and the artistic responses…

Through a review of educational research literature this piece explores how federal politics and policies have trickled down into secondary schools, and what the effects of these policies have been on secondary schools, paying particular attention to the effects on Muslim American youth. The main research questions are: What federal and state…