The detrimental effects of high-stakes testing and accountability mandates are experienced disproportionately in high-poverty urban schools, which African American and Hispanic students are more likely to attend. However, the literature does not fully address how teachers experience the inequitable working and learning conditions in these…

This article discusses the findings of an exploratory qualitative study that examined the influences of individual and collective sociocultural identities on the community involvements and high academic achievement of 10 Black alumni who attended a predominantly White institution between 1985 and 2008. Syntagmatic narrative analysis and…

In this qualitative phenomenological study, we sought to explore the life experiences of 7 rural gifted individuals who dropped out of school. In addition, we investigated whether participants shared commonalities that might have led to the phenomenon of dropping out. The problem was that a paucity of research exists about gifted dropouts;…

The international adoption entrance story is an unexplored topic in the adoption literature. The stories that families tell of beginning life with their new children has important implications for the development of an autobiographical narrative of an adopted child. A coherent autobiographical narrative is vital for healthy childhood development.…

Teacher education is not only about teaching teachers the art and science of instruction, but it also should encompass a political agenda, helping educators to recognize and address oppressive practices in our schools and in our communities. Through a disability studies framework, teacher candidates can be guided toward social and political action…

In this study, we investigated how individuals from diverse backgrounds learn to navigate the many worlds in which they live and explore how variations in life experiences are associated with aspects of navigating across cultures. We conducted the study using a phenomenological approach based on retrospective personal narratives from 19 young…

What enables one student to persist in the face of adversity while another chooses to quit? To answer this question, I captured the lived experiences of 3 female and 3 male postsecondary students who self-identified as either gay, lesbian, or bisexual, all of whom were successfully completing their undergraduate degrees. Utilizing a life history…

With a goal to better understand what it means to become a United States citizen, the present qualitative study uncovered the narratives of 11 Afro-Caribbean immigrants living in Phoenix, Arizona, and included the investigator as a research participant. Grounded theory analysis of the combined auto-ethnographic and interview data yielded…