Within urban elementary schools are Black students who continue to challenge the normative deficit characterization of the educational opportunities of students like them. This study attempts to provide a more holistic picture of the scholarly trajectories of 13 African American males who are particularly talented in mathematics and who attended…

Educators, administrators, and policymakers focus much attention on closing the achievement gap, and various approaches have been suggested. The present study focuses on one approach being suggested: student-teacher ethnic matching. The study focused on the long-term contributions of African American ethnic matching to mathematical test scores of…

Disconnects between the demographics of teacher candidates and the students attending today's public urban schools are well documented. At the same time, research points to the educational value of linking students' lived experiences to their classroom learning. This article presents the research-based findings of faculty who implemented a…

Research showed that children's school-entry academic skills are strong predictors of their later achievement, thereby highlighting the importance of children's achievement at kindergarten entry. This article defines a particular type of parental involvement in children's education and uses a representative sample of American urban kindergarteners…

This multimethod study investigates the attitudes teachers in urban and low-income schools have about teaching early elementary students. The authors examine the contextual characteristics of elementary schools where such teachers are willing to take responsibility for children's learning. The quantitative analyses focus on a subsample of students…