This article compares a White teacher's approach to authority with that of an African American warm demander. Ethnographic methods and discourse analysis illuminated how an African American teacher grounded her authority with African American students in shared culture, history, and frame of reference. A comparative analysis makes visible…

This case study describes tensions that became apparent between community members and school administrators after a proposal to close a historically African American public high school in a large urban Southwestern city. When members of the city's longstanding African American community responded with outrage, the school district's…

School "turnaround" has received significant attention recently in education literature and policy action, especially as a means to dramatically improve urban education. In current common education usage, "turnaround" refers to the rapid, significant improvement in the academic achievement of persistently low-achieving schools.…

A mainstay in NCLB and the Obama administration education plan is turning around low-performing schools. This study utilized surveys and interviews with school leaders from four turnaround urban high schools in Texas to understand student outcomes before and after school restructuring and reconstitution. Although some organizational changes were…

Recent evidence suggests that the neighborhood context, particularly for urban youth, can influence a range of outcomes. This study makes contributions to the field by examining how the neighborhood context directly relates to missing school. To do so, this study employs a large-scale, longitudinal data set of multilevel observations for entire…

In this article, we report on an ethnographic study of figured worlds of resettlement and identities that Muslim refugee youth from the Russian Federation coconstructed in an urban school at the Southwestern U.S. border. In the school, multiple cultural-historical discourses came together within a global context: refugee families, a global Islamic…

This mixed-methods study examined urban adolescents' perceptions of gender and racial/ethnic barriers to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) success, and their meaning-making and coping regarding these experiences. The sample includes surveys from 1024 high school-aged students and interviews from 53 students. Logistic…

In this article, I draw on the ethnographic study of a Universal Pre-Kindergarten class to theorize the functional appeal of conflict that permeates young children's interactions. From a conflict theory perspective, I document how young children negotiate meaning in and with their world as they engage in learning through conflict. While…

This article explores whether contemporary educators should consider single-sex educational settings as viable interventions in educating African American males. Using qualitative data from a 2-year study of single-sex educational spaces in two Los Angeles County high schools, the authors argue that when all-male spaces effectively function as…

This study explored the relation between classroom interactions and exclusionary school discipline practices within and across four classrooms in a disciplinary alternative school. Critical social practice theory and critical microethnographic methodology supported the examination, interpretation, and analysis of interactive power to illuminate…

The intense focus on standardized tests has created a culture of anxiety in many inner-city schools. This article presents the findings of a case study of a test anxiety program that helped inner-city students and staffs deal more productively with anxiety through play, performance, and team building. According to the findings, the program created…

As part of a larger investigation into the educational experiences of Haitians in South Florida, this study explores factors that influence the identity development and academic success of Haitian students. Individual and focus group interviews with Haitian students, parents, and teachers provide the context for studying how pressures from both…

Teach For America (TFA), an organization that places college graduates as teachers in low-income areas for 2 years, contributes to teacher attrition. With this mixed methods study in one urban region, we investigated teachers' professional decisions at the end of 2 years. Respondents fell into categories in relation to the organization's…

Schools located near to airports are exposed to high levels of noise which can cause cognitive, health, and hearing problems. Therefore, this study sought to explore whether this noise may cause auditory language processing (ALP) problems in primary school learners. Sixty-one children attending schools exposed to high levels of noise were matched…

This mixed-methods study examines educational experiences of Latino immigrant young adult dropouts in New York City, along with pre- and postmigration factors that impact school participation. Due to age, interrupted schooling, and limited English proficiency, high schools view this population as hard to serve. Increasing numbers of these youth…