Initiatives promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in predominantly White contexts, including STEM fields, have primarily relied on approaches to increase the representation of minoritized individuals. However, an increase in the representation of minoritized individuals is only one step of the process, as the present study suggests that…

Background: To accurately measure students' science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) career interest, researchers must get inside the 'black box' to understand students' conceptualizations of STEM careers. Aims: The aim of Study 1 was to explore whether students' conceptualizations of STEM included medical careers. The aim of Study…

This article describes a historical case study of E. J. Edmunds, a Black mathematics student and teacher in 19th-century New Orleans. Edmunds's career as a student and then teacher of mathematics, which stretched from the antebellum era through Reconstruction and into segregation, was filled with obstacles and indignities but also with improbable…

This quantitative study examined the achievement gap in mathematics through the analysis of standardized test scores from a suburban school district in Saint Louis County. The problem this study addressed is that students of color in Missouri continue to score well below their peers on mathematics assessments (Bohrnstedt et al., 2015; Kotok, 2017;…

This dissertation aims to advance our understanding of Asian American students' choices and trajectories in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, especially in math-intensive STEM sub-fields, by investigating Asian American female and male students' math-related motivational beliefs held in high school and whether/how…

The purpose of this research is to determine whether the achievement gap between Black and White students differs significantly between Minnesota public charter schools and traditional Minnesota public schools. The reading and math proficiency gaps between Black and White students in Minnesota are among the largest in the nation. Despite the fact…

The current study investigated the effects of school mobility on the academic achievement of different racial/ethnic groups in four cohorts of students from a very large urban school district. In this study, I compared within-year and between-year mobility and, most importantly, account for all the schools students attended over the study period.…

In recent decades, the black-white test score disparity has decreased, and the test score disparity between children of high- versus low-income parents has increased. This study focuses on a comparison that has, to date, fallen between the separate literatures on these diverging trends: black and white students whose parents have similarly low,…

Background/Context: Closing achievement gaps is a major concern in U.S. education. These gaps can develop in a wide range of ways over the course of a student's schooling. Yet, research on school effectiveness and accountability policies for schools often focuses on rank orderings of schools based on value-added models, which could mask those…

This article pinpoints the mathematic performance gaps among high-socioeconomic background (SES) students from different racial groups in the United States. By doing so, it sheds light on how racial and socioeconomic privilege intersects thus creating different educational outcomes among high-SES children. In short, it illuminates who are the…

The Marginalization-related Diminished Returns (MDR) phenomenon refers to the weaker effects of parental educational attainment for marginalized groups, particularly ethnic minorities. This literature, however, is limited to Blacks and Hispanics; thus, it is not clear if the MDR phenomenon also applies to the educational performance of Asian…

This study examined the influences of teacher support and school environment on 10th graders' mathematics achievements, controlling for socioeconomic status, gender, and mathematics self-efficacy, and the differential influences of these factors for White and Black students in the USA. A sample of 8,682 White and 2,020 Black students who…

In this investigation, the degree to which student enrollment (i.e., school size) at elementary schools was related to student progress on the State of Texas reading and mathematics state-mandated assessments was examined for White, Black, and Hispanic students. Archival data available on the Texas Academic Performance Report were analyzed for the…

This research study analyzed the impact of an early college readiness program (ECRP) on students' academic performance on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading and mathematics assessments in Grades 3, 4, and 5. ECRP is a college readiness system designed to support students to reach postsecondary education. The ECRP…

This is a longitudinal study of the change in the academic achievement gap between African American and European American students from elementary to high schools with large administrative data from a school district in the United States. Analysis of variance between eight tracks of students defined by the school environment of isolated schools or…