The purpose of this research was to examine the disconnect between urban school expectations and actual lived realities of marginalized students. Taking into consideration the conversation surrounding the definitions of urban education, and the importance of school connectedness with youth, we chose to focus on the lives of five former high…

This paper uses critical race theory to analyze several case studies focused on the experiences of two restorative justice coordinators (RJCs), both Black women and how they understood and responded to perceived racial injustices in urban schools with white leadership. These schools were attempting to address unequal disciplinary practices toward…

This study investigated how newcomer emergent bilinguals made meaning in two 9th-grade biology classrooms. Methods relevant to naturalistic inquiry were used to collect and analyze data. Findings indicate that newcomers bridged aspects of personal experiences with social competencies valued in classrooms through using heritage languages, engaging…

Family-school partnerships are considered essential to the success of multiply marginalized children in urban contexts. These partnerships often, however, reinforce middle-class white normativity and subsequent oppression of families outside the dominant culture. Home visiting is one such practice spreading throughout urban centers. Is it possible…

In this article, we recount our experiences learning from and with Latinx children of immigrants in urban schools. Highlighting how insights gleaned from our respective ethnographic projects have led us to embrace more explicit commitments to participatory engagement, we consider how young people's perspectives can and should fundamentally shift…

Persistent educational inequity for immigrant and refugee students and their families calls for instructional practices centering on access, quality, and social justice. Drawing on two qualitative case studies, this article examines how three U.S. urban school teachers attended to the systemic inequalities and unique challenges confronting…

Research suggests that work environments are associated with turnover patterns for teachers of Color. This study investigates variation in work environments using longitudinal administrative data from 20 large urban and suburban K-12 school districts. Results indicate that teachers of Color are more often employed in "hard-to-staff" work…

Teacher education programs are increasingly taking up commitments to prepare new teachers for equitable teaching. Despite best intentions, programs feel challenged to help candidates translate these commitments into classroom practice. Using a context-specific teacher education framework, we conducted a mixed-methods study of seven urban-focused…

Embracing students' cultural assets is critical in facilitating self-growth and development at the secondary level, especially among minoritized students interested in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine/health (STEM-M) careers. Using sociocultural and community cultural wealth (CCW) lenses, longitudinal data among 23…

Little research has focused on the extent to which community school principals approach family engagement efforts, specifically from an equity-centered perspective. This study examined how community school principals' leadership practices exhibited tenets of Community Equity Literacy. Results from interviews with 13 administrators and 19…

Black students' experiences in math and science courses in urban high schools were investigated. A critical race theoretical framing of qualitative data revealed teacher characteristics that encouraged and discouraged students. Teacher characteristics that encouraged students' interests included (1) shared racial/cultural background with students,…

Racial disproportionality in school discipline is an enduring systemic problem whose patterns change from one context to another. In order to develop systemic solutions that are responsive to local contexts, school stakeholders' collective, agentic actions toward systemic changes are essential. Utilizing a participatory systemic design process led…

Inspired by a "whole child" framing, the current study takes a "whole classroom" perspective to consider classroom practice. Study aims included: (1) presenting a systematic video-based observational coding strategy to concurrently consider practice domains that have implications for learning--cognitive instruction, classroom…

We used the Stanford education data archive (SEDA) data to examine the heterogeneity among urban school districts in the United States. The SEDA 2.1 includes data sets on students' mathematics (Math) and English language arts (ELA) achievement from 2008 to 2014 at the district level. Growth mixture modeling was used to uncover the underlying…

School discipline has been a site of contention and reform. In this study, we draw from 17 interviews with traditional and charter school principals in one mid-sized urban school district to examine how principals use discipline as a tool to both maintain control and demonstrate care. Our study calls attention to different strategies principals…