The literature is lacking in studies that examine self-concept and language status among individuals older than adolescence. The purpose of this study is to conduct a quantitative nonexperimental comparative design to examine differences in self-concept and language status (monolingual or bilingual) between male and female undergraduate students in California. A total of 97 participants were examined in the study. The researcher conducted descriptive statistics on the demographics as well as a MANOVA and an ANOVA to answer the proposed research question. Based on the findings presented, the researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis of research question 1: There is no difference between monolingual and bilingual males and females in the self-concept areas of Behavioral Adjustment (BEH), Freedom from Anxiety (FRE), Happiness and Satisfaction (HAP), Intellectual and School Status (INT), Physical Appearance and Attributes (PHY), Social Acceptance (SOC), and Total Score (TOT). In order to contribute to the literature, future research should continue to examine self-concept and language among older populations and perhaps consider conducting a longitudinal study to look at self-concept over periods of transition.

Latinas face many challenges within public schools. They are a marginalized group that has struggled to overcome the effects of practices that have created entrenched cycles of poverty and educational failure. The development of a critical consciousness has been proposed as a means of resisting and transcending oppression. Freire (1970) defined conscientização, or critical consciousness, as “learning to perceive social, political, and economic contradictions, and to take action against oppressive elements of reality” (p.19). This study reexamined the development and nature of critical consciousness through the use of critical feminist methodologies. Standpoint theories assisted in the development of counter-stories that challenged androcentric perceptions of consciousness. This qualitative study examined how some Latina teachers, working with Latina students, were able to transform an after-school club, lunchtime meetings, and a daylong conference into opportunities for Latina students to reexamine their role and position in their family, culture, American society, and develop a critical awareness or consciousness. What emerged from the findings was an approach used by these particular Latina teachers that elevated the affective domain to footing equal to the intellectual. The participating teachers created a matrix of connection with students that challenged a masculine perception of consciousness. They used socially and culturally located histories and experiences to develop a gendered critical consciousness. What was observed and heard throughout the research process was the unearthing of a consciousness that was decidedly enmeshed in the private arena of the body and identity, in addition to the public domains of politics and economics.

This study investigated factors promoting academic resiliency within Latino students at an urban high school in the Los Angeles area. The criteria of “on-track” to graduate served as the operational definition of academic resilience. A total of 92 students completed the survey. Of these, 57 were on-track to graduate and 35 students were “not on-track” to graduate. The California Healthy Kids Survey: Resiliency & Youth Development Module (WestEd, 2008a) was the instrument employed to obtain quantitative data using three external protective factors (caring relationships, high expectations, and meaningful participation) and three internal protective factors (social competence, autonomy and sense of self, and sense of meaning and purpose). An additional demographic section was also included. A t-test for independent samples indicated a significant mean difference between Latino students on-track to graduate and not on-track to graduate for two of the protective factors: participants on-track to graduate reported a stronger sense of meaning and purpose and higher expectations than did Latino students not on-track to graduate. A Pearson Correlation matrix showed that each of the three primary relationship pairings was significantly correlated. A chi-square test determined that gender and on-track to graduate were found to be independent of each other, as were various Latino origins and academic resiliency. The findings revealed no significant difference between academic resiliency and household composition, languages spoken, or maternal/paternal educational level. Furthermore, Latino participants born in another country were more likely to graduate than Latino students born in the United States.

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to analyze the effectiveness of a heritage language Spanish program from the standpoint of organizational, curricular, and cocurricular practices. In this study, heritage language study was defined as having an emphasis on maintaining cultural awareness and language needs (Beaudrie, 2009) through cultural mediation, in which the experiences and identity of students are developed as areas of strength in the educational experience (Bennett, 2003; Gollnick & Chinn, 2004; Lovelace & Wheeler, 2006). The setting for this mixed-methodology study was an all-male Catholic secondary school. The participants in this study numbered 78 students in the heritage language courses and 10 faculty and administration members. The data collected pointed to significant areas for growth in the school’s distinction between heritage language learners and native speakers. The findings suggested the prevalence of the following themes: class and racial discrimination, student internalization of deficit thinking, and the power struggle between the power structure and Latino student population. The implications of this study were that the program would benefit from greater teacher preparation in terms of degree background, increased emphasis in activities that promote student verbal communication in the heritage language, and greater incorporation of varied classroom practices in order to empower students to achieve a proficient level of bilingualism and biculturalism.

Since the slave trade, African Americans have been the most media-stereotyped race of people. From that time, multiple forms of media have been used to convince Blacks of their inevitable servitude and Whites of their supremacy (Burrell, 2010), as a means of transferring physical slavery to mental slavery (Akbar, 1998). Additionally, African Americans have been the victims of a Eurocentric educational system essentially designed to “mis-educate” (Woodson, 1933)—to further oppress and devalue African and African American contributions to our global history. This qualitative research study aimed to analyze an existing curricular model known as Rise Above the Noise, which combines two educational pedagogies, African-centered (Murrell, 2002) and critical media (Morrell, 2008; Thoman, 2003a), and is designed to appropriately educate and mentally liberate African Americans whose ancestors were displaced by slavery. I adopted a critical race methodology (Delgado, 1995a;Yosso, 2006), utilizing video interviews, counterstorytelling, journaling, and a focus group as data collection tools, and analyzed data according to Banks’s (1982) model for appropriately educating the miseducated (as cited and summarized by Akbar, 1998), known as D-R-C (deconstructionist—reconstructionist—constructionist). Using a convenience sample of five African American young adults (ages 18-30) from Los Angeles, CA who were considered socioeconomically disadvantaged, I attempted to discover how the implementation of a combined African-centered/critical media literacy pedagogy could impel participants to transform their current life circumstances.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the perceived experience of Chinese students during their first year attending a Catholic co-educational boarding and day school in the United States. Data collection included semi-structured interviews of five current students, a faculty and staff questionnaire, and an analysis of the schedule of events for the new boarding student orientation. The data was analyzed using the inductive method for data analysis. The data showed that Chinese students face challenges in four key areas: 1) academic adjustment; 2) social adjustment; 3) emotional support; and 4) developing autonomy. Differences between Chinese culture and American culture provide challenges across the four key areas, leading culture to be best suited as a lens for analyzing the challenges faced by Chinese students transitioning to life at an American boarding school. There should be continuing research to identify the challenges faced by other ethnic and cultural groups in adjusting to life at boarding schools.

The under-representation of racial minority students in Gifted and Talented Education (GATE)programs has been an issue with little to no resolution (Ford, 2002). These under-represented racial minority groups are experiencing the obstacles of discrimination. Ogbu’s (1987) observation offers a framework distinguishing minorities: voluntary and involuntary. Researchers report on the under-representation of “involuntary” minority groups (McBee, 2006). Researchers have offered keys to opening the gates of GATE programs to bring about racial equity. Recruitment processes: alternative assessments and teacher referrals are available to identify minority GATE students (Elhoweris, Mutua, Alsheikh, & Holloway, 2005). Retention practices: racial diversity of gate teachers, culturally responsive pedagogy, culturally responsive curriculum, and a classroom culture of caring are available to support racial minority gate students once in the program (Delpit, 2006). This mixed-methods study is of one school’s GATE program, Multicultural Middle School (MMS). The study used descriptive statistics to analyze percentages of racial representation of MMS’s GATE students and GATE teachers. The study also used questionnaires, observations, and interviews to analyze MMS’s GATE teachers’ knowledge and practices in regards to the research-based recruitment processes and retention practices of underrepresented racial minorities. This study found that the voluntary racial minority group was over-represented and one of four involuntary racial groups was under-represented. This study also found that MMS’s GATE program had achieved racial equity in three of the four involuntary racial minority groups. At the time of this study, MMS’s GATE program was trending toward equity.

Given the large homogeneous workforce of predominately White, middle-class female K–12 educators combined with the rising population of diverse students in the United States and the disproportionate achievement gap of students of color compared to their White peers, I sought to discover how new millennial educators defined and used empathy to build their own cultural competencies as well as discover how these teachers used empathy to strengthen the teacherstudent relationships across cultural differences. Using the conceptual frameworks of Paulo Freire’s (1970) pedagogy and Wang et al.’s (2003) definition of ethno-cultural empathy, I conducted a critical narrative inquiry of five first-year teachers who did not share the racial or ethnic background of the majority of their students of color. From the participants’ stories, six major themes surfaced: (a) the role of empathy in the teacher-student relationships, (b) the struggle between empathy and sympathy, (c) their contrasting views on empathy and content, (d) the relationship between empathy and cultural competency, (e) the importance of empathy related to trauma, and (f) the personal limitations of empathy. I present a proposal for a new theoretical framework resulting from the symbiotic relationship of ethno-cultural empathy and critical pedagogy, called Critical Empathy, as well as recommendations for teacher formation institutions to prioritize an empathy formation that focuses on critical empathy development, self-awareness, administrative management, and self-care strategies.

Despite decades of efforts to racially integrate schools and the recent accountability movement, U.S. students’ access to equitable education remains elusive. Research demonstrates that discipline procedures disproportionately remove racial minority students from the classroom, creating a “discipline gap.” Racial disparities in discrete disciplinary infraction types (e.g., disruption, aggression) have shown nuanced patterns across groups and school levels. Moreover, the relationship between school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) – a framework for promoting positive behavior and preventing conflict – and the discipline gap is unclear. This investigation explored racial/ethnic disparities per infraction type (e.g. disruption, verbal abuse) and the relationship of SWPBIS implementation fidelity to these referrals using multilevel logistic regression analyses. Participants were 40 elementary schools receiving PBIS technical assistance and the 24,512 students served by the schools. Findings of disciplinary disparities largely were consistent with previous studies with similar methods. Compared to White peers, Black students were overrepresented in office discipline referrals (ODRs) across all infraction types while Hispanic students were underrepresented in Aggression referrals and other racial/ethnic minority students were underrepresented in Miscellaneous referrals. SWPBIS implementation fidelity demonstrated a significant negative relationship with the overall ODR rate and was significantly related to infractions for Aggression; however, no evidence was produced to support the notion that SWPBIS produces more equitable discipline practices. Implications for the research and practice of culturally responsive behavior supports are discussed.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how youth culture influences the attitudes and motivations of African-American junior college students who have aspirations to complete postsecondary credentials to advance their socioeconomic status but do not persist. In this study, youth culture was defined as the values, norms, and practices shared by African-American youth between the ages of 18-24, indicative of the way they chose to live life and make decisions. The independent variables were Academic Self-Concept, Student Educational Experience, College Bridge Programs, Academic Advisement, Faculty Involvement and Interaction, Extracurricular Activities, Youth Culture, Family Support, Socioeconomic Status, Black Media, and Social Media; the dependent variable was student persistence. The specific tradition of inquiry was the comparative case study approach because it dealt with the exploration of cases in a real life setting over time through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple sources of information. The researcher also utilized interpretive/theoretical frameworks to guide the study. The study took place at two public colleges within the University System of Georgia, one rural and the other urban. The participants included 12 students, 2 academic advising directors, and 2 faculty members. The study consisted of three types of instrumentation—interviews, direct observations, and focus groups. To analyze data, the researcher interpreted and coded statements from the interviews and focus groups from which themes were developed. Significant statements were also clustered into defined themes. The results substantiated and expounded upon the relationships between the independent and dependent variables. Using the qualitative data collected, the researcher created an Analysis Matrix organized with the three data sources, 20 themes and 5 categories. The researcher found that youth enrolled in college have a strong desire to persist but encounter many internal and external pressures which make persistence to graduation challenging. Although colleges may be equipped with the tools and resources necessary to promote persistence, many are deemed inappropriate to the needs of African- American students. The conclusions drawn from the findings suggest unlike their majority counterparts, many of these students spend their first semester trying to untangle feelings of belonging and fitting into college culture.