High rates of trauma exposure can impede school functioning, which is predictive of many negative long-term outcomes. This study examined school functioning in Latinx children with clinically elevated levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms. We found that child gender, parent language use, and parent school involvement were associated with school…

This article focuses on the reported experiences of three focal students who participated in a Spanish/English dual language program in their southern California school district throughout their elementary and middle school years. All three students identify as Mexican-origin and speak Spanish, English, and the Indigenous language of Zapoteco and…

Language usage in US K-12 classrooms and beyond continues to be an issue of equity (Navarro Martell, 2021; Palmer et al., 2019). Teachers expect racialized students who appear to be Latinx to know and perform as if their native language is Spanish, mientras a otros se les celebra sus intentos de usar el espan~ol; otro idioma colonizador. Some…

This study is part of a larger effort to investigate linguistic features of assessment items that might explain differential performance of English learners on science assessments. An analysis of a large set of multiple-choice items suggested two features that held promise in reducing the performance gap: the presence of contrast words and the…

English learners (ELs) lag behind their peers in academic achievement and attainment, partly due to limited exposure to academic content. Prior studies that examine high school course-taking find significant course access gaps between ELs and non-ELs but provide little information on the relation between course-taking and time spent as an EL. This…

This article traces the interaction of multimodal semiotic resources within and across tasks constituting a science unit on surface tension in an eighth-grade sheltered science classroom. Two discourses, operating simultaneously, realized differently motivated signs. This article follows the contribution of linguistic and extralinguistic modes…

Previous studies about ELs have reported data on active English Learners--defined as those students who have not yet reached proficiency on a state English test--at a specific moment in time. This study, for the first time, analyzed the long-term trajectories of 18,000 CPS students who began kindergarten as ELs and followed their progress all the…

In this article, the authors analyze the evolution of parent advocate education standards that illustrate what parents need to know and do to effectively support their children's learning in 6th-12th grade. Focus groups conducted with parent participants revealed that parents were often unaware of the distinction between helping their child…

This study examines the Spanish use of students and teachers at a US two-way immersion school. Students and teachers from Grades 1, 3, and 8 (5-6-year-olds, 7-8-years-olds, and 12-13-year-olds, respectively) were observed and interviewed, and students completed questionnaires to determine what factors influenced their language of choice and their…

How well students perform on standardized tests can affect their educational paths and the rest of their lives. In addition, students' performances on state assessments will affect their schools due to the No Child Left Behind Act. For English language learners (ELLs), the success on tests may be diminished due to their inability to completely…

The purpose of this study was to describe and evaluate a promising program model, the Joven Nobel curriculum, for Latino male adolescents that promotes positive youth development and addresses prevention of a number of risk-related sexual behaviors within a cultural context. A quasi-experimental design was used that included a pre- and posttest…

How are racial-ethnic identity and acculturation processes linked, and when do they have positive consequences for academic achievement and assimilation trajectory? To address these issues this study integrates two frameworks--segmented assimilation (Portes and Rumbaut 2001) and racial-ethnic self-schema (Oyserman et al. 2003)--that focus on how…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions Latino eighth grade students have of school and schooling factors as they transition to high school and the factors that may influence their self-perceived likelihood of graduating from high school. Middle schools are poised to help Latino students prepare themselves for a smoother…