We explored the psychological and educational impact of distance learning during the COVID-19 and racial injustice pandemics. The sample included 19 urban high school students of Color from the San Francisco Bay Area. Interview data were analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis revealing seven themes: (1) challenges learning from home; (2)…

This study examines two equity-elaborated social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies among Black adolescents: coping responses to race-related stress at school (self-management) and racial identity (self-awareness), and their relation to school adjustment (school belonging, school valuing, cognitive strategy use). The sample included 151…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the narratives constructed by urban youth in a summer program for future educators of color. In particular, we asked, "In what ways do students use texts to create counternarratives of urban education?" Utilizing visual counternarratives and counterstorytelling as theoretical frames, and through…

This study explores a psychosocial concept coined by the author referred to as "Urban Critical Literacy" (UCL). UCL is an emergent four-step strategy employed by five African American young men as they navigated their cultural worlds of home and school in an urban setting. Critical literacy is the theoretical conceptual framework that…

Suspension is commonly used in schools, yet these practices can adversely affect students' education well-being and do not improve student behavior. This study assesses the use of the Monarch Room (MR) intervention, a trauma-informed alternative to school discipline suspension policies, among 620 court-involved girls placed in residential care and…

How African American girls cope and excel amidst the discriminations and inequities they experience within U.S. educational systems has not been widely discussed in the body of research about African Americans' schooling experiences. In this study, the researchers examined the applicability of Ogbu's cultural-ecological theory to the…

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…

Urban African American first-year high school students' absenteeism was found to be negatively related to grade point average (GPA) and avoidance as a means of coping (use of substances as a way to escape--food, alcohol, smoking, caffeine, etc.) and positively related to use of social support as a means of coping (efforts to stay emotionally…