Status, a form of inequality based on esteem, respect, and honor, pervades social life but is poorly understood and underestimated in terms of significance. We offer a new look at status as a dynamic relationship between the shared views of others and the self that organizes behavior at the micro, meso, and macro levels of society. The status…

Guided by theories of racialization and through a decolonial analysis, we share findings on the examination of four children's books written in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane María. In engaging with these books, we situate our work in communal and research activist practices that foreground Puerto Ricans' hidden stories and knowledges.…

The criminal legal system and youth delinquent systems (CL/DS) are increasingly recognized as a primary sources of racial/ethnic inequity (REI) in health. Research funding institutions are beginning to focus on the CL/DS as a social determinant of health, some CL/DS officials are centering equity as a core concern, and some problematic CL/DS…

Educational lore casts grit as a panacea for solving long-standing achievement disparities. Fifteen years of empirical research has not supported this claim, yet many schools still uphold grit. Why? This article examines when (and if) K-12 educators should emphasize grit in classrooms. We first define the construct and offer evidence-based…

We study how geographic access to public postsecondary institutions is associated with students' college enrollment decisions across race and socioeconomic status. Leveraging rich administrative data, we first document substantial differences in students' local college options, with White, Hispanic, and rural students having, on average, many…

It is widely accepted that investing in early childhood helps build the foundations of a healthy, productive, and equitable society. Guided by that knowledge, a range of broad-based programs and targeted services make a significant difference for millions of children, yet a closer look at outcome data shows that some benefit greatly, some benefit…

Efforts like holistic review admissions by nursing programs to create a more ethnically diverse student body have led to increased enrollment of students with underrepresented ethnic and cultural social identities. However, these students continue to experience higher attrition rates compared to their White, middle-class peers. Although both sense…

With the need to increase Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduates, higher education institutions need to identify and improve ways to increase underrepresented STEM student retention rates. Cypress College in Southern California implemented a program called STEM[superscript 2] (Strengthen Transfer Education and…

Stratification in selective college admissions persists even as colleges' criteria for evaluating merit have multiplied in efforts to increase socioeconomic and racial diversity. Middle-class and affluent families increasingly turn to privatized services, such as private college consulting, to navigate what they perceive to be a complicated and…

Family engagement frameworks identify communication as a critical component in creating partnerships with families. However, schools create various barriers to engagement, often starting with a lack of communication, that unequally impact racialized and minoritized families. In addition, the association between communication and family engagement…

The education measurement community has centered the idea of test fairness in both theory and practice. Yet, racial justice advocates in education research and practice (the racial justice community) have consistently critiqued that assessments are hardly fair and play a critical and outsized role in contributing to racial and social inequities in…

Using testing data from 2.1 million students in 10,000 schools in 49 states (plus D.C.), we investigate the role of remote and hybrid instruction in widening gaps in achievement by race and school poverty. We find that remote instruction was a primary driver of widening achievement gaps. Math gaps did not widen in areas that remained in-person…

Objective: Characterize the prevalence and dimensions of student food insecurity and the associations with academic performance. Participants: An online survey was distributed (November 2017) to 13,897 undergraduates at a midsized, New Jersey Public University; 2,055 (15%) responded. Methods: Demographic, behavioral, and food security data from…

Using panel data from three successive collective bargaining (CBA) negotiation cycles from 277 California school districts in a difference-in-differences framework, I investigate the relationship between changes in CBA restrictiveness and racial and economic achievement gaps over time. I find that achievement gaps in California are smaller where…

"Meredith v. Jefferson County/Parents Involved v. Seattle" ruled that K-12 public-school districts could no longer use the race of an individual student for placement in schools, which resulted in districts adopting new "race-neutral" assignment plans. This qualitative research study on school assignment and school choice…