There is abundant evidence that ninth grade is a critical year for students, particularly those enrolled in large urban school districts. Despite the importance of the freshman year for subsequent academic success, the existence of teacher status systems within schools suggests that ninth graders, who are traditionally viewed by teachers as…

Among the most-longstanding and intransigent issues in the field, the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education programs has its roots in a long history of educational segregation and discrimination. Although national estimates of disproportionality have been consistent over time, state and local estimates may show…

Official record studies consistently show that Blacks exhibit higher levels of involvement in criminal offending than Whites do. Although self-report studies suggest somewhat lower levels of Black overrepresentation in criminal offending activity (especially with less serious forms of crime), there appears to be considerable evidence that Blacks…

The scope of Title IX clearly includes all aspects of education, but the legislation's application to college athletics receives the most attention. Athletics programs, unlike most academic activities, are sex segregated, so the proper interpretation of the intercollegiate athletics provisions of Title IX is less clear-cut. This article examines…

African American students are overrepresented in the category of Emotional Disturbance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act across the United States. This study examined how preservice teachers rated African American and European American students on three ratings scales across four culturally mediated behaviors: (a) movement…

For many years women have been under-represented in mathematics and related careers. Many women have been successful at the undergraduate level in a mathematics major, yet chose other career paths. In this study seventeen women, all of whom had done well in mathematics and have either graduated with an undergraduate degree in mathematics or had a…

Demographic trends suggest increasing numbers of multiple racial heritage students attending US campuses and universities, a change reflected within psychology. However, there is little empirical investigation into the educational needs of multiracials. The current project addressed this gap by utilizing quantitative survey and qualitative…

The Individual with Disability Educational Improvement Act (IDEA-2004) (P.L. 108-446) includes a policy called Early Intervening Services (EIS) which makes it permissible, but not mandatory, for a school district to use 15 percent of their IDEA Part B funds to provide services to non-disabled at risk students. However, a school district cited for…

According to many higher education experts, merit scholarship screening methods discriminate against a disproportionate number of underrepresented minority (URM) students. The screening methods, however, favored individuals with the highest achievement test scores and above-average GPAs. The assumption in the common selection model is that test…

The nation's young Black males are in a state of crisis. They do not have the same opportunities as their male or female counterparts across the country. In order to get a complete picture of the depth of the issues, the authors look most closely at the reading and math achievement of the fourth- and eighth-grade Black males in the large city…

Executive leadership positions in public schools in the United States are dominated by white males. Equitable representation is not currently present for females in the role of public school superintendents (Mertz, 2006). The superintendency maintains the status as the least gender-diverse executive position in the country (Bjork, 2000; Grogan…

This study examined the developmental effects of early parental intrinsic and extrinsic motivational strategies on mathematics achievement scores obtained from White students compared to underrepresented minority students. A latent growth curve model was fit to data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) with mathematics achievement…

This paper will describe a five year research project of a teaching strategy whereby pre-service credential students at a southern California university were taught to develop and apply science curriculum to parents of elementary-aged English as a Second Language students. The paper will elaborate upon the importance of parental engagement in…

The underrepresentation of Latinos (as well as African Americans and Native Americans) in the sciences is not a new problem. There have been longstanding calls to increase participation among students of color in higher education in general, and in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in particular. Indeed, the…

Student opposition in school is traditionally cast in terms of individual dispositions, whereby particular students or groups of students are said to "resist" or "oppose" school structures and identities aligned with the dominant cultural group. The author examined instead how the teacher and students in a low-track mathematics…