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This study examines autism diagnosis prevalence within the New York City (NYC) Universal Pre-K for All (UPK) program expansion into racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse NYC neighborhoods. Here, it is hypothesized that racial/ethnic differences in autism diagnoses may close as more children are referred for testing by UPK programs, which they have more thorough interactions with, instead of by public health clinics or other medical avenues. Using NYC Medicaid claim data from 2006 to 2016, descriptive analyses were conducted by estimating linear probability regression and generalized multiple logistic regression to examine whether the probabilities of being diagnosed with autism in comparison to two other disability types (as counterfactuals), learning disabilities (LD) and physical disabilities (PD), differ by race. Subsequently, a difference in difference (DID) strategy (with pre- and post-UPK expansion cohorts) was used to examine the effects of UPK on the probabilities of receiving disability diagnoses. Notably, Latinx and "Other" racially identified children have much higher odds than White children of being diagnosed with autism. By contrast, all non-White groups had much lower odds of being diagnosed with a LD. These findings offer important insight for future UPK and childhood program implementation.

Recent studies of immigrant families have called for a reconceptualizing of the influence of social class on education, articulated by the one social class model: White middle-class families possess the cultural capital to foster their social mobility. Focusing on three undocumented and mixed-status Chinese immigrant families in New York City for 3.5 years, we found those who arrived in the United States with the most social class resources fared the worst, whereas those who had less in China were able to persist better. We argue the mechanism underlying this reversal of expected social class patterns is the cultural practice of saving face, which reflects the intersection of social class status, documentation status, and intergenerational acculturation. From this article, we demonstrate understandings of social class among immigrants, especially those of precarious legal status, must expand and incorporate social status experiences prior to immigration, notions of belonging in the United States and being undocumented, and changes through acculturation influence practices that can directly affect mobility.

This study examines associations between recidivism rates and groups/programs for legally mandated education, behavioral, and mental health services that court-ordered juvenile youth ("juveniles") with identified emotional disturbance or related conditions receive in secure-care juvenile facilities. Using statewide agency data in Minnesota, this exploratory analysis investigates whether there are racial/ethnic and county disparities in residential placements or secure-care settings via programs and groups for court-ordered juveniles (N = 1,092). The study also considers whether program and group placements contribute to racial/ethnic patterns of recidivism. This study finds that recidivism rate differences by program/group level are largely attributed to differences in racial/ethnic compositions. Findings suggest placements lack strong effects on recidivism, and assignments may perpetuate inequalities. In addition, from this exploratory analysis examination, this article offers considerations for future research-to-practice partnerships to strengthen legally and policy-mandated program and service delivery with practices that increase training to juvenile justice system professionals, access to secure-care setting services, and transition services for juveniles.

Purpose: Prior work has drawn consistent conclusions about systematic racial disparities in the allocation of high-quality teachers in US public schools, such as classrooms with more students of color having teachers with fewer credentials and less experience. However, these fixed characteristics of teachers are only proxies for the quality of teaching, which may vary within teacher by the different classrooms they teach. Research Methods/Approach: Using data from the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project, we consider various sources of within-teacher, across-classroom variation of teaching effectiveness using a teacher fixed-effects modeling approach and highlight those that may, on average, disadvantage youth of color. Findings: We find that (1) about half of the variation in classroom teaching efficacy is within teachers, (2) classrooms taught by the same teacher with higher percentages of Black and Latinx students receive lower quality of teaching, and (3) these patterns are consistent across teacher racial/ethnic groups. A number of plausible explanations of this association are considered, including rater biases on observational measures and differences in teaching practices; we also consider how these variations differ by teacher race. Implications: Our findings highlight the importance of teachers' in-classroom practices, not simply their credentials, in educational research, policy, and practice targeted at reducing racial inequality.

Background/Context: While an abundance of evidence demonstrates how unequal conditions in schools contribute to unequal learning outcomes, the extent to which students' affective experiences of schooling reflect similar incongruences warrants further inquiry. Framing this discussion are empirical accounts and popular narratives of schools as socializing institutions that ascribe particular gendered, racialized, and otherwise socially defined identities to young people. These intersections form the basis of their experiences as students and likely shape their individual happiness in schools. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This article examines, from an intersectional perspective, whether there are group differences in self-reported happiness in school. Our findings challenge the broad argument that girls are happier in schools because this pattern only holds when comparing levels of happiness between White girls and boys. Research Design: Using data from the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) study, we provide descriptive averages of levels of happiness by sex and race/ethnicity. Given that these patterns are likely shaped by classroom (and teacher and school) conditions, we next use classroom fixed effects models that predict levels of happiness. This modeling strategy makes comparisons only among students in the same classroom who are taught by the same teacher and housed in the same school. Findings/Results: We found that the argument that girls are happier than boys in schools only applies to White students. In contrast, there are no gender differences among Latinx and Asian American students, and we found that Black girls are less happy than their male counterparts. Conclusions/Recommendations: Overall, our article's findings challenge widespread notions that there are universal gender differences in happiness in schools. More broadly speaking, our work speaks to the socializing function of schools and indicates that the gendering process cannot be interpreted without an analysis of how schools also construct race and ethnicity. Future work can build from our study to examine whether the patterns revealed in this study hold true in older grades, given that one of our secondary findings is that older students seem less happy in schools than their younger peers. Research should also examine how interactions with key social actors, such as peers and teachers, shape student happiness in school.

With the increasing numbers of immigrant and refugee students across the US K--12 system, the xenophobia of the current political climate, and the effects of COVID19 on the immigrant community, it is critical to examine schools that serve immigrant students and their families. Drawing on case studies of two public high schools that exclusively serve immigrant students, authors Adriana Villavicencio, Chandler Patton Miranda, Jia-Lin Liu, and Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng examine how educators frame the current political context and how this frame informs their collective approach to engaging with and supporting families. The study finds that these schools shifted norms of parental engagement by proactively forging relationships with families, cultivating alliances with community partners, and mediating within families around challenges related to work and higher education to benefit the communities they serve. In so doing, these school actors have shifted the norms of parental engagement to center the perspectives, voices, and experiences of immigrant families.

Five decades of rhetoric and reform in teacher education underscore the importance of multicultural education in preparing teachers to meet the needs of all students. State and national policy initiatives targeting multicultural education build on two assumptions: first, that preservice teachers lack the multicultural awareness to function as culturally responsive educators, and second, that higher levels of multicultural awareness correspond with increased pedagogical proficiency. Few studies have examined variation in multicultural awareness across preservice candidates, or the link between multicultural awareness and prospective teachers' measured competencies. Using a novel dataset of 2,500 preservice teachers' beliefs and student teacher performance assessments, we find that Black and Latino candidates report greater multicultural awareness, while Asian Americans report less, compared with their White counterparts. Prior experience working with nondominant populations is linked with higher levels of awareness, particularly for minority respondents. Propensity score matching analyses reveal that multicultural awareness is tied to candidates' competence in creating nurturing classroom environments.

Immigrant students, one of the fastest-growing populations in US public schools, have been linguistically and culturally disadvantaged by accountability policies that rely only on standardized tests. Recent changes to these policies allow for the use of performance-based assessment tasks (PBATs) as an assessment indicator to supplement standardized tests. In this article, we explore how 1 highly successful high school that works exclusively with recently arrived immigrant teenagers has incorporated PBATs into its curriculum. We find that school leaders, teachers, and students agree that the use of rigorous performance assessments accomplishes language learning, content mastery, and test preparation simultaneously.

Teachers not only play a pivotal role in developing students' knowledge and skills but also can serve as role models, which may be particularly beneficial for youth of color and children of immigrants. However, it is unknown whether relationships vary across student racial/ethnic and generational groups. Moreover, the link between teacherstudent relationships and students' academic expectations remains unclear. Using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, a nationally representative sample of high schoolers, I found that not all groups of students enjoy strong teacher-student relationships: English teachers report weaker relationships with Asian American students and mathematics teachers with their Latino students compared with thirdgeneration white students. These relationships are important predictors of student expectations. Results highlight the importance of teacher-student relationships and suggest that certain racial/ethnic and generational groups are missing out on this form of social capital.

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the restaurant industry, with Asian restaurants having perhaps suffered the most, as many reported business losses well before shelter-in-place orders were announced. Media outlets argue that this decline in business reflects biases that are linked to the China- and food-related origin of COVID-19. However, discrimination against Asian Americans and their cuisine is not new, as it is rooted in a long and history of assimilation and racism. Overlooked in this body of literature, as well as in conversations on the impacts of COVID-19 on Asian restaurants, is the role of how government institutions shape these biases against a cuisine that has hundreds of years of history in the US yet remains distinctly 'foreign'. In this study, we use 3-years of New York City restaurant health inspection data to examine trends in citation scores before and after the onset of the news of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a synthetic control approach, we find that Asian restaurants uniquely received more citations after news of the pandemic became pervasive in the US. We end by discussing the implications of this finding for the history of Asian cuisine in the US, theoretical frameworks to understand assimilation, and the restaurant industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five decades of rhetoric and reform in teacher education underscore the importance of multicultural education in preparing teachers to meet the needs of all students. State and national policy initiatives targeting multicultural education build on two assumptions: first, that preservice teachers lack the multicultural awareness to function as culturally responsive educators, and second, that higher levels of multicultural awareness correspond with increased pedagogical proficiency. Few studies have examined variation in multicultural awareness across preservice candidates, or the link between multicultural awareness and prospective teachers' measured competencies. Using a novel dataset of 2,500 preservice teachers' beliefs and student teacher performance assessments, we find that Black and Latino candidates report greater multicultural awareness, while Asian Americans report less, compared with their White counterparts. Prior experience working with nondominant populations is linked with higher levels of awareness, particularly for minority respondents. Propensity score matching analyses reveal that multicultural awareness is tied to candidates' competence in creating nurturing classroom environments. Keywords teacher education preparation, multicultural education, race, class, gender, sexual orientation, Introduction and Background For more than five decades, policy and reform in teacher education have underscored the importance of preparing new teachers for increasingly diverse schools. As a reform movement [...]

The demographic divide between teachers and students is of growing public concern. However, few studies have explicitly addressed the common argument that students, and particularly minority students, have more favorable perceptions of minority versus White teachers. Using data from the Measure of Effective Teaching study, we find that students perceive minority teachers more favorably than White teachers. There is mixed evidence that race matching is linked with more favorable student perceptions. These findings underscore the importance of minority teacher recruitment and retention.

Recent studies of immigrant families have called for a reconceptualizing of the influence of social class on education, articulated by the one social class model: White middle-class families possess the cultural capital to foster their social mobility. Focusing on three undocumented and mixed-status Chinese immigrant families in New York City for 3.5 years, we found those who arrived in the United States with the most social class resources fared the worst, whereas those who had less in China were able to persist better. We argue the mechanism underlying this reversal of expected social class patterns is the cultural practice of saving face, which reflects the intersection of social class status, documentation status, and intergenerational acculturation. From this article, we demonstrate understandings of social class among immigrants, especially those of precarious legal status, must expand and incorporate social status experiences prior to immigration, notions of belonging in the United States and being undocumented, and changes through acculturation influence practices that can directly affect mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on social capital in education rarely considers how the resources students can access through their friendships affect educational outcomes later in life. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we explore how having resource-rich best friends impacts adolescents' college completion. We compare the influence of friends' material and cultural resources and their effects relative to adolescents' family resources. We find that having a best friend with a college-educated mother significantly increases the likelihood of college completion, though having a best friend whose parents are high income does not. This positive effect of best friends' cultural resources is not explained fully by school achievement or by the expectations of respondents, best friends, or parents. We conclude that adolescent friendships are an underrecognized source of social capital. (Contains 5 tables and 14 notes.)

A growing body of work that has examined Chinese immigration to the US has coined the term "culture of remittances": money that is sent home not only provides economically but also elevates the "face" of the family. However, using qualitative data from a multiyear ethnographic study of three undocumented and mixed-status Chinese families in the US and their families in China, we find that garnering face for the family is less of a motivator than the fear of losing it. This dynamic plays a role at all stages of immigration and amplifies existing norms in a way that perpetuates disadvantage experienced by Chinese immigrants. As these undocumented Chinese immigrants craft an idealized narrative of their lives in the US, more members from their sending communities are motivated to immigrate, leading to precarious consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the important role played by examinations in educational stratification and mobility in China, to our knowledge there is no literature in English that investigates the impact of exams on educational attainment with empirical data. We address this gap with an investigation of how examinations shape opportunities for children of the rural poor, a vulnerable group of great contemporary policy significance. After introducing China's high school and college entrance examination systems, we present a case study of examinations and educational transitions in rural Gansu Province, one of China's poorest provinces. We offer a snapshot of educational progress among rural young adults in 2009, with special attention to social selection in exam taking and outcomes, and to the role of examinations in shaping subsequent educational transitions. As expected, high school and college entrance exam results play an important role in determining transitions to secondary and tertiary education, and in determining the type of education received. Exams reinforce inequalities observed in other stages of educational transition, but generalised disparities in educational opportunity precede exams, shape who takes exams, and emerge net of exam results. The patterns of advantage and disadvantage associated with different dimensions of household and village socioeconomic status do not tell a simple story: different factors matter at different stages of education. At the early stages, residing in villages that have an established tradition of education, along with the infrastructure to support education, is important. Residing in a wealthier household shapes the chance of persisting in the system to the examination stage, and offers second chance possibilities later in the game: wealthier youth are more likely to make it to both university and vocational education. Notably, father's education matters most consistently, not only for "survival" to exam-taking and supporting tertiary transitions, but also for performance. Disadvantages throughout the process faced by the children of poorly educated fathers, even after accounting for household economic status, village context and performance, speak to equity issues within the education system that require ameliorative strategies beyond addressing cost barriers. (Contains 10 notes, 4 figures, and 10 tables.)

Background/Context: Parental involvement is a key ingredient in the educational success of students and an integral component of involvement is teacher-parent communication. One body of research finds that minority immigrant parents face barriers in interacting with schools, and communicate less with schools than native-born White parents. However, we know little of how schools reach out to parents. Purpose: In this study, I use a nationally representative sample of high schoolers to examine patterns of teachers communicating with parents. Population/Participants/Subjects: I utilize a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school sophomores, the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002). Research Design: This study employs quantitative analyses of secondary data, including two-sample tests for proportions, logistic regression, and predicted percentages. Findings/Results: Even after considering measures of student behavior and other factors, I find that mathematics teachers are more likely to contact parents of third-generation Black and Latino youth about disruptive behavior than parents of third-generation White youth. Mathematics and English teachers are less likely to contact immigrant Asian parents about academic and behavioral concerns, even when students are struggling. Teachers are also less likely to contact minority parents with news of accomplishments. Conclusions/Recommendations: The findings of this study point to the important role that race and nativity play in shaping teacher communication with parents. Education policy should be cognizant that racial/ethnic and immigrant disparities exist in teacher-parent contact, and encourage more training in teacher preparation programs and professional development coursework for teachers and school administrators. Moreover, existing programs and interventions on multicultural/diversity training should be evaluated for their impact on teacher perceptions and behavior.

This study examines associations between recidivism rates and groups/programs for legally mandated education, behavioral, and mental health services that court-ordered juvenile youth ("juveniles") with identified emotional disturbance or related conditions receive in secure-care juvenile facilities. Using statewide agency data in Minnesota, this exploratory analysis investigates whether there are racial/ethnic and county disparities in residential placements or secure-care settings via programs and groups for court-ordered juveniles (N = 1,092). The study also considers whether program and group placements contribute to racial/ethnic patterns of recidivism. This study finds that recidivism rate differences by program/group level are largely attributed to differences in racial/ethnic compositions. Findings suggest placements lack strong effects on recidivism, and assignments may perpetuate inequalities. In addition, from this exploratory analysis examination, this article offers considerations for future research-to-practice partnerships to strengthen legally and policy-mandated program and service delivery with practices that increase training to juvenile justice system professionals, access to secure-care setting services, and transition services for juveniles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies looking at gender and ethnic minority outcomes in China's labour market have generally suggested that women and minorities are separately experiencing a wage disadvantage relative to males and the Han majority, respectively. But, what is the experience of this combined cohort, ethnic minority women? Using data from China's 2005 one percent mini-census, this article discerns ethno-gender labour market outcomes by factoring education, labour force participation, working hours, age, family structure (e.g. married, number of dependents) and geography (e.g. urban/rural, bordering province). It surprisingly finds that ethnic minority women are less disadvantaged in the labour market than Han women. This is largely due to smaller penalties linked to marriage and having children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents Beyond Oceans is a unique curriculum that was first implemented in 2011 as part of The Center for Family Life’s efforts to work with Chinese immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York. Drawing on best practices in social group work and culturally competent social work, the curriculum creates a space where parents can share and process their immigration stories and traumas. Pre- and posttesting show that after participating in the program, parents felt less isolated, more a part of community that treated them like equals, and more accepting of cultural differences in parenting practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]