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For many Black boys, poor academic performance and high rates of school discipline are often related to biases in how they are perceived and treated at school. These biases oftentimes misalign with how Black boys view themselves and how family members perceive them at home. Few studies examine how different stakeholders' perceptions of Black boys manifest and shape the middle school experience. The current study employed an embedded case study design, using data from eight semi-structured interviews to explore incongruence among student, teacher, and parent perceptions of two middle school Black boys' academic and social experiences. Findings showed greater congruence between the boys' experiences and their parents' perceptions of them compared to their teachers' perceptions of them. Of note were teachers' inaccurate reports of the boys' career aspirations and academic interests and abilities. Implications of these patterns and their impact on Black boys' experiences in school are discussed.

Imagine a school community in which all children and youth have equal opportunities to thrive. Social and cultural markers no longer negatively predict young people's academic, social, and emotional outcomes or their life chances. This is the community the authors aspire to build. Their work necessarily focuses on both youth and adult social and emotional learning (SEL) in school and community contexts, and on how to fully integrate academic, social, and emotional instruction. In this article, the authors first share their revised definition of SEL and their focus on identity, agency, belonging, collaborative problem solving, and curiosity. The authors then describe some considerations and directions for ongoing action research with some partnering school communities. These include co-constructing equitable learning environments via project-based learning and SEL for adults. The article concludes with some thoughts about next steps in ongoing research-practice partnership efforts.

The potential for transformative social and emotional learning (SEL) was conceptualized as a lever in service of equity. This article explains the next steps and working assumptions the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has employed to collectively address the inequities that exist in schools. The proposed research agenda has implications for the continuous improvement of various resources. It also supports the formation of research-practice partnerships that will work to find frameworks, spaces, and stakeholder groups that will journey to implement and promote relevant efforts needed to create equitable learning environments where youth can excel.

Exclusionary discipline is commonly employed in U. S. schools and disproportionately affects students of color. This article describes current approaches to discipline and contextualizes these approaches historically with particular attention to racial dynamics and violence. We identify the harmful effects of exclusionary discipline and describe efforts to move schools away from exclusionary approaches through school-wide positive behavioral intervention supports, social emotional-learning, and restorative practices. We identify limitations of current discipline reform efforts that are hampering progress toward equitable schooling. We explicate the need for integrative and comprehensive culturally responsive approaches to positive student development that are equity oriented and identify implementation challenges and tools for addressing these challenges.

This study sheds light on the interrelations of universal, school-based social-emotional learning strategies and ethnic-racial identity over time. We assessed exposure to social-emotional learning practices and ethnic-racial identity exploration and resolution among 367 middle school students (70% African American, 30% Latinx; 51% girls) across 3 years. The results of a latent growth model with social-emotional learning practices as a time-varying covariate suggest that practices that afford youth opportunities for autonomy, prosocial behavioral routines, and collaboration in the context of homerooms (advisories) and classrooms were consistently associated with greater ethnic-racial identity exploration and resolution across the middle school years. Theoretical and practical implications for the potential of school-based social-emotional learning to support the development of cultural assets such as ethnic-racial identity are discussed.

The current study investigated the role of ethnic-racial identity (ERI) on early adolescents' school adjustment, as moderated by their school friends' aggregate ERI. The study drew data from a longitudinal socioemotional project in a Midwestern U.S. middle school. Surveys were administered twice over a 6-month interval with a sample of 161 African American and Latino sixth through eighth grade students. Results suggested a promotive role of ERI, as three dimensions (public regard, private regard, and resolution) were positively related to students' school adjustment. Additional results demonstrated the importance of friend group aggregate ERI; participants with high resolution or private regard, or a friend group with high aggregate resolution or private regard, reported higher levels of school adjustment than those with low individual and friend group-levels of these ERI dimensions. The findings provide insights into the role of social contexts and friend group beliefs on adolescents' ERI development and school experiences.

Adolescence is a developmental period when youth are increasingly likely to turn to their peers for support, and it is also a time of increased salience and development of ethnic-racial identity (ERI). Ethnic-racial centrality, a dimension of ERI, could be a predictor in the development of peer support, as youth with a stronger self-concept on the basis of their ethnic-racial identity might garner stronger peer relations. The current study examined trajectories of academic and emotional peer support as well as the role of centrality of one's ethnic-racial identity (i.e., ethnic-racial centrality) in predicting such trajectories among Black American and Latinx adolescents (N = 143, M[subscript age] = 11.91). Average levels of both academic and emotional peer support did not change over time. However, greater ethnic-racial centrality was positively related to higher initial levels of academic and emotional peer support. Ethnic-racial centrality as a potential asset for youth of color in the development of peer support is discussed.

This article seeks to develop transformative social and emotional learning (SEL), a form of SEL intended to promote equity and excellence among children, young people, and adults. We focus on issues of race/ethnicity as a first step toward addressing the broader range of extant inequities. Transformative SEL is anchored in the notion of justice-oriented citizenship, and we discuss issues of culture, identity, agency, belonging, and engagement as relevant expressions of the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning 5 core competencies. We also point to programs and practices that hold promise for cultivating these competencies and the importance of adult professional development in making these efforts maximally effective for diverse children and youth. We conclude by offering a few next steps to further advance transformative SEL research and practice.

School engagement is important in promoting adolescents' academic and socioemotional outcomes. We explored whether sixth-grade students' (N = 571, M[subscript age] = 11.27, 52% female, 50% racial/ethnic minority) school engagement at the end of the academic school year was facilitated by their perceptions of teachers' classroom practices and support. Data were from a longitudinal study on Developmental Designs (DD)--a community-building and engaged-learning teaching approach designed to meet adolescents' developmental needs for autonomy, belonging, and competence. On average, student-perceived teacher support partially mediated the positive relations between perceptions of teachers' DD classroom practice use and students' school engagement. Results highlight the interrelatedness of teachers' instructional and affective practices in supporting early adolescents' school engagement, and suggest the potential benefits of school-based socioemotional initiatives focused on such teaching practices.

This study used short-term longitudinal data to examine the contributions of democratic teaching practices (e.g., the Developmental Designs approach) and equitable school climate to civic engagement attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors among 515 Black and Latino middle school students (47.9% male). Concurrent experiences of democratic homeroom and classroom practices, and equitable school climate were associated with higher scores on each civic engagement component. The relation between classroom practices and civic attitudes was more robust when school climate was seen as more equitable. Longitudinally, homeroom practices and equitable school climate predicted higher civic attitudes 1 year later. Discussion focuses on civic attitudes and future research on school experiences that support civic engagement among youth of color.

We examine how Black high school students, participants in a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) program, understand issues of racial discrimination and inequality in their schools. Through semi-structured individual interviews conducted early in the program, eight students (six boys and two girls) recount experiences of racial stereotyping, discrimination from teachers and staff, lack of institutional support for a positive racial climate, and lack of racial diversity in curricular offerings. Further, through evolving critical analysis supported by the YPAR experience, these students describe rationale for and implications of such negative race-based educational experiences. Findings reveal how Black adolescents interpret the racial discrimination and inequality they experience in school and the implications of parental and community socialization on the development of a critical understanding of race-based social inequalities.

Using a person-oriented approach, we explored patterns of self-esteem and achievement among 324 Black college students across the freshman college year and identified four academic identification profiles. Multivariate analyses revealed profile differences in academic and psychological outcomes at beginning and end of freshman year (academic contingencies of self-esteem, anxiety, depressive symptoms, perceived stress), suggesting different conditions under which connections between self-esteem and achievement relate to positive or negative adjustment. Results also suggested a strong, positive racial group identification supports psychologically adaptive connections between self-esteem and achievement. Findings highlight challenges and benefits of connecting self-esteem to achievement for Black college students, heterogeneity within this population, and the relevance of considering race and cultural factors when studying achievement motivation processes among Black students.

The present study examined the effect of caregivers' experiences of racial discrimination on their adolescent children's psychological functioning among a sample of 264 African American dyads. Potential relations between caregiver discrimination experiences and a number of indicators of adolescents' (aged 12-17) psychological functioning over time were examined. It was found that caregiver discrimination experiences were positively related to adolescents' symptoms of depression and negatively related to their psychological well-being. Additional analysis revealed interactions between the effects of caregiver discrimination experiences and family income on all 3 outcomes. Greater caregiver discrimination experiences and lower family income were risk factors for the youth in the sample. These findings underscore the deleterious consequence of caregivers' discrimination experiences on African American youth's psychological health. (Contains 4 tables and 4 figures.)

This study compared the impact of the Aban Aya Youth Project (AAYP; Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 158: 377-384, 2004) social development classroom curriculum (SDC), school/family/community (SC) intervention curriculum, and a health enhancement curriculum (HEC) attention placebo control on changes over time in violent behaviors among participating youth. Grade 5 pretest and grades 5-8 posttest data were used to investigate the possibility of differential intervention effects, especially the extent to which the SDC and SC interventions were differentially efficacious across age. Unlike most previous investigations of AAYP intervention effects, this study included youth who joined the study after baseline data collection in the outcome analyses. Findings indicated that, regardless of age level, the SDC limited the growth of violence of participating students when compared to students in the control condition. In the SC, however, reduction in the growth of violence emerged only among older participants. Importantly, this included joiners who received less exposure to the intervention. Findings for the SDC are consistent with recent meta-analyses of school based programs, whereas SC findings suggest that violence prevention curricula alone are not sufficient for highly mobile students and that interventions for such populations need to engage multiple social ecological systems. Editors' Strategic Implications: The authors present promising violence prevention findings, and they also provide important answers to dosage and developmental timing questions with their analyses of these longitudinal data.

This study examined the ways in which cultural orientation (communalism and material well-being) and empathy influence the moral reasoning of African American middle to late adolescents. Specifically, this study utilized path analysis to investigate Ward's (1995) hypothesis that a communal orientation would promote morality among African American adolescents, while a material well-being orientation would mitigate against it. In addition, it was hypothesized that empathy would mediate the relationship between cultural orientation and moral reasoning. Thirty-seven high school students and 35 college students participated in the study. Results revealed that communalism was a significant predictor of empathy. Despite prediction, communalism and material well-being were not predictors of moral reasoning. The findings did not yield support for empathy functioning as a mediator between communalism and moral reasoning. These findings are discussed in terms of previous findings, methodological limitations, and implications for future research.

African-American adolescents have lower rates of alcohol consumption than White youth. However, African-American youth suffer disproportionately more adverse social, mental, and physical health outcomes related to alcohol use. Affiliating with negative peers is a risk factor for alcohol initiation and consumption. Cultural variables have shown moderating effects against other risk factors for African-American youth and therefore were the focus of this study. Specifically, we tested whether three culturally-relevant variables, Africentric beliefs, religiosity, and ethnic identity were promotive or protective for alcohol initiation and use within the context of negative peer affiliations. The sample consisted of 114 at-risk African-American adolescents whose ages ranged from 13 to 20. Participants were administered a questionnaire with measures of alcohol initiation and use, peer risk behaviors, ethnic identity, Africentric beliefs, religiosity, and demographic items. Peer risk behaviors accounted for significant percentages of the variance in age of alcohol initiation, lifetime use, and current and heavy alcohol use after adjusting for age and gender. Cultural variables showed both promotive and protective effects. Africentric beliefs were promotive of delayed alcohol initiation, whereas both Africentrism and religiosity moderated peer risk behaviors effect on alcohol initiation. Africentric beliefs were also inversely related to lifetime alcohol use revealing a promotive effect. Moreover, there were significant protective effects of ethnic identity and religiosity on heavy alcohol consumption. One implication of these findings is that prevention programs that infuse cultural values and practices such as Africentrism, ethnic identity, and religiosity may delay alcohol initiation and reduce use especially for youth with high risk peers. (Contains 5 tables, 5 figures and 1 footnote.)

Explored the effect of cultural orientation on African American adolescents' moral reasoning. Surveys of urban eighth graders indicated that the African values of spirituality, communalism, and affect positively correlated with moral reasoning. Communalism, affect, and the Anglocultural value of interpersonal competition positively predicted moral reasoning. Findings suggest that communal values positively influence the development of African American youth. (SM)

Studied the direct effects of demographic variables, religiosity, psychosocial stress variables, and sociostructural variables on the communal attitudes of 171 African American adult men, aged 17 to 79 years. Age and educational attainment were not significantly associated with communalism. Relational stress, financial stress, and stress resulting from racism was not systematically related to communalism, but subjective religiosity and early religious involvement were related to communal attitudes. (SLD)

Examined how gender, grade level, empathy, and cultural orientation influenced fifth and eighth grade African American students' moral judgements. Students completed a variety of assessments. There was greater endorsement of communalism among girls than boys. Grade was a significant predictor of moral reasoning. The full complement of predictive relationships among communal orientation, empathy, and moral reasoning emerged only among boys. (SM)

Two studies involving 84 fifth and sixth graders and 77 sixth and seventh graders explored the component orientations of spirituality, affect, and communalism of an Afrocultural social ethos and their connections with psychological functioning among inner-city African American youth. Positive endorsement and moderate correlations among the orientations were found in each study. (SLD)

Studies attitudes of 120 African-American undergraduates toward academic interdependence and motivation in interdependent and independent learning contexts. Results indicate a prevalent cooperative academic attitude, with a positive impact on academic motivation in cooperative contexts. African-American students tend to be disposed more toward academic cooperation than toward individualism. (SLD)

The role of I Our Voices i as an opportunity structure - what Dr. Anyiwo described as a "youth civic space", became apparent when the young people shared the fact that school policies forbid such discussions. Participants We wondered about the training and background of graduate student facilitators of Our Voices. The I Our Voices i program was developed by a graduate student with the input and support of classroom teachers and students. [Extracted from the article]