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With racial inequalities plaguing the U.S. school system, educators have recognized the importance of establishing inclusive, equitable, and diverse school environments where students from different ethnic-racial backgrounds can feel respected and supported. This study examined the longitudinal links between adolescents' experiences of school racial socialization, school climate perceptions, and academic performance and tested whether these links varied by race (n = 941; 54% boys; 63% Black, 37% White). Results revealed that adolescents' experience of school racial socialization practices (i.e., cultural socialization and promotion of cultural competence) predicted positive changes in their perceptions of school climate and, in turn, promoted better academic performance. School racial socialization was linked to positive school experiences and achievement for both Black and White adolescents.

Maintaining learning engagement throughout adolescence is critical for long-term academic success. This research sought to understand the role of metacognition and motivation in predicting adolescents' engagement in math learning over time. In two longitudinal studies with 2,325 and 207 adolescents (ages 11-15), metacognitive skills, interest, and self-control each uniquely predicted math engagement. Additionally, metacognitive skills worked with interest and self-control interactively to shape engagement. In Study 1, metacognitive skills and interest were found to compensate for one another. This compensatory pattern further interacted with time in Study 2, indicating that the decline in engagement was forestalled among adolescents who had either high metacognitive skills or high interest. Both studies also uncovered an interaction between metacognitive skills and self-control, though with slightly different interaction patterns.

Historic racial disparities in the United States have created an urgent need for evidence-based strategies promoting African American students' academic performance via school-based ethnic-racial socialization and identity development. However, the temporal order among socialization, identity, and academic performance remains unclear in extant literature. This longitudinal study examined whether school cultural socialization predicted 961 African American adolescents' grade point averages through their ethnic-racial identities (49.6% males; M[subscript age] = 13.60; 91.9% qualified for free lunch). Results revealed that youth who perceived more school cultural socialization had better grades 1 and 2 years later. In addition, identity commitment (but not exploration) fully mediated these relations. Implications for how educators can help adolescents of color succeed in schools are discussed.

The authors explored trajectories of perceived discrimination over a 6-year period (five assessments in 6th-11th grade) in relation to academic, behavioral, and psychological adjustment in 8th and 11th grades. They distinguished discrimination from adults versus peers in addition to overt versus covert discrimination from peers. The sample included 226 African American, White, Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Chinese adolescents (ages 11-12 at Time 1) recruited in sixth grade from six public schools in New York City. All forms of discrimination increased during middle school and decreased during high school. The frequency with which adolescents reported different sources and types of discrimination varied across ethnicity/race, but not gender. Initial levels and rates of change in discrimination predicted academic, behavioral, and psychological adjustment in 8th and 11th grades, albeit in complex ways.

Online racial discrimination experiences often reflect attacks on the humanity and intelligence of members of specific racial groups (e.g., African Americans and Latinos). Such experiences may have detrimental effects on academic outcomes over time. Changes in reports of online racial discrimination and academic motivation were examined among a sample of 418 African American (n = 257) and Latino (n = 161) youth in Grades 6-12. Latent growth models with parallel processes revealed that adolescents reported increases in online racial discrimination over time yet relative stability in academic motivation. Elevated rates of online racial discrimination were related to decreases in adolescents' academic motivation. This was the case even after adjusting for teacher discrimination and baseline grade point average. In addition, high initial levels of academic motivation were related to increases in adolescents' reports of online racial discrimination. Findings highlight the importance of understanding racial discrimination in online contexts when examining how race-related experiences affect the academic adjustment of adolescents of color.

With racial inequalities plaguing the U.S. school system, educators have recognized the importance of establishing inclusive, equitable, and diverse school environments where students from different ethnic-racial backgrounds can feel respected and supported. This study examined the longitudinal links between adolescents' experiences of school racial socialization, school climate perceptions, and academic performance and tested whether these links varied by race (n = 941; 54% boys; 63% Black, 37% White). Results revealed that adolescents' experience of school racial socialization practices (i.e., cultural socialization and promotion of cultural competence) predicted positive changes in their perceptions of school climate and, in turn, promoted better academic performance. School racial socialization was linked to positive school experiences and achievement for both Black and White adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historic racial disparities in the United States have created an urgent need for evidence‐based strategies promoting African American students' academic performance via school‐based ethnic‐racial socialization and identity development. However, the temporal order among socialization, identity, and academic performance remains unclear in extant literature. This longitudinal study examined whether school cultural socialization predicted 961 African American adolescents' grade point averages through their ethnic‐racial identities (49.6% males; Mage = 13.60; 91.9% qualified for free lunch). Results revealed that youth who perceived more school cultural socialization had better grades 1 and 2 years later. In addition, identity commitment (but not exploration) fully mediated these relations. Implications for how educators can help adolescents of color succeed in schools are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Culturally relevant practices are valuable assets for ethnically-racially diverse schools, but few studies examine whether such practices promote students' engagement in school longitudinally and whether ethnicity-race moderates the effects of such practices on students' engagement. To address this gap, the present study examined whether schools that acknowledge and promote positive messages about youth's ethnicity-race (i.e., school cultural socialization practices) promoted multiple dimensions of students' school engagement and whether these links differed between African American and European American students. Data were collected in four waves during a two-year period from 403 fifth graders (55.1% males; 63% African American, 37% European American). The results revealed that African American youth who perceived more school cultural socialization reported greater behavioral and affective engagement (but not cognitive engagement) six months later. European Americans' perceived school cultural socialization was unrelated to their levels of engagement in later months. Across groups, neither type of engagement predicted subsequent school cultural socialization, supporting the direction of effects in the results. Implications are discussed regarding how educators can leverage cultural socialization to promote school engagement among African American youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socially anxious youth are at an increased risk for academic underachievement, withdrawal from school, and negative peer relationships. Given that learning tasks in science classes rely heavily on peer collaboration and social skills, this study aimed to investigate the link between high-school adolescents' social anxiety and their science achievement while also determining whether and how peer social support and social engagement mediated the relation. Data was collected from 805 high-school students (48.7% female; 30.9% in 9th, 24.0% in 10th, 25.3% in 11th, 19.8% in 12th grade; 51.2% White, 29.8% Black, 11.4% Biracial, 7.6% Other). The results showed that socially anxious adolescents were more likely to report lower social engagement, which in turn predicted lower science performance. In addition, adolescents with social anxiety tended to experience less peer social support, which led to lower social engagement and subsequent lower science performance. These findings have important implications for guiding teaching practice and school-based interventions that support socially anxious adolescents in learning tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intended purpose of exclusionary discipline is to improve the learning environment by removing disruptive students; however, emerging evidence has suggested that these practices may have the opposite effect. Exclusionary discipline--especially policies that use suspensions as punishment for minor, developmentally normative behavioral infractions--is a known threat to suspended students' academic achievement, but few have examined whether and how these suspensions may vicariously affect nonsuspended classmates' academic achievement. This article uses a two-study approach to examine the mechanisms linking suspensions for minor infractions and educational outcomes in science (N-student = 558; N-classroom = 41; Mage = 12.83; age range = 10-16; 40% Black, 55% White, 5% other race; 51% girls; 62% eligible for free/reduced-priced lunch) and math (N-student = 1,302; N-classroom = 64; Mage = 13.00; age range = 10-16; 41% Black, 53% White, 6% other race; 50% girls; 64% eligible for free/reduced-priced lunch) classrooms among both suspended and nonsuspended students. Results showed that students who received a suspension for a minor infraction were more likely to have poorer academic achievement in both studies. In classrooms where suspensions for minor infractions were used more frequently, students had lower academic achievement, with student engagement partially mediating this relation. These results add to a growing body of school discipline literature that advocates for replacing exclusionary discipline with more developmentally responsive policies and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]