Adolescent Development and School Achievement in Urban Communities

Adolescent Development and School Achievement in Urban Communities PDF

Author: Gary Creasey

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 0415894158

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This timely volume explores essential themes, issues, and challenges related to adolescents' lives and learning in underserviced urban areas. Distinguished scholars provide theoretically grounded, multidisciplinary perspectives on contexts and forces that influence adolescent development and achievement. The emphasis is on what is positive and effective, what can make a real difference in the lives and life chances for urban youths, rather than deficits and negative dysfunction. Going beyond solely traditional psychological theories, a strong conceptual framework addressing four domains for understanding adolescent development undergirds the volume: developmental continuities from childhood primary changes (biological, cognitive, social) contexts of development adolescent outcomes. A major federal government initiative is the development of programs to support underserviced urban areas. Directly relevant to this initiative, this volume contributes significantly to gaining a realistic understanding of the contexts and institutions within which urban youths live and learn.

The Impact of Social Support, School Connectedness, and Community Organization on Academic Achievement Among Black & Hispanic Adolescents in an Urban Low-income School District

The Impact of Social Support, School Connectedness, and Community Organization on Academic Achievement Among Black & Hispanic Adolescents in an Urban Low-income School District PDF

Author: Stephanie M. Compasso

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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The disparities in education disproportionately facing Black and Hispanic adolescents, particularly those who attend low-income urban school districts, have far too often been examined through a deficit-based lens, in comparison to White middle-class adolescents. Such comparisons can overlook the cultural strengths of low-income Black and Hispanic adolescents and create a biased interpretation of educational and developmental research. Grounded in the Social Development Model and the Convoy Model of Social Networks, this study examines the interactions of parental support, peer support, school connectedness, and community organization as sources of strength, influencing academic achievement for low-income Black and Hispanic adolescents through a culturally sensitive, strength-based lens. Utilizing data collected from the Communities that Care (CTC) Youth Survey, influences of social support for Black (N = 78) and Hispanic (N = 228) adolescents were evaluated separately. Results revealed a direct effect of parental support, a partial effect of peer support, and a mediating effect of school connectedness on academic achievement. To allow for cultural strengths to be highlighted, findings from this study support the importance of examining academic achievement for low-income Black and Hispanic adolescents as separate and distinct without comparison to a White, middle-class control group. Implications for practice, policy, and future research are discussed.

Adolescent Diversity in Ethnic, Economic, and Cultural Contexts

Adolescent Diversity in Ethnic, Economic, and Cultural Contexts PDF

Author: Raymond Montemayor

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2000-01-24

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0761921273

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This book summarizes and integrates theory and research on adolescents from a diversity of ethnic, economic, and geographic contexts. The book aims to present a more balanced picture of these understudied and misunderstood adolescents by focusing on positive, healthy development.

Schooling Students Placed at Risk

Schooling Students Placed at Risk PDF

Author: Mavis G. Sanders

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-06-17

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13: 1135674604

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This book examines historical approaches and current research and practice related to the education of adolescents placed at risk of school failure as a result of social and economic conditions. One major goal is to expand the intellectual exchange among researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and concerned citizens on factors influencing the achievement of poor and minority youth, specifically students in middle and high schools. Another is to encourage increased dialogue about policies and practices that can make a difference in educational opportunities and outcomes for these students. Although the chapters in this volume are not exhaustive, they represent an array of theoretical and methodological approaches that provide readers with new and diverse ways to think about issues of educational equality and opportunity in the United States. A premise that runs through each chapter is that school success is possible for poor and minority adolescents if adequate support from the school, family, and community is available. *The conceptual approach (Section I) places the research and practice on students placed at risk in a historical context and sets the stage for an important reframing of current definitions, research, policies, and practices aimed at this population. *Multiple research methodologies (Sections II and III) allow for comparisons across racial and ethnic groups as well as within groups, and contribute to different and complementary insights. Section III, "Focus on African-American Students," specifically addresses gender and social class differences among African-American adolescents. *Current reform strategies presently being implemented in schools throughout the United States are presented and discussed (Part IV). These strategies or programs highlight how schools, families, and communities can apply research findings like the ones this book presents, thus bridging the often wide gap between social science research and educational practice.

African-American Adolescents in the Urban Community

African-American Adolescents in the Urban Community PDF

Author: Judith Rozie-Battle

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-12-02

Total Pages: 114

ISBN-13: 1317788052

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Become a more effective social worker with this outstanding volume on inner-city urban youth! African-American Adolescents in the Urban Community: Social Services Policy and Practice Interventions examines contemporary issues confronting African-American youth. It highlights key areas such as health, education, the criminal justice system, and youth development strategies. An essential overview of the status of urban African-American youth for students, professionals working with this important population, and policymakers, this vital book proposes policy and programming considerations for today and for the future. African-American Adolescents in the Urban Community is a one-stop view of: ways to help African-American youth experience responsibility and community involvement health concerns of this population, including teen pregnancy, alcohol and drug addiction, and limited access to health care the challenges that lie ahead for African-American girls, including crime, poverty, poor self-esteem, and peer pressure ways to help teenage fathers meet their financial and emotional obligations to their families police and prosecutorial policies that need to be examined and challenged to end the perception of a racially unjust system and much more

Losing Generations

Losing Generations PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1995-02-01

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0309052343

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At least 7 million young Americansâ€"fully one-quarter of adolescents 10 to 17 years oldâ€"may be at risk of failing to achieve productive adult lives. They use drugs, engage in unprotected sex, drop out of school, and sometimes commit crimes, effectively closing the door to their own futures. And the costs to society are enormous: school and social services are overwhelmed, and our nation faces the future with a diminished citizenry. This penetrating book argues that the problems of troubled youth cannot be separated from the settings in which those youths liveâ€"settings that have deteriorated significantly in the past two decades. A distinguished panel examines what works and what does not in the effort to support and nurture adolescents and offers models for successful programs. This volume presents an eye-opening look at what millions of the nation's youths confront every day of their lives, addressing: How the decline in economic security for young working parents affects their children's life chances. How dramatic changes in household structure and the possibilities of family and community violence threaten adolescents' development. How the decline of neighborhoods robs children of a safe environment. How adolescents' health needs go unmet in the current system. Losing Generations turns the spotlight on those institutions youths needâ€"the health care system, schools, the criminal justice, and the child welfare and foster home systemsâ€"and how they are functioning. Difficult issues are addressed with study results and insightful analyses: access of poor youths to health insurance coverage, inequities in school funding, how child welfare agencies provide for adolescents in their care, and the high percentage of young black men in the criminal justice system.

The Promise of Adolescence

The Promise of Adolescence PDF

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2019-07-26

Total Pages: 493

ISBN-13: 0309490111

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Adolescenceâ€"beginning with the onset of puberty and ending in the mid-20sâ€"is a critical period of development during which key areas of the brain mature and develop. These changes in brain structure, function, and connectivity mark adolescence as a period of opportunity to discover new vistas, to form relationships with peers and adults, and to explore one's developing identity. It is also a period of resilience that can ameliorate childhood setbacks and set the stage for a thriving trajectory over the life course. Because adolescents comprise nearly one-fourth of the entire U.S. population, the nation needs policies and practices that will better leverage these developmental opportunities to harness the promise of adolescenceâ€"rather than focusing myopically on containing its risks. This report examines the neurobiological and socio-behavioral science of adolescent development and outlines how this knowledge can be applied, both to promote adolescent well-being, resilience, and development, and to rectify structural barriers and inequalities in opportunity, enabling all adolescents to flourish.

Urban Education

Urban Education PDF

Author: Karen Symms Gallagher

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-03-19

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 1136869824

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Many factors complicate the education of urban students. Among them have been issues related to population density; racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity; poverty; racism (individual and institutional); and funding levels. Although urban educators have been addressing these issues for decades, placing them under the umbrella of "urban education" and treating them as a specific area of practice and inquiry is relatively recent. Despite the wide adoption of the term a consensus about its meaning exists at only the broadest of levels. In short, urban education remains an ill-defined concept. This comprehensive volume addresses this definitional challenge and provides a 3-part conceptual model in which the achievement of equity for all -- regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity – is an ideal that is central to urban education. The model also posits that effective urban education requires attention to the three central issues that confronts all education systems (a) accountability of individuals and the institutions in which they work, (b) leadership, which occurs in multiple ways and at multiple levels, and (c) learning, which is the raison d'être of education. Just as a three-legged stool would fall if any one leg were weak or missing, each of these areas is essential to effective urban education and affects the others.

Adolescent Identity and Schooling

Adolescent Identity and Schooling PDF

Author: Cynthia Hudley

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-07-24

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 1317653734

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Adolescent Identity and Schooling: Diverse Perspectives examines a range of issues related to student adjustment and achievement through research on student identity. Drawn from leading experts in psychology and sociology, it attends to important contemporary topics in educational and developmental psychology. With special attention to how students assess and relate to their own identities, this book features chapters on pertinent but under-represented identities such as parental identity, immigrant identity, and model minority identity. It blends these new topics with chapters containing the most current perspectives on traditionally covered topics, such as race and social class. In ten chapters, this book provides readers with a comprehensive set of perspectives on the relationship between student identity and success in school, making it ideal for education courses on identity in education, educational psychology, and human development.