Advancing scholarship on anti-racism within developmental science: Reflections on the special section and recommendations for future research

To date, theoretical and conceptual scholarship on anti-racism has been advanced through leading contributions from several disciplines (e.g., sociology, education, psychology). Still, there remain fewer empirical studies on anti-racism constructs, and we know little about the development of anti-racism among diverse youth across key stages of development. In this special section of Child Development, we sought to address this gap by highlighting scholarship in developmental science that attends to the development of anti-racism in children across contexts (e.g., families, schools) and developmental stages (e.g., early childhood through emerging adulthood). In our introduction to the special section, we review the collective contributions of included studies and outline recommendations for future research in the development of anti-racism in youth.     

Design-Based Research Within the Constraints of Practice: AlgebraByExample

Superintendents from districts in the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) challenged the Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP) to identify an approach to narrowing the minority student achievement gap in Algebra 1 without isolating minority students for intervention. SERP partnered with 8 MSAN districts and researchers from 3 universities to design and rigorously test AlgebraByExample, a set of 42 Algebra 1 assignments with interleaved worked examples that target common misconceptions and errors. In a year-long random-assignment study, students who received AlgebraByExample assignments had an average 7 percentage point boost on a posttest containing released items from state assessments, and students in the bottom half of the performance distribution where minority students are disproportionately concentrated had an average 10 percentage point boost on a researcher-designed assessment of conceptual understanding. AlgebraByExample is easily incorporated into any existing curriculum, and naturally serves as a launch point for mathematically rich discussion.     

Excellence Beyond Athletics: Best Practices for Enhancing Black Male Student Athletes' Educational Experiences and Outcomes

Postsecondary institutions in the United States, including member institutions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), are charged with the responsibility of cultivating positive learning environments where all students have an opportunity to excel regardless of their demographic backgrounds (e.g., race, socioeconomic status, etc.). However, one subgroup of students these institutions have persistently been unable to retain and graduate at rates comparable to their peers is Black male student athletes. Previous research has cited unwelcoming campus climates, inadequate academic support, and an overemphasis on athletics as key factors that contribute to Black male student athletes' academic underperformance and negative psychosocial experiences at these institutions. The purpose of this article is to present a series of strategies and recommendations for enhancing Black male student athletes' educational experiences and holistic development at postsecondary institutions in the U.S. A review of scholarly literature on Black male student athletes, college student development theories, and student athlete support programs was conducted to identify best practices related to the phenomena. An analysis of the literature led to the creation of the Excellence Beyond Athletics (EBA) approach. The EBA approach consists of the following six holistic development principles (HDPs): (1) self-identity awareness, (2) positive social engagement, (3) active mentorship, (4) academic achievement, (5) career aspirations, and (6) balanced time management.     

Why relationships matter

Nurture groups (NGs) are a form of provision for children with social, emotional, behavioural and learning difficulties. Although the first groups were established over 30 years ago, growth in the number of NGs in the UK has been exponential over the past ten years. This study attempts to assess the effectiveness of NGs in promoting positive social, emotional and educational development. The study set out to measure: (1) the effects of NGs in promoting pupil improvement in the NGs; (2) the extent to which these improvements generalised to mainstream settings; and (3) the impact of NGs on whole schools. Statistically significant improvements were found for NG pupils in terms of social, emotional and behavioural functioning. NGs which had been in place for more than two years were found to be significantly more effective than groups which had been in existence for less than two years. Pupils with SEBD in mainstream classrooms improved in behavioural terms significantly better than pupils with and without SEBD attending schools that did not have NG provision. The greatest social, emotional and behavioural improvements took place over the first two terms, whilst improvements in behaviours associated with cognitive engagement in learning tasks continued to improve into the third and fourth terms. This study suggests that NGs are a highly promising form of provision for young children with a wide range of SEBDs. There is also good evidence to suggest that successful NGs contribute to the development of the ‘nurturing school’.     

Predictors of Criminal Justice Undergraduates’ Intentions to Pursue Graduate Education in Criminology or Criminal Justice

This study relies on data from 388 junior and senior criminal justice majors to examine predictors of intentions to pursue graduate education in criminology, criminal justice, or a closely related field. Logistic regression results demonstrate that women, students who receive greater encouragement to attend graduate school, students with a lower aversion to reading, writing, and statistics, and students who perceive greater diversity intolerance are more likely to report graduate school intentions. Although students’ race was not found to be significant in the overall model, split-sample models revealed that the significance of predictors varied by race and ethnicity. In discussing the findings, special attention is given to the need for primarily White institutions (PWIs) to partner with historically Black college and universities (HBCUs). We conclude by calling for departments to redouble their efforts to diversify their faculty and student bodies.