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Knowing how to target the African‐American market effectively is of great importance, as this segment has different values, needs and wants, and buying power. This study explores the initial stages of the decision‐making process of African‐American mothers who have a child or children under the age of seven who wear play‐wear. This study identifies children's clothing needs, advertising information used in the search process, stores searched and frequency of shopping, and the types of fabric and decorations preferred by the mothers. The findings from the focus group interviews suggest that African‐American mothers have unique needs to be met for their children's clothing. They rely on external search with an emphasis on magazines. They prefer cotton fabrics and decorations representing flowers or animals.

The purpose of this article was to describe Hossler and Gallagher’s (1987) college choice model and emphasize the predisposition phase of the model as the starting point for school counselors’ efforts to help African American parents foster their children’s college planning in the college choice process.

The authors wrote this manuscript as a conceptual approach to helping school counselors work with African American parents in their children’s college planning process by including two case studies as examples.

This is a conceptual article.

School counselors should be culturally competent and aware of how African Americans rear their children to help them successfully navigate college planning. For example, school counselors can learn about and share information with families about colleges that have support programs assisting African American students toward college completion.

This paper is important to the field of education as it contributes to the literature regarding how school counselors can assist students in becoming college and career ready by working with their parents using a college choice model.

Research often neglects the full continuum of the STEM pipeline in terms of underserved and underrepresented populations. African American males, in particular, experience limited access, opportunity, and preparation along STEM trajectories preK-12. The purpose of this paper is to challenge this gap by presenting examples of preK-12 programs that nurture and promote STEM development and learner outcomes for underrepresented populations.

A culturally responsive, asset-based approach emphasizes the importance of leveraging out-of-school practices that shape African-American males learning experiences. From a practitioner standpoint, the need to understand the importance of developing a STEM identity as a conduit to better improve STEM outcomes for African-American males is discussed.

To respond to the full continuum of the pipeline, the authors highlight the role of families and STEM programs that support African-American male students’ STEM identity development generally with an emphasis on how particular out-of-school programs (e.g. The Children’s Museum of Memphis [CMOM], MathScience Innovation Center [MSiC]) cultivate STEM trajectories. The authors conclude with how preK-12 settings can collaborate with local museums and other agencies to create opportunities for greater access and improve the quality of African-American males’ STEM preparation.

The intellectual value of our work lies in the fact that few studies have focused on the importance of examining the full continuum of the STEM pipeline with a particular emphasis on STEM development in early childhood (preK-3). Similarly, few studies have examined the role of identity construction and meaning-making practices as a conduit to better STEM outcomes for African-American males prek-12.

Literature indicates African American parents can feel real or perceived discrimination that strains their interactions with teachers, resulting in them feeling alienated from their children’s school.

This is an exploratory case study of two African American parents, who although guarded in their relationships with teachers, exposed their vulnerabilities to Project ESTEEM faculty as they requested support in resolving behavioral and academic challenges with their children. It is an exploratory case study in that the field notes were taken prior to defining the research question, positioning it as research that sets the stage for a future more comprehensive study. The researchers, as participant observers recorded field notes of events and interactions that occurred. The research question was, “What were the factors that influenced the relationships between the Project ESTEEM faculty and African American Parents? The subquestions were “What were the distinctions of alienation that challenged the parents’ relationships in the schools? and "How were the factors that challenged the parents’ relationships with teachers mitigated in Project ESTEEM faculty’s relationships with the parents?” A constant comparative method was used beginning with open coding, followed by identifying patterns, themes and subthemes reflecting the specific needs of the parents in relationship to the overall theme.

The stories highlight sociocultural contexts influencing the alienation of some African American parents in their children’s education through an analysis of the relationships fostered with Project ESTEEM faculty.

This case study reports the experiences of two parents from one community and school, participating in a specialized program.

The significance resides in the representation of alternate viewpoints in understanding the alienation experiences of African American parents from schools.

Drawing on gender role ideology and structuralism perspectives, this study examines the impact of racial variation on the relationship between family characteristics and work–family decisions.

The study sample was drawn from the data collected by the U.S. Current Population Survey. This study used robust regression analysis to test their specific hypotheses that explore the role of racial variations on work–family decisions (measured in terms of weekly work hours).

The findings indicate that while overall men work longer hours when raising young children, both African American and Hispanic men tend to cut down on their work hours. Additionally, while marital status is associated with decreased work hours for White women, the reduction is smaller for Hispanic women. African American women actually end up increasing their work hours post marriage. Finally, while motherhood is associated with reduced work hours across racial groups, the decrease is more drastic for White women compared to their minority counterparts.

This study provides empirical evidence that work–family decision in the US African American and Hispanic households are not as strongly guided by the traditional gender role stereotypes, as is the case with White households. It also has important implications for the US employers who strive to leverage diversity and create inclusive organizations.

Given the increased population diversity in the USA, this study highlights the need to better understand the role of racial variations on the work–family decisions.

This study aims to examine the interplay between culturally relevant materials, child racial ethnic classroom composition and positive emotional climate in regard to high levels of peer play in low-income, urban preschools located in African-American and Mexican immigrant/Mexican-American communities in the USA.

The sample includes state or city subsidized child care programs in the USA which were traditionally African-American programs that experienced an influx of Latino immigrant enrollment. Instruments included structured observations of classroom peer play and cultural artifacts. Hierarchical multiple regression was run to determine whether cultural artifacts and child ethnic composition within classrooms contributed to the prediction of high-peer play over positive emotional climate alone.

The final model indicates that cultural artifacts reflective of African-American culture positively predict high levels of peer play, while Mexican-American cultural items are negatively predictive. In classrooms with a majority African-American population, predicted high-peer play is 7.994 greater than that predicted for majority of Latino classrooms.

Positive emotional climate in these programs was not very high, and it is not clear whether the findings discussed in this report would hold in contexts that exhibit much higher levels of positive emotional climate. It is also not clear that the inclusion of cultural artifacts in contexts in which African-American children are the minority or in racial-ethnically heterogeneous classrooms would lead to the same findings.

ECE classroom should make specific choices as to what culturally relevant materials to include in early childhood classrooms. Teachers of young children of color must facilitate children’s engagement with these materials by ensuring that they are representative of the children’s cultural experiences and by supporting children’s engagement with peers through the formation of emotionally positive classroom climates.

This study points to interesting relationships between what teachers have in classrooms and children’s engagement with each other within those contexts. The findings from this study also exemplify that a one-size-fits-all approach toward childhood development may be counterproductive. Children bring with them ethnic and cultural heritages, which when combined with the preschool culture, create unique experiences for them that should not be ignored or controlled for analysis, but rather, understood.

This study provides a unique analysis of seldom considered contexts by examining the use of culturally relevant materials in urban, early childhood contexts. Teachers of young children have been found to consider a focus on race and ethnicity as unnecessary or to engage in a colorblind approach with young children. This study demonstrates how paying careful consideration to the cultural environment in classrooms also supports children’s exploration and play quality.

The purpose of this paper is to explore perceptions of family-to-family (F2F) information centres by health care providers serving Hispanic and African American families of children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN) and how that information can be used to enhance effective collaboration to address disparities in access to services.

In this second phase of a formative, qualitative multi-phase, collaborative study by a university centre and three F2Fs to develop strategies to increase the use of their centres by Hispanic and African American populations, the authors report the results of key informant interviews with healthcare providers serving the African American and Hispanic families who participated in focus groups at the three centres.

Healthcare providers reported that F2Fs play a unique role in providing families support and skills to advocate within systems. However, barriers to healthcare providers recommending F2Fs to families include a lack of knowledge about the specific services provided, the need for face-to-face contact to feel comfortable making a referral and a lack of a formalised referral and feedback process that is in line with their experiences in the medical services system.

F2Fs can increase use of their centres by African American and Hispanic families through provider referrals by: promoting specific services and supports they offer families, rather than describing their programmes; promoting how they can help providers with the care coordination functions that are time consuming; offering providers training opportunities; and developing processes for referrals that include feedback to providers.

There are no studies that currently address strengthening the collaboration between medical homes and F2F centres to improve care coordination, access to information and receiving needed services for Hispanic and African American CSHCN and their families. Understanding how healthcare providers serving Hispanic and African American CSHCN perceive F2Fs and currently work with them will enhance this collaboration.

This study aimed to investigate whether a diagnostic testing condition leads to stereotype threat effects for African American and Latina/o children (N = 81) when tested together at an urban elementary school in Miami, Florida.

To analyze the effect of stereotype threat on participants’ reading test performance, a 2 (race/ethnicity) × 2 (test condition) ANOVA was conducted.

Results indicated that presenting a reading test as diagnostic of abilities hindered the performance of African American children but not of Latina/o children.

A relationship to Latina/o racial identity is explored as well as suggestions for developing interventions capable of attenuating stereotype threat effects for African American children.

In past research, Latina/o children have been demonstrated to be negatively affected by stereotype threat when tested alone or in the presence of a White comparison group (McKown and Weinstein, 2003; Nader and Clark, 2011). However, the Latina/o participants in this study, tested with an African American comparison group, were unaffected by stereotype threat trending toward experiencing stereotype lift. The present findings posit questioning as to whether Latina/o racial identity moderates stereotype threat effects and how it plays out in elementary schools.

The purpose of this paper is to deconstruct the extant scholarship on quality in early childhood education and to emphasize the importance of extending the literature to explore the potential influence that a teachers’ educational background may have on kindergarten readiness for African American children in urban early learning settings.

Research has identified high-quality early education as a significant contributor to the academic success and development of young children. This paper examines current conceptualizations and trends in early childhood education related to the needs of African American children.

Our assessment indicates that the early learning of African American children in urban settings warrants further consideration by educational stakeholders. Specifically, the process and structural quality of urban early learning environments requires more culturally responsive approaches to policy and practice.

Improving the early learning opportunities of African American students in urban settings has practical and social implications that substantiate the value of the process and structural quality assessments. Recommendations for policy and practice are centered on a growth-based model of opportunities. Policy recommendations include creating urban teacher credentials and sustaining urban education, while practical recommendations include creating opportunities for vicarious experiences, affirming interactions and engaging in multicultural discourse.

Oftentimes, attempts at culturally relevant early childhood practices are limited to diverse materials in the physical environment. The purpose of this study is to document the culturally relevant teaching practices, specifically for African American children, within a culturally diverse preschool classroom with a Black teacher.

The researchers used qualitative methodology to answer the following question: How does a Black preschool teacher enact culturally relevant practices for her African American students in a culturally diverse classroom? Data sources included field notes from classroom observations, transcripts from both formal and informal semi-structured interviews with a Master Teacher and photographs.

The authors found that the participant fostered an inclusive classroom community and a classroom environment that reflected the range of human diversity. She was intentional in her integration of culturally representative read alouds and lessons designed to incorporate students’ interests. Finally, she engaged families by facilitating their involvement in her curriculum. However, social justice aspects were absent during the time of the study.

This paper contributes to the literature in that it documents a high-quality early childhood classroom with a teacher, that is, actively trying to incorporate the cultures of her African American students. Many extant studies provide examples of superficial culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) being enacting in early childhood classrooms or the focus is not specifically on African American children.