@article{gray_ali_mcelveen_sealy_2022, title={The Cultural Significance of "We-Ness": Motivationally Influential Practices Rooted in a Scholarly Agenda on Black Education}, ISSN={["1573-336X"]}, DOI={10.1007/s10648-022-09708-y}, journal={EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW}, author={Gray, DeLeon L. and Ali, Joanna N. and McElveen, Tamika L. and Sealy, Martinique}, year={2022}, month={Oct} }
 @article{gray_harris-thomas_ali_cummings_mcelveen_jones_2022, title={Urban Middle Schoolers' Opportunities to Belong Predict Fluctuations in Their Engagement Across the School Day}, volume={8}, ISSN={["1552-8340"]}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00420859221117682}, DOI={10.1177/00420859221117682}, abstractNote={Existing measures of belonging in schools do not explicitly elevate the contextual and cultural insights of the educators and students they were designed to assess. Our study addresses this shortcoming through the co-creation of an Opportunities to Belong survey measure for urban middle schoolers. The tool was developed in partnership with practicing educators and normed around Black and Latinx students ( N = 225). Results of a multilevel confirmatory factor analysis revealed strong evidence for single factor structure. A within-persons multilevel model revealed that shifts in opportunities to belong predicted fluctuations in student engagement across different academic courses. Implications are discussed.}, journal={URBAN EDUCATION}, publisher={SAGE Publications}, author={Gray, DeLeon L. and Harris-Thomas, Brooke and Ali, Joanna N. and Cummings, Taylor N. and McElveen, Tamika L. and Jones, Tamecia R.}, year={2022}, month={Aug} }
 @article{graya_mcelveen_green_bryant_2020, title={Engaging Black and Latinx students through communal learning opportunities: A relevance intervention for middle schoolers in STEM elective classrooms}, volume={60}, ISSN={["1090-2384"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.cedpsych.2019.101833}, abstractNote={With the aim of bridging research in educational psychology and teacher education, we designed a research-practice partnership to unpack the concept of relevance from a race-reimaged perspective. Specifically, we employed a mixed-methods sequential explanatory research design to examine associations between the communal learning opportunities afforded to Black and Latinx students, and their engagement patterns during STEM activities. Within a nine-week instructional unit we provided students six opportunities to rate their scholastic activities. High levels of behavioral engagement were sustained over the course of the instructional unit. On weeks when students rated the activities as higher in communal affordances, they also reported more behavioral engagement. Classroom observations facilitated our efforts to create state space grids that show when and how teachers used emancipatory pedagogies to support students’ learning. We used these state space grids, along with teacher interviews and student focus groups, to develop contextualized illustrations of two teachers of color as they successfully provided communal forms of motivational support over the span of six observations per teacher. These strategies differed based on three key factors: where the lesson was placed within the larger instructional unit, the way teachers interpreted and responded to their students’ engagement patterns, and how the demands of the larger school environment impacted classroom dynamics.}, journal={CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY}, author={Graya, DeLeon L. and McElveen, Tamika L. and Green, Briana P. and Bryant, Lauren H.}, year={2020}, month={Jan} }