National Hispanic Heritage Month

September 15, 2023

A Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and founding member of the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities, the University of California, Irvine strives to be a national leader and global model of inclusive excellence. At the School of Education, our nationally recognized faculty have advanced this commitment through their research, efforts and engagements to uplift Latina/o/x communities and students.

​Here is a snapshot of the School of Education’s leading efforts to improve education equity, access and outcomes for Latina/o/x communities and students.

Navigate to citations, studies, articles and engagements.

UCI CalTeach hosted its first Showcase which featured presentations including how the teacher serving a large population of low-income Latine students bridged the science classroom.

Citations

Cultural Resilience

• Cultural mechanisms linking mothers’ familism values to externalizing behaviors among Midwest U.S. Latinx adolescents. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)
• Culture-related adaptive mechanisms to race-related trauma among African American and U.S. Latinx youth. Adversity and Resilience Science (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)​

Familial Influence and Relationships

• Latinx adolescents’ perspectives on romantic relationships and sexuality: Exploring the roles of parents and siblings. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)

Mental Health

• ​U.S. Mexican-origin young adults’ mental health relative to interpersonal stressor transitions from childhood to adolescence. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)

Social Justice

• Reducing youth ingroup favoritism to address social injustice. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)

Studies

Contributions on the Area of Cognitive Skills

• Crosslinguistic transfer of higher order cognitive skills and their roles in writing for English-Spanish dual language learners. Journal of Educational Psychology (by Professor Young-Suk Kim)
• Inferencing skill and attentional control account for the connection between reading comprehension and mathematics. Frontiers in Psychology (by Professor Young-Suk Kim)

Cultural Resilience

• The Cultural Resiliency and Learning Center (CRLC) (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)

Improving Education for Immigrant Youth

• Improving the Experiences and Outcomes of Immigrant Youth: An Examination of the Internationals Network for Public School. WT Grant Foundation (by Assistant Professor Adriana Villavicencio)

Latinx Students' Motivation and Participation in Afterschool Activites

• ​UC-Links: Simpkins’ research group has partnered and published quantitative and qualitative research with its partners on culturally responsive programming, how staff support positive youth development, and how to support best practices in after school (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)

Latinx Students' Success in STEM

• Collaborative research: Investigating the most impactful culturally-responsive informal pedagogical practices for STEM afterschool programs engaging marginalized youth. National Science Foundation [by Professor Sandra Simpkins (Co-PI)]
• Current U.S. Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution grant supported Latinx communities with more than two thirds of student teachers placed in predominantly Latinx communities around Orange County (UCI CalTeach)
• UCI CalTeach awarded grant to work with local Hispanic Serving Institution Community Colleges including Golden West College, Orange Coast College, Santa Ana College, and Santiago Canyon College to improve pathways to UCI STEM degree attainment and Teaching credentials [by UCI CalTeach Coordinator Kris Houston (PI)]
• Who’s motivated to pursue math and science? Testing replications of processes from grad school to occupations in multiple datasets. National Science Foundation [by Professor Sandra Simpkins (PI) and Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne Eccles]

Math Engagement and Success

• UCI Math CEO: Professor Sandra Simpkins’ research group has partnered with Math CEO in order to support Latinx middle-schoolers’ math motivation as well as their aspirations to go to college and pursue STEM.

Reducing Inequities in Mathematics Education

• Reducing Inequalities in Opportunities to Learn Mathematics through Adaptive Teacher Professional Development. WT Grant Foundation [by Professor Rossella Santagata (PI) and Assistant Professor Adriana Villavicencio (Co-PI)]

Articles

Cultural Resilience

• Development, culture, and neurobiology of moral emotions in ethnic/racial minority children: A case study of U.S. Latino/a children. The Oxford Handbook of Emotional Development​ (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)
• Is there any evidence of historical changes in gender differences in American high school students’ math competence-related beliefs from the 1980s to the 2010s? International Journal of Gender, Science, and Technology ​(by Postdoctoral Scholar Charlott Rubach, Doctoral Student Glona Lee, Postdoctoral Scholar Christine Starr, Associate Project Scientist Nayssan Safavian, Associate Project Scientist Anna-Lena Dicke, Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne Eccles and Professor Sandra Simpkins​)
• Parents’ math gender stereotypes and their correlates: An examination of the similarities and differences over the past 25 years. Sex Roles (by Postdoctoral Scholar Christine Starr, Doctoral Student Glona Lee, Associate Project Scientist Nayssan Safavian, Postdoctoral Scholar Charlott Rubach, Associate Project Scientist Anna-Lena Dicke, Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne Eccles and Professor Sandra Simpkins)

Educator Equity

• Cultivating The Chicano/Latina/O/X Faculty Pipeline Across Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Systems: The Potential Role Of HSRIs In Transforming The Professoriate. Journal for Leadership, Equity, and Research (by Dean and Professor Frances Contreras)
• The Role of HSIs in Cultivating a Critical Mass of Latinx Teachers and Teachers of Color: The Case of California (chapter). Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers (by Dean and Professor Frances Contreras)​

Familial Influence and Relationships

• Longitudinal associations between parent degree/occupation, parent support, and adolescent motivational beliefs in STEM. Journal of Adolescence (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Parent support of Mexican-descent high school adolescents' science education: A culturally-grounded framework. Journal of Adolescent Research (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Risks and Protective Factors of Hispanic Families and Their Young Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic​. ​Children (by Professor Stephanie Reich)

Latinx Students' Motivation and Participation in Afterschool Activites

• How youth-staff relationships and program activities promote Latinx adolescent outcomes in a university-community afterschool math enrichment activity. Applied Developmental Science (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Making the decision to participate in organized after-school activities: Perspectives from Mexican-origin adolescents and their parents. Journal of Adolescent Research (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Promoting Latino adolescent motivational beliefs and activity engagement in organized after-school activities. Applied Developmental Science (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• “Working together as a team really gets them fired up”: Afterschool program mentoring strategies to promote collaborative learning among adolescent participants. Applied Developmental Science (by Doctoral Student Glona Lee and Professor Sandra Simpkins)

Latinx Students' Success in STEM

• Black and Latinx adolescents’ STEM motivational beliefs: A systematic review of the literature on parent STEM support. Educational Psychology Review (by Postdoctoral Scholar Christine Starr, Postdoctoral Research Fellow Nestor Tulagan and Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Latinx adolescents’ school-related science conversations with family members: Associations with adolescents’ science expectancy-value beliefs in high school. Applied Developmental Science (by Postdoctoral Research Fellow Nestor Tulagan and Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• The patterns of adolescents’ math and science motivational beliefs: Examining within-racial/ethnic group changes and relations to STEM outcomes. AERA Open (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)

Math Engagement and Success

• Promoting adolescents’ math motivational beliefs through competence support: Culturally responsive practices in an afterschool program context. Contemporary Educational Psychology (by Doctoral Student Glona Lee and Professor Sandra Simpkins)

Social Justice

• Kindness towards all: Prosocial behaviors to address U.S. Latinx youth social inequities. Advances in Child Development and Behavior (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)

Engagements and Activities

Cultural Resilience

• A rose is not a rose: Prosocial development across cultures. Invited Talk to Moral Development Workshop, UCI, Irvine, CA. (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)
• Challenges and best practices in cultivating culturally responsive programs [Invited 60-minute workshop]. The Children, Youth and Families At-Risk (CYFAR) Annual National Professional Development Meeting, Chicago, IL, United States (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)

• Cultivating culturally responsive activities: Centering diversity in high-quality extended education opportunities [Invited keynote address]. World Educational Research Association Biennial Conference, Bern, Switzerland (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Cultivating culturally responsive programs: Motivating examples and cautionary accounts [Invited keynote address]. The Children, Youth and Families At-Risk (CYFAR) Annual National Professional Development Meeting, Chicago, IL, United States (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• ​Cultural mechanisms and socioemotional development in diverse youth. Invited Talk to International Research on Emotions Conference, USC, Los Angeles, CA. (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)

Equity in Education

• A STEM Women of Color Affinity Space: Sustaining Social Justice Identity Development and Actionable Visions, research based on the Woke WOCE space. American Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Chicago, Il, United States (by Doctoral Student Socorro Cambero, UCI CalTeach Teacher Network Facilitator Naehee Kwun and Director of UCI CalTeach Doron Zinger)
• Institute of Education Sciences Blog (October 2022)  (by Professor Young-Suk Kim)
• Journal of Latinos and Education (lead editor) (by Dean and Professor Frances Contreras)​
• Keynote speaker, "Becoming Latinx Conscious & Responsive," Counseling Latin@s for Equity & Engagement at Orange Coast College (CLEEO) Summit, October 11, 2022 (by Dean and Professor Frances Contreras)
• The School of Education hosted the systemwide UC Chicano/Latino Advisory Council at UCI on August 30 – September 1, 2022. The Council provides input to UC leadership on approaches to address the lack of representation of Chicanos/Latinos in senior faculty and administrative positions, and it recommends strategies for improving Chicano/Latino student success along the educational pipeline. 
• Woke WOCE (Women of Color Educators): For the second year in a row, Doctoral Student Socorro Cambero and UCI CalTeach Teacher Network Facilitator Naehee Kwun hosted an affinity space for women of color educators.

Ethnic Studies

• Ethnic Studies Symposium (hosted by the Master of Arts in Teaching + Credential and UCI CalTeach teacher credentialing programs, and the UCI History Project
• The patterns of change in math motivation across high school by race/ethnicity: The role of teachers and parents [Paper presentation]. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, United States (by Doctoral Student Glona Lee and Professor Sandra Simpkins)

Familial Influence and Relationships

• Creating parent-informed resources to address educational challenges. University Community Links, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States (by Postdoctoral Research Fellow Nestor Tulagan and Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Does parent support buffer Latinx and Black adolescents’ math motivational beliefs when they perceive teacher unfairness [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Chicago, Il, United States (by Doctoral Student Glona Lee and Professor Sandra Simpkins)
  
• Examining the relations between perceived parental outreach and satisfaction and Latinx parents’ support in organized activities [Poster presentation]. Society for Research on Adolescence, New Orleans, LA, United States (by Doctoral Student Fuko Kiyama and Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• The family as a cultural asset for ethnic/racial minority youth: Studies on Latinx families. Invited keynote talk to the California Training Institute (CalTrin), San Diego, CA. (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)

Latinx Community and Engagement

• Keynote speaker, La Bienvenida, the largest welcome event for the Latinx community at UCI, hosted by the UCI Latinx Resource Center, September 23, 2022 (by Dean and Professor Frances Contreras)​​​
• Panelist, Hispanic Heritage Month colloquium, hosted by the Orange County Department of Education, Sept. 19, 2022, Recording available online (by Assistant Professor Adriana Villavicencio)
• Speaker, UCSD’s 2nd Annual Latinx Heritage Month Commemoration Event, October 28, 2022 (by Dean and Professor Frances Contreras)​
• ​Theater of Resilience: Engaging UCI and Local Communities in Collaborative Writing and Performance (Video) [by Professor Rossella Santagata (PI); Program Director: Research Associate Joseph Jenkins; Collaborator: Professor Gustavo Carlo]

Latinx Students' Educational Success

• The UCI CalTeach program was nominated for Excelencia in Education 2023 Examples of Excelencia as a program that promoted Latinx student success.

Latinx Students' Motivation and Participation in Afterschool Activites

• Benefits and challenges of adolescents’ participation in organized activities for Mexican-origin families [Paper presentation]. Society for Research on Adolescence, New Orleans, LA, United States (by Doctoral Student Perla Ramos Carranza and Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Co-constructing an inclusive culturally responsive math afterschool program for Latinx Youth [Poster presentation]. University-Community Links Annual International Conference, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)
  
• OC Family Workshops: Simpkins’ research group has focused on community outreach efforts to local Latinx families in Orange County, CA. Her research group has collaborated with local after-school programs to design and facilitate bilingual, interactive workshops, as well as educational videos and booklets, aimed at helping Latinx families support adolescents’ learning (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Organized afterschool activities and ethnic-racial identity development in adolescents: A systematic literature review [Poster presentation]. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, United States (by Doctoral Student Fuko Kiyama, Professor Sandra Simpkins and Chancellor’s Professor Emerita Deborah Lowe Vandell)
  
• ​The promise of organized out-of-school activities in the U.S.: Making activities most effective in a diverse society [Invited keynote address]. Inaugural International Symposia on Adolescent Organized Leisure Conference, Cardiff Met, Cardiff, Wales (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)

Latinx Students' Success in STEM

• A retrospective analysis of family support and science values in high school among Latina undergraduate science students [Poster presentation]. American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA, United States (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Examining associations between parent support, Latinx adolescent science motivation and STEM job expectations [Paper presentation]. Society for Research on Adolescence, New Orleans, LA, United States (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Latino/a adolescents’ math and science motivation: How families and diversity promote excellence [Invited talk]. American Psychological Association Annual Conference, Washington D.C., United States (by Professor Sandra Simpkins in Assistant Professor Andres Bustamante’s (Chair) Bringing psychology to streets and communities)
  
• Latinx family support in science and its links to adolescents’ science intrinsic and utility values [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA, United States (by Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Orange County Science and Engineering Fair: UCI CalTeach students were matched with middle and high school students at targeted schools in districts with a high Latinx populations to support their science and engineering projects.
• UCI CalTeach hosted its first Showcase. Mentor teachers and student teachers presented on various topics, such as a STEM night poster, which includes a blueprint for a successful case of how one science teacher serving a large population of Latine students hailing from a low-income community bridged the science classroom to careers in STEM through sustained partnerships with OC STEM communities.
• ​What kinds of social support relate to persisting and developing an interest in STEM among potential first and continuing generation high school students? [Symposium paper]. In C. Starr (Chair), Promoting Possibilities for First-Gen students: Capitalizing on First Generation Students’ Strengths to Promote Academic and STEM Motivation. Society for Research on Adolescence, New Orleans, LA, United States. (by Postdoctoral Scholar Christine R. Starr, Doctoral Student Perla Ramos Carranza and Professor Sandra Simpkins)

Math Engagement and Success

• Adolescents’ math ability gender stereotypes and motivational beliefs: Testing for replication across two datasets. In S. Zhao & P. Setoh (Chairs), New perspectives on the STEM gender disparities: Children’s interlocking beliefs about fields and social groups [Paper presentation]. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, United States (by Postdoctoral Scholar Christine Starr, Doctoral Student Glona Lee, Associate Project Scientist Nayssan Safavian, Postdoctoral Scholar Charlott Rubach, Associate Project Scientist Anna-Lena Dicke, Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne Eccles and Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Associations between adolescents’ math self-concepts and parents’ support self-efficacy: Process differences across race/ethnicity and gender [Flash talk presentation]. Society for Research on Adolescence Annual Conference San Diego, CA, United States (by Postdoctoral Research Fellow Nestor Tulagan, Postdoctoral Scholar Christine Starr, Professor Sandra Simpkins and Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne Eccles)​
• “I want to show him not to give up”: Latinx parents’ math supports for adolescents’ math challenges [Symposium paper]. In M. Ell (Chair), The Many Facets of Parent-Adolescent Socialization: Topics in Emotion, Academics, Gender, and Race. Society for Research on Adolescence, New Orleans, LA, United States (by Postdoctoral Research Fellow Nestor Tulagan and Professor Sandra Simpkins)
• Math competence-related beliefs in high school: A replication of ethnic/racial differences within gender groups [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Chicago, Il, United States (by Postdoctoral Scholar Charlott Rubach, Associate Project Scientist Nayssan Safavian, Doctoral Student Glona Lee, Associate Project Scientist Anna-Lena Dicke, Postdoctoral Scholar Christine Starr, Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne Eccles and Professor Sandra Simpkins)
  
• Parent gender stereotypes about math predict girls’, but not boys’, math motivational beliefs: Findings from four U.S. datasets [Poster presentation]. Gender & STEM Network, München, Germany (by Postdoctoral Scholar Christine R. Starr, Associate Project Scientist Anna-Lena Dicke, Postdoctoral Scholar Charlott Rubach, Doctoral Student Glona Lee, Associate Project Scientist Nayssan Safavian, Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne Eccles and Professor Sandra Simpkins)

Social Behavior and Development

• Cultural socialization of prosocial behaviors in U.S. Latino/a youth. Invited talk to Department of Psychological Science, UCI, Irvine, CA. (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)
• Prosocial behaviors as a marker of health and enhancer of well being. The importance for health professionals. Invited talk to University of Granada, Ceuta, Spain. (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)
• Prosocial development in contexts of risk and vulnerability. Invited talk to University of Granada, Granada, Spain. (by Professor Gustavo Carlo)