Janine Bempechat

Clinical Professor

Janine Bempechat

Dr. Janine Bempechat is a clinical professor at BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. She is a developmental psychologist with a deep interest in the socialization of achievement. She studies family, cultural, and school influences in the development of student motivation and academic achievement in low-income children and youth, both nationally and cross-nationally. A former National Academic of Education Spencer Fellow, her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation.

Dr. Bempechat is the author of Against the Odds: How At Risk Students Exceed Expectations (Jossey-Bass, 1998), and Getting our Kids Back on Track: Educating Children for the Future (Jossey-Bass, 2000).Dr. Bempechat is co-editor, with Margarita Jimenez-Silva, of Latinx experiences in U.S. schools: Voices of students, teachers, teacher educators, and education allies in challenging sociopolitical times. Lexington Books/Roman & Littlefield, 2021) and co-editor, with Helen Haste, of Civic concepts and civic culture: Challenges for American education (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Sense, forthcoming). 

Recent News

Education

EdD, Harvard University

EdM, Harvard University

BA, McGill University

Research

Dr. Bempechat’s current research is focused on cultural models of learning and their influence on the development of adolescents’ learning beliefs. Her most recent work focuses on the impact of parental educational messaging on Chinese American students’ developing achievement-related beliefs and behaviors. In addition, Dr. Bempechat is examining ways in which the contemporary debate about homework is influencing teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs, and district and school policies.

Visit Dr. Bempechat's Faculty Profile

Selected Publications

Jimenez-Silva, M. & Bempechat, J. (Eds.)  (2021). Latinx experiences in U.S. schools: Voices of students, teachers, teacher educators, and education allies in challenging sociopolitical times. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/Roman& Littlefield.

Bempechat, J., Cheung, A., & Li, J. (2021). A qualitative analysis of educational messaging: Case studies of four low-income Chinese American youth. Journal of Ethnographic and Qualitative Research, 15, 173-190.

Haste, H. & Bempechat, J. (2021). The new civics: Signposts for education, research and policy. In H. Haste & J. Bempechat (Eds.). New civics: Challenge and change in civic education. Teachers College Record.

Bempechat, J. (2019). The case for (quality) homework: Why it improves learning, and how parents can help. Education Next, 19(1), 66-73.

Bempechat, J., Ronfard, S., and Li, J. Relations among cultural learning beliefs, self-regulated learning, and academic achievement for low-income Chinese American adolescents. Child Development, 89(3), 851-861.

Selected Presentations

Bempechat, J., Jimenez-Silva, M., & Villegas-Reimers, E. (2021). Preparing teachers to navigate conflict when equity is at stake: Teacher educators’ beliefs about homework-related practices. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association, April, 2021.

Bempechat, J., Dobbs, C.M., Leider, C.M, Villegas-Reimers, E., & Jimenez-Silva, M. (2020). Homework and inequality: Ethical dilemmas for teachers. Paper presented (virtually) at the annual conference of the Association for Moral Education, October 16, 2020.

Villegas-Reimers, E., Bempechat, J., Montecillo Leider, C., & Jimenez-Silva, M. (2019). Latinx’ experiences in U.S. schools: Voices of students, teachers, teacher educators, and education allies in the current socio-political climate. Symposium presented at the annual Harvard Graduate School of Education Alumni of Color Conference (AOCC), Cambridge, MA, February 28-29.

Bempechat, J. Jimenez-Silva, M., Miranda, B., Baca, E., Rodgers, B, & Santa-Ramirez, S. (2018). Preparing teachers to engage with families around homework. Paper presented at the 19th International Network on School, Family, and Community Partnerships (INET), New York, April.

Bempechat, J., Cheung, A., & Li, J. (2017). A Foucauldian discourse analysis of educational messaging in four Chinese American families. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for the Study of Human Development, October, Providence, RI.

Bempechat, J., Jimenez-Silva, M., Li, J., & Holloway, S.D. (2017). "Classes where “Kids learn/don’t learn a lot:” A study of Mexican American adolescents’ voices. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April, San Antonio, TX, 2017.

View all profiles