[4] Graham has a major research interests in academic motivation and social development in children of color, particularly in school contexts that vary in racial and ethnic diversity.
[3] Her research has covered student ethnic diversity in K–12 education.
[6] Giving her opinion on L.A Unified's daily random weapons searches of high school students, Graham said there was little research on the effects of these searches, but “schools [begin] to look more like prisons where there’s a lot of surveillance.
…This can lead for kids to greater negative perceptions of the school climate.”[7] In the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Graham appeared to endorse the position that exposure to violent video games increases the likelihood of aggression.
[8] Among her many honors and awards, she was elected in 2015 to the National Academy of Education and received the 2014 E. L. Thorndike Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Educational Psychology from the American Psychological Association.