This compelling look at the relationship between the majority of African American students and their teachers provides answers and solutions to the hard-hitting questions facing education in today's black and mixed-race communities. Are teachers prepared by their college education departments to teach African American children? Are schools designed for middle-class children and, if so, what are the implications for the 50 percent of African Americans who live below the poverty line? Is the major issue between teachers and students class or racial difference? Why do some of the lowest test scores come from classrooms where black educators are teaching black students? How can parents negotiate with schools to prevent having their children placed in special education programs? Also included are teaching techniques and a list of exemplary schools that are successfully educating African Americans.

John Ogbu has studied minority education from a comparative perspective for over 30 years. The study reported in this book--jointly sponsored by the community and the school district in Shaker Heights, Ohio--focuses on the academic performance of Black American students. Not only do these students perform less well than White students at every social class level, but also less well than immigrant minority students, including Black immigrant students. Furthermore, both middle-class Black students in suburban school districts, as well as poor Black students in inner-city schools are not doing well. Ogbu's analysis draws on data from observations, formal and informal interviews, and statistical and other data. He offers strong empirical evidence to support the cross-class existence of the problem. The book is organized in four parts: *Part I provides a description of the twin problems the study addresses--the gap between Black and White students in school performance and the low academic engagement of Black students; a review of conventional explanations; an alternative perspective; and the framework for the study. *Part II is an analysis of societal and school factors contributing to the problem, including race relations, Pygmalion or internalized White beliefs and expectations, levelling or tracking, the roles of teachers, counselors, and discipline. *Community factors--the focus of this study--are discussed in Part III. These include the educational impact of opportunity structure, collective identity, cultural and language or dialect frame of reference in schooling, peer pressures, and the role of the family. This research focus does not mean exonerating the system and blaming minorities, nor does it mean neglecting school and society factors. Rather, Ogbu argues, the role of community forces should be incorporated into the discussion of the academic achievement gap by researchers, theoreticians, policymakers, educators, and minorities themselves who genuinely want to improve the academic achievement of African American children and other minorities. *In Part IV, Ogbu presents a summary of the study's findings on community forces and offers recommendations--some of which are for the school system and some for the Black community. Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement is an important book for a wide range of researchers, professionals, and students, particularly in the areas of Black education, minority education, comparative and international education, sociology of education, educational anthropology, educational policy, teacher education, and applied anthropology.

An in-depth ethnography of Black engineering students at a historically White institution, Black Campus Life examines the intersection of two crises, up close: the limited number of college graduates in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, and the state of race relations in higher education. Antar Tichavakunda takes readers across campus, from study groups to parties and beyond as these students work hard, have fun, skip class, fundraise, and, at times, find themselves in tense racialized encounters. By consistently centering their perspectives and demonstrating how different campus communities, or social worlds, shape their experiences, Tichavakunda challenges assumptions about not only Black STEM majors but also Black students and the “racial climate” on college campuses more generally. Most fundamentally, Black Campus Life argues that Black collegians are more than the racism they endure. By studying and appreciating the everyday richness and complexity of their experiences, we all—faculty, administrators, parents, policymakers, and the broader public—might learn how to better support them. This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem)—a collaboration of the Association of American Universities, the Association of University Presses, and the Association of Research Libraries. Learn more at the TOME website, available at: openmonographs.org, and access the book online through the SUNY Open Access Repository at http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12648/7009

Can White teachers teach Black Students? This is the provocative and pointed inquiry that drives the creation of White Teachers, Black Students. The twin purpose of this book is how can White teachers consistently teach and reach Black students? Hines starts the book by framing these inquiries within the historical context of race, whiteness, and white people. He then carefully draws a line from this context to the modern day white framing of White teachers’ actions towards African American students. White teachers are challenged to disrupt this teaching identity for a more developed and diverse worldview regarding race. From there, Hines presents a framework for translating White racial awareness into the ultimate White racial actualization-an affirmation of the ability to facilitate Black student achievement.

Ideal for classroom use, this companion to the teachers' textbook of the same name is geared toward African American students who have difficulty with math. The culturally relevant word problems aim to raise the racial achievement gap in mathematics by instilling confidence in struggling black students and to teach math in a less sterile, theoretical way. By invoking critical thinking skills, the workbook presents an essential understanding to basic math functions that can revolutionize a child's ability to progress through upper grades.

When traditionally white public schools in the South became sites of massive resistance in the wake of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, numerous white students exited the public system altogether, with parents choosing homeschooling or private segregationist academies. But some historically white elite private schools opted to desegregate. The black students that attended these schools courageously navigated institutional and interpersonal racism but ultimately emerged as upwardly mobile leaders. Transforming the Elite tells this story. Focusing on the experiences of the first black students to desegregate Atlanta's well-known The Westminster Schools and national efforts to diversify private schools, Michelle A. Purdy combines social history with policy analysis in a dynamic narrative that expertly re-creates this overlooked history. Through gripping oral histories and rich archival research, this book showcases educational changes for black southerners during the civil rights movement including the political tensions confronted, struggles faced, and school cultures transformed during private school desegregation. This history foreshadows contemporary complexities at the heart of the black community's mixed feelings about charter schools, school choice, and education reform.

Research findings by the National Commission on Excellence, the Children's Defense Fund, and the College Board, among others, suggest that much work remains to be done to upgrade the educational experience and performance of the fastest growing segment of the American school population, blacks and other minorities. This country's survival and strength will ultimately depend on the quality of education given to this important group that has been systematically and effectively excluded from the benefits of educational opportunity. Without these benefits, blacks and other minorities will never achieve economic independence, and the self-perpetuating cycle of poor school achievement, poverty, and teen parenthood will grind on relentlessly. This important study addresses the many facets of this complex problem by explicating its many roots, assessing strengths and weaknesses inherent in the present system, and proposing strategies for dynamic changes. Chapter 1 reviews various societal prescriptions regarding education and descriptive practices harmful to black students and uncovers a hidden curriculum. The focus of Chapter 2 is on cultural synchronization in style, language, and cognition and on how disappearing black educators increase the lack of synchronization. Chapters 3 and 4 detail the effects of teacher expectations in various contexts including grade level, subject, and time of year, and present a thorough research study of teacher-student interactions. The last two chapters outline strategies for change and implications for training and staff development exploring Afro-centric responses, parent involvement, relevant research findings, and various staff development competencies for policy development and prejudice reduction. The detailed introductory essay, the seven tables and five figures, and an appendix that provides supplemental information describing the research study methodology in Chapter 4 complete this valuable volume. Scholars and students of Afro-American and African Studies, as well as educational administrators and practitioners will find this work both timely and provocative.