Invite students of varying reading levels in grades 3–5 to enjoy 40 high-interest biographies using African American Achievers. Each text is presented at two reading levels, and each version of the text includes a set of comprehension questions and a bonu
This is the second book in the series examining student achievement. The chapters in this book reflect the scholarly papers presented at the July 2006 Education Policy, Leadership Summer Institute (EPLSI) by K–16 educators, researchers, community advocates, and policymakers who work in urban communities. The Institute serves as a place where individuals interested in scholarly discussions and research directly related to: (1) how data can be utilized to inform policy; (2) examining the urban school context from the perspectives of the polity, school leaders; students; and other related internal and external actors; and (3) identifying strategies for improving student academic achievement can gather. During this week-long Institute, participants examined the structural problems and policy tensions affecting urban communities and student achievement. The Institute’s theme, Meeting the Challenges of Urban Schools is reflected throughout this book. Specifically, this edition explores the interrelated aspects of policy, practice and research and how they affect academic achievement. The five sections in this book examine different challenges facing urban schools and their impact on student performance.
This monumental collection presents the first-ever sociological analysis of the No Child Left Behind Act and its effects on children, teachers, parents, and schools. More importantly, these leading sociologists consider whether NLCB can or will accomplish its major goal: to eliminate the achievement gap by 2014. Based on theoretical and empirical research, the essays examine the history of federal educational policy and place NCLB in a larger sociological and historical context. Taking up a number of policy areas affected by the law—including accountability and assessment, curriculum and instruction, teacher quality, parental involvement, school choice and urban education—this book examines the effects of NCLB on different groups of students and schools and the ways in which school organization and structure affect achievement. No Child Left Behind concludes with a discussion of the important contributions of sociological research and sociological analysis integral to understanding the limits and possibilities of the law to reduce the achievement gap.
The achievement gap between white students and African American and Hispanic students has been debated by scholars and lamented by policymakers since it was first documented in 1966. The average black or Hispanic secondary school student currently achieves at about the same level as the average white student in the lowest quartile of white achievement. Black and Hispanic students are much less likely than white students to graduate from high school, acquire a college or advanced degree, or earn a middle-class living. They are also much more likely than whites to suffer social problems that often accompany low income. While educators have gained an understanding of the causes and effects of the education achievement gap, they have been less successful in finding ways to eliminate it—until now. This book provides, for the first time in one place, evidence that the achievement gap can be bridged. A variety of schools and school reforms are boosting the achievement of black and Hispanic students to levels nearing those of whites. Bridging the Achievement Gap brings together the findings of renowned education scholars who show how various states, school districts, and individual schools have lifted the achievement levels of poor and minority students. The most promising strategies include focusing on core academic skills, reducing class size, enrolling students in more challenging courses, administering annual achievement assessment tests, creating schools with a culture of competition and success, and offering vouchers in big-city school districts. While implementing new educational programs on a large scale is fraught with difficulties, these successful reform efforts offer what could be the start of widespread effective solutions for bridging the achievement gap.
'Beginning with a remarkably comprehensive and accessible analysis of the gap's causes, the book offers a refreshingly balanced, evidence-based, state-of-the-art outline of productive solutions that should inform the work of all educational stakeholders' - Ken Leithwood, Professor, OISE/University of Toronto 'No one is better positioned than Joseph Murphy to provide lessons for education leaders on this important topic' - Andrew Porter, George and Diane Weiss Professor of Education , University of Pennsylvania 'For too long, the achievement gap has been proclaimed, discussed, and then dismissed as a subject of despair. Seldom has it been systematically defined, placed in historical perspective, or positively addressed. Through thorough scholarship, comprehensive knowledge, and creativity, this book fills that void' - James W. Guthrie, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Educational Leadership and Public Policy, Vanderbilt University 'While offering no simple pathway to progress, this book reminds us how much more we can do to close achievement gaps' - Michael S. Knapp, Director Center for the Study of Teaching & Policy, University of Washington Distinguished researcher Joseph F. Murphy has gathered and analyzed the most up-to-date research and data to help headteachers understand what the achievement gap is, why it persists, and what teachers can do about it. This comprehensive handbook: - Examines external factors that contribute to achievement gaps, such as socioeconomic status, family environment, racism, and individual differences - Covers internal factors such as instruction, school culture, and school support - Provides strategies for addressing both internal and external factors to make an impact.
Join us in celebrating the 25th anniversary of James A. Banks’ Multicultural Education Series, published by Teachers College Press—a dynamic series consisting of more than 70 published books with many more in the pipeline. This commemorative volume features engaging, incisive, and timely selections from the bestselling and most influential books in the series. Together, these selections address how multicultural education should be transformed for a nation and world that are becoming increasingly complex due to virulent racism, pernicious nationalism, mass migrations, interracial mixing, social-class stratification, and a global pandemic. Book Features: Informative and engaging selections from the most important and influential publications in the Multicultural Education Series. An introduction by James A. Banks that integrates and interrelates the chapters and describes how they can be used to transform multicultural education for a changing world. An afterword by Margaret Smith Crocco that synthesizes the book and describes ways to implement school reform that expands educational opportunity. Contributors: James A. Banks, Cherry A. McGee Banks, Margaret Smith Crocco, Linda Darling-Hammond, Robin DiAngelo, Paul C. Gorski, Tyrone C. Howard, Gary R. Howard, Carol D. Lee, James W. Loewen, Sonia Nieto, Pedro A. Noguera, Özlem Sensoy, Christine E. Sleeter, Esa Syeed, Guadalupe Valdés, Miguel Zavala
Many African American children make use of African American English (AAE) in their everyday lives, and face academic barriers when introduced to Standard American English (SAE) in the classroom. Research has shown that students who can adapt and use SAE for academic purposes demonstrate significantly better test scores than their less adaptable peers. Accordingly, AAE use and its confirmed inverse relationship to reading achievement have been implicated in the Black-White Test Score Gap, thus becoming the focus of intense research and practical interest. This volume discusses dialectal code-switching from AAE to SAE and stresses the benefits and importance of African American students becoming bi-dialectal. It provides background theory and science supporting the most promising educational approach to date, Contrastive Analysis, a set of longstanding methods drawn from Second Language research and used effectively with students ranging from kindergarten through college. It offers a deeper knowledge of AAE use by students, the critical features of Contrastive Analysis, and detailed information about successful applications which teachers can apply in their own pedagogy.
This timely and compelling book conceptualizes Ethnic Studies not only as a vehicle to transform and revitalize the school curriculum but also as a way to reinvent teaching. Drawing on Sleeter’s research review on the impact of Ethnic Studies commissioned by the National Education Association (NEA), the authors show how the traditional curriculum’s Eurocentric view of the world affects diverse student populations. The text highlights several contemporary exemplars of curricula—from classroom level to district or state-wide—illustrating core concepts in Ethnic Studies across a variety of disciplines and grade levels. A final chapter considers how research on P–12 ethnic studies can be conceptualized and conducted in ways that further both advocacy and program sustainability. Transformative Ethnic Studies in Schools is essential reading for educators working to transform schools by rehumanizing learning spaces for all students. Book Features: Explores how the traditional curriculum is not ideologically neutral and the effect that has on both students of color and White students.Situates Ethnic Studies within anti-racist movements to decolonize schooling.Illustrates the transformative potential of contemporary Ethnic Studies projects. Draws on the insights of Ethnic Studies teachers, researchers, and activists from across the United States.Updates and expands on NEA’s synthesis of the research on the academic and social value of Ethnic Studies. “Christine Sleeter and Miguel Zavala pull no punches in their approach to ethnic studies in education. Despite the negative critiques of ethnic studies rooted in White supremacy and the politics of fear, their contribution to critical thought and praxis is necessary and commendable. Like many of our comrades in this struggle, I rejoice in the fact that they remain undeterred and unafraid.” —David Stovall, University of Illinois at Chicago
The interplay between sociopolitical forces and economic agendas becomes apparent when one examines the June 28, 2007 United States Supreme Court Decision, Parents Involved In Community Schools v. Seattle School District . In a reversal of the 1954 Brown Decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled that public schools could not use race as a factor when assigning children to public schools. Given demographic shifts, globalization, economic instability, and ideological shifts, the reversal was expected. However, it is essential that policymakers, educators, and other stakeholders consider the impact of attending segregated schools on the achievement gap that continues to exist between minority groups and European Americans attending resegregated neighborhood schools. This book will focus on the test score gaps between African American and European American students. The achievement gaps between these two groups will be analyzed will be presented and elaborated. Additionally, the authors will analyze how changes in school characteristics such as: racial composition; school composition; school expenditures, and socio economic level of neighborhoods affect achievement gap trends in the Norfolk School District. An examination of the achievement gap trends in an urban school district will serve to better inform public policy and school reform efforts. The specific goals of this book are to describe the achievement gap between minority African-American students and European-American students in the Norfolk school district and to present strategies utilized by urban districts to narrow the gap. One unique feature of this book is that it provides a data-driven research-based analysis of the achievement gap between minority and European-American students.