Research Findings: This study utilized a large sample ("N" = 750) of 2-parent families from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort to examine the contributions of African American fathers' home literacy involvement, play activities, and caregiving at 24 months to children's reading and math achievement in…

Sub-cultural groups that depend on a historical account to validate their thoughts and practices may need to revise and repair those accounts as changing circumstances present new issues affecting them. The year 2013 gave us three movies that dealt with racism, mobility, and political action: Lee Daniels' "The Butler," "12…

There is a long history indicating that during times of reform, the interests and needs of Black children are in many ways dismissed. This history culminated in 1990's to what is described today as the "Math Wars." The underlying narrative focuses on America's national security, technological interests, social efficiency, and…

In this article, Django Paris and H. Samy Alim use the emergence of Paris's concept of culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) as the foundation for a respectful and productive critique of previous formulations of asset pedagogies. Paying particular attention to asset pedagogy's failures to remain dynamic and critical in a constantly…

The possibility is examined that school choice programs could be a means to reducing the achievement gap. Data based on meta-analytic research and the examination of nationwide data sets suggest that school choice programs that include private schools could reduce the achievement gap by 25%. The propounding of this possibility is based on research…

This study examines the ways single Black mothers contribute to the educational success of their 11th-grade sons, despite the fact that their sons are enrolled in "failing schools." Data from five interviews and one focus group reveal common characteristics of how single-Black mothers help their sons beat the odds.

The author argues that the documentary, "Waiting for Superman," effectively employs bodies and texts in ways that reproduce hegemonic constructions of race, and more specifically, offers an image and imagination of black engagement in education that reinforces neoliberal-multicultural narratives about black disinterest in, and…

Research in cognitive science and neuroscience has made enormous progress toward understanding skilled reading, the acquisition of reading skill, the brain bases of reading, the causes of developmental reading impairments and how such impairments can be treated. My question is: if the science is so good, why do so many people read so poorly? I…

In 1996, Cardinal John J. O'Connor, archbishop of New York, proposed to Rudy Crew, chancellor of the New York City public school system, that the city's most troubled public-school students be sent to Catholic schools, where he would see that they were given an education. New York City's mayor at that time, Rudolph Giuliani, a…

In 1940 Atlanta, the color line between black and white citizens was clearly drawn. This color line not only kept blacks and whites apart physically, but it also prevented blacks from attaining educational opportunities, economic equality, healthcare services, and many other public amenities readily available to white citizens. Most people, black…

Booker T. Washington, a founding father of African American education in the United States, has long been studied, revered, and reviled by scholars and students. Born into slavery, freed and raised in the Reconstruction South, and active in educational reform through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Washington sought to use…

"African American Students in Urban Schools" offers readers a critical yet comprehensive examination of the issues affecting African American students' outcomes in urban school systems and beyond. Across disciplines including teacher education, school counseling, school psychology, gifted education, career and technical education, higher…

Yes We Can: Improving Urban Schools through Innovative Educational Reform is a empirically-based book on urban education reform to not only proclaim that hope is alive for urban schools, but to also produce a body of literature that examines current practices and then offer practical implications for all involved in this arduous task. This book is…

An all-too-popular explanation for why black students aren't doing better in school is their own use of the "acting white" slur to ridicule fellow blacks for taking advanced classes, doing schoolwork, and striving to earn high grades. Carefully reconsidering how and why black students have come to equate school success with whiteness, "Integration…

The following is a discussion on student level of academic achievement, specifically that of African American learners. The misdiagnosis of Black students having learning disabilities and other disabilities will be examined, and the factors as to why this misdiagnosis occurs so often. Research will be provided as evidence to support this claim, as…