In this essay, Susan Engel argues that curiosity is both intrinsic to children's development and unfolds through social interactions. Thus, it should be cultivated in schools, even though it is often almost completely absent from classrooms. Calling on well-established research and more recent studies, Engel argues that interactions between…

In this essay, Hana Kawai and Emily Taylor provide a case study of one teacher's classroom that examines issues of student conflict, gender dynamics, and the importance of reflective discussion to address oppressive social structures. Through reflections and observations that focus on the intersection of gender and race, they urge teachers to…

This article is an experiment in writing about and across differences; it seeks to open up dialogue between adults and young people in childhood and youth studies research. The coauthors, Sofia and Wendy, met through Wendy's longitudinal research project, which explores the roles that gender, race, and immigrant status play in how young people…

In this article, Barbara Seidl and Stephen Hancock introduce the concept of a double image, which they argue is central to the development of a mature, antiracist identity for White people. Similar in some ways to Dubois's (1903) concept of "double consciousness," a double image is a sensibility or consciousness that gives White people a deeper…

Reading is critical to students' success in and out of school. One potential means for improving students' reading is writing. In this meta-analysis of true and quasi-experiments, Graham and Herbert present evidence that writing about material read improves students' comprehension of it; that teaching students how to write improves their reading…

In this "Voices Inside Schools" essay, Vivian Gussin Paley brings us into Derek's kindergarten classroom using her characteristic style of listening and recounting from the child's perspective. With delicacy and insight, she reveals the small but significant moments that occur alongside the planned curriculum to illustrate how children author…

Signithia Fordham challenges the notion that we are living in a "postracial" society where race is no longer a major social category, as indicated by the rising incidence of interracial relationships and the popularity of biracial identities. On the contrary, she contends, a powerful fusion of historical memory and inclusive kinship compels…

In this article, Carmen Kynard provides a window into a present-day "hush harbor," a site where a group of black women build generative virtual spaces for counterstories that fight institutional racism. Hidden in plain view, these intentional communities have historically allowed African American participants to share and create knowledge and find…

In this commentary, anthropologist Iris Carter Ford reflects on the preceding pieces by Carmen Kynard and Signithia Fordham. She identifies parallels among the two essays and her own life, drawing out themes that emerge from the narratives. Integrating ideas about "talking black" and "talking back," Ford notes that both phenomena have roots in…

In January of 2010, "Harvard Educational Review" editor Chantal Francois sat down at a Manhattan diner with three young black women, two of whom were her former students at a New York City high school. Chantal invited the women to come together and share their experiences as freshmen at predominantly white institutions along the East Coast. While…

In this powerful essay, Juan F. Carrillo, a teacher educator in Austin, Texas, reflects on an encounter with a first-year Latina teacher, Christina, who has decided to leave the profession. Despite successfully learning and applying critical pedagogy, Christina finds herself isolated and frustrated, stuck between a societal push for standardized…

For over a decade, battles have raged between conservative Abstinence Only Until Marriage (AOUM) sexuality education advocates and liberal Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) advocates. While these battles have focused on the inclusion of health information about contraception and whether or not a curriculum must advocate abstinence as the…

In 2003, the "Harvard Educational Review" published a controversial article by Roy Freedle that claimed bias against African American students in the SAT college admissions test. Freedle's work stimulated national media attention and faced an onslaught of criticism from experts at the Educational Testing Service (ETS), the agency responsible for…

Drawing from extensive oral history interviews with five Chicana women, Malagon and Alvarez (re)conceptualize the way educational scholarship defines "high achieving." As attendees of California continuation high schools, all five women defy societal expectations by moving from these alternative educational spaces to community colleges, then…

As in other Latin American and Caribbean nations, young women in Belize have made remarkable strides in enrollment in and completion of secondary schooling. In fact, adolescent girls did so well during the 1990s that the usual explanations of increased access to schooling and governmental policy aimed at increasing girls' education did not appear…