The impact of the "No Child Left Behind Act" on the Achievement Level Index (ALI) of three elementary schools in the Mississippi Delta was explored. Achievement variation over five years (2003-2007) was examined through the perceptions of 58 teachers with regard to changes in their schools due to the Act. Using analysis of variance, findings…

African American high school students are performing behind their White classmates regardless of whether they are in majority or minority populations at school. Teacher expectations, among school-related factors that can impact the academic achievement of African American high school students, are the focus of this study. Interviews were conducted…

This article provides a vicarious experience in the classrooms of two teachers who successfully facilitated engagement in urban schools. With practices grounded in culturally responsive classroom management, the teachers created classroom environments in which students were motivated to participate, met high behavioral expectations, and remained…

This article examines how African American scholars during the early twentieth century employed the genre of curriculum writing to challenge existing discourses of race. Drawing from the findings of a qualitative document analysis of textbooks created by Carter G. Woodson and Charles H. Wesley, this article illustrates how these authors used texts…

This study was an examination of how African American faculty discussed their coping with racially stressful classrooms. Despite aims for racial equality in higher education, the classroom has been a significant site of racial stressors for African American facility. Analysis of interviews with 16 (8 women, 8 men) African American faculty at a…

The focus of this work is community-based participatory research (CBPR) and its relationship to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Using published literature, the authors make the argument that HBCUs are well-suited for this approach because of their origin and history, their community ties, and the commitment of faculty and…

Rural educators from several elementary schools in southwest Jamaica completed pre- and post-literacy surveys. Professional training was developed and provided in response to the pre-assessment results. Literacy training combined two essential skills: (a) ongoing assessment of literacy achievement and (b) evidenced-based intervention strategies.…

This study examined the effectiveness of Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction (FORI) on improving reading fluency for an ethnically diverse sample of second-grade students. FORI incorporates the repeated reading of a grade-level text over the course of an academic week. This approach to reading uses scaffolding by expert readers. Results indicate…

The current study examined associations between home-school dissonance and several academic and psychological variables among 80 African American male high school students. Regression analyses revealed that home-school dissonance significantly predicted multiple academic and psychological variables, including amotivation, academic cheating,…

The purpose of this study was to identify the social supports in the lives of African American adolescents that influence resilient academic outcomes. The authors examined 206 African American students to identify the role of parental involvement as a buffer in the relation between low school support and high academic expectations. Results…

This article discusses sexual orientation and gender expression bias as they impact the educational experience of African American students. Sexual orientation and gender expression bias have a unique presentation in Black educational settings. The climate in such settings can be metagrobolized by the combination of distorted notions of Black…

The "United States v. Fordice" was decided in the United States Supreme Court in 1992, and it represents the most recent ruling on desegregation for those states that have historically maintained racially segregated systems of higher education. This study raises the question of what would Mississippi higher education be without public HBCUs? This…

This naturalistic inquiry explored the cultural impact of a historically Black independent boarding school on the social and academic experiences of four of its graduates who attended two traditionally White universities. The study examined two primary questions: (a) What factors from the historically Black boarding school assisted or hindered…

This special issue on "The Role of Spirituality, Religion and the African American Church on Educational Outcomes" is extremely timely. Moreover, the fact that this conversation is taking place in "The Journal of Negro Education" ("JNE") demonstrates once again that the "JNE" has its finger firmly on the pulse of significant educational and…

This article offers an alternative perspective on educational leadership based on the tenets of critical spirituality. It offers an educational leadership grounded in critical theory and African American spirituality. The two coalesce to provide school leaders with a conceptual frame that not only centers on academic achievement but academic…