In this book, the editors argue that while access to schools that enable and expect academic achievement is a necessary ingredient for the education of students, schools alone may not be sufficient to ensure universally high levels of academic development. Supplemental educational experiences may also be needed. The idea of supplementary education is based on the assumption that high academic achievement is closely associated with exposure to family and community-based activities and learning experiences that occur both in and out of school in support of academic learning. For low income and some ethnic minority student groups, opportunities to participate in such activities are generally under-resourced and underutilized in comparison to the access to and participation in such activities by many European- and Asian- Americans from mid to high socio-economic backgrounds. This book makes the case for supplementary education. Specifically, it focuses on the need for universal access to high levels of academic achievement, and the challenge of reducing the "achievement gap" that exists between Asian American and European American students and their African American, Latina/o, and Native American counterparts. Having posed the problem, the editors define the construct and provide in-depth descriptions of some of the more colloquial expressions of supplementation in after school care, youth development, and other forms of supplemental education. The editors close with a discussion of the emerging institutionalization and need for more thoughtful and rigorous research of the supplementary education movement. This book is organized into the following three parts. Part I, Conceptual Foundations for Supplementary Education, and chapters: (1) Universal Access to Academic Excellence (Donald M. Stewart; (2) The Challenge, Context, and Preconditions of Academic Development at High Levels (Edmund W. Gordon, Beatrice L. Bridglall); (3) Supplementation and Supplantation as Alternative Education Strategies (Edmund W. Gordon, Aundra Saa Meroe); (4) Supplementary Education, the Negotiation of Sociocultural Marginality, and the Uses of Reflexivity (Aundra Saa Meroe); (5) Academic Politicalization: Supplementary Education from Black Resistance (Edmund T. Gordon); (6) Family Environments in Support of Academic Achievement (Richard M. Wolf); and (7) The Impact of Extracurricular Activities on Standardized Test Scores (Howard T. Everson, Roger Millsap). Part II, Varieties of Supplementation Programs, and the next chapters: (8) A Taxonomy of Supplementary Education Programs (Beatrice L. Bridglall, Alan Green, and Brenda Mejia); (9) Varieties of Supplementary Education Interventions (Beatrice L. Bridglall); (10) Families as Contractual Partners in Education (Hank M. Levin, Clive R. Belfield); (11) Parents as Advocates for Education (Patti Smith); and (12) Community Support for Supplementary Education (Maitrayee Bhattacharyya). The final part: Part III, The Idea of Supplementary Education, and the closing chapters: (13) The Institutionalization of Supplementary Education (Beatrice L. Bridglall, Edmund W. Gordon); (14) Conceptual and Practical Issues in Evaluating Supplementary Education Programs (Edmund W. Gordon, Beatrice L. Bridglall) and (15) The Idea of Supplementary Education (Edmund W. Gordon).