This article responds to Shelby Gilbert's "A Study of Ogbu and Simon's Thesis." The author begins by saying that he thinks that this study of examining Ogbu and Simons' thesis (to investigate school performance of Black immigrant and non-immigrant students in the United States) makes a thought-provoking contribution to overall discussions regarding John Ogbu's Cultural Ecological Model (CEM), and to methods for further inquiry related to that model. The article itself contains a thorough review of Ogbu's work and some of the related literature that has emerged around it. Most of the article is based on a reworking and interpretation of data gathered from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) of 2006. The intention behind it appears to be to make a critical examination of Ogbu's CEM, in light of PIRLS data on immigrant and non-immigrant Black American students. The author's criticism of the investigation reported centers on its attempt to reduce Ogbu's CEM to something that is quantifiable, rather than conducting an original qualitative study in response to Ogbu, or using the PIRLS data to make broader international comparisons between voluntary and involuntary minority students. The author is also concerned that the study has not sufficiently reflected an awareness of the limitations of the quantitative survey as a method to investigate qualitative questions related to the social construction of meaning; investigations which are, of necessity, descriptive and interpretive in nature.