Young, Gifted and Black: Promoting High Achievement among African-American Students

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The authors argue that understanding how children experience the struggle of being black in America is essential to improving how schools serve them. Taking on liberals and conservatives alike, Theresa Perry argues that all kinds of contemporary school settings systematically undermine achievement for black students. Claude Steele offers psychological evidence and research on the issue of stereotyping, and Asa Hilliard describes actual schools where African-American students achieve at high levels.

Reviews

Perry, Steele, and Hilliard . . . challenge the terms of the current conversation that denies Black students' gifts and they offer models for achieving excellence despite the burdens of racist stigma and stereotype . . . [An] important and powerful book . . . Offers a forceful antidote to the victim-blaming that pervades most policy discussions on Black achievement. --Charles Lawrence, Boston Review

"Forget what you think you know about the achievement gap between white and black students. In Young, Gifted and Black, three professors lay out the research that shows what you 'know' is probably wrong." --American School Board Journal

"I am awed by the lucidity and careful crafting of these essays. The authors-all scholars of impeccable credentials in their respective fields-capture with unprecedented cogency the real issues surrounding the so-called 'achievement gap.' No one who reads this book can ever suggest that we don't know what to do to promote high achievement for African-American students. The question is, do we really want to do so." --Lisa Delpit, Florida International University, author of Other People's Children

"While the authors of the three essays in this thought-provoking volume disagree on many things, all agree that we must have a 'better understanding of what it is we are asking African-American youth to do when we ask them to commit themselves, over time, to academic achievement . . .' The solutions offered by each essay are creative, inspirational, and good old common sense." --Los Angeles Times

"In a remarkable essay, . . . Steele takes [a] very common coming-of-age experience and turns it into a hopeful solution . . . In just 22 pages, [Steele] proposes several solutions, as do the other contributors." --Jay Matthews, Washington Post

"These three very different essays go a long way toward raising the level of the national discussion about 'achievement gaps.'" --Charles Payne, Duke University

Author Bio

Theresa Perryis Professor of Africana Studies and Education at Simmons College. She is co-author ofYoung, Gifted and Black, and co-editor ofThe Real Ebonics Debate, among other books. She is faculty director of the Simmons College/Beacon Press Race, Education and Democracy Lecture and Book Series. Claude M. Steele, formerly of Stanford University, is the provost and professor of psychology at Columbia University. Asa Hilliard III(1933-2007) was the Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Urban Education at Georgia State University.