The Transformative Power of a Classic Novel
Chinua Achebe's most famous novel, Things Fall Apart, a trenchant exploration of colonialism and culture, has long been staple of of high school and college reading lists. Read Full Post >
Recently in Racial Issues Category
March 28, 2013
October 01, 2012
Is Jonathan Kozol Too Gloomy?
Jonathan Kozol, at age 76, has new book out entitled Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America. In it, he looks yet again—reportedly in career-summation mode—at the devastating consequences of America's failure to provide equitable educational opportunities in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Read Full Post >
June 15, 2012
Study: Black Students Don't Achieve More With Black Teachers
The University of Houston has brought attention to a study that found there is no significant relationship between the academic achievement of African-American students and the percentage of African-American teachers in a particular school. Read Full Post >
May 10, 2012
Study: Teachers Judge Work by Minority Students Less Critically
A new study published in the Journal of Educational Psychology finds that teachers may be less inclined to respond critically to work by minority students, thus creating a "positive feedback bias" that may contribute to racial achievement gaps. The study, covered in The Atlantic and The Huffington... Read Full Post >
May 03, 2012
Recognizing Differences Between Black and Hispanic Students
Richard Whitmire, author of Why Boys Fail and one of our former opinion bloggers, writes in a USA Today column that "we need to stop lumping blacks and Hispanics together" when talking about ways to improve educational outcomes for minority students. By many measures, urban school districts are ma... Read Full Post >
April 10, 2012
Delpit vs. Charter Schools (or Maybe Not)
Monday night, I had the chance to see Lisa Delpit, author of our upcoming Teacher Book Club selection, "Multiplication Is for White People:" Raising Expectations for Other People's Children, speak at a restaurant/performance space in Washington. The event, hosted by the nonprofit Teaching for Change... Read Full Post >
April 09, 2012
Trayvon Martin Case Presents Opportunities, Risks for Teachers
In an Education Week Commentary, educators Jeffrey P. Carpenter and Scott Weathers argue that the Trayvon Martin case, in which a 17-year-old African-American youth was killed by a neighborhood-watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla., is an imperative teachable moment. Read Full Post >
January 11, 2012
When Cross-Curricular Lessons Go Wrong ... Really Wrong
A Georgia elementary school has gotten a flurry of unflattering media attention over the last week, since 3rd graders took home a math assignment with questions about slave beatings and cotton-picking. The worksheet, created by a 3rd grade teacher at the school, went home with four different class... Read Full Post >
January 04, 2012
A Payne-ful Discussion
On his blog Borderland, teacher Doug Noon laments the reading assignment he was given over the winter break—Ruby Payne's Framework for Understanding Poverty. He writes: This is to prepare us for the indoctrination session [part of his school's improvement plan] to follow upon our return from o... Read Full Post >
December 20, 2011
The 'Queen Bee' of Kindergarten Admissions
Surely this tells us something significant about the current education climate (among other things): It seems that the most powerful person in New York City right now might just be one Elisabeth Krents, the 61-year-old admissions director of the Dalton School on the Upper East Side. It is she, as a ... Read Full Post >
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