Theresa Perry

Very intriguing writing from three different authors on how to improve black performance in education. Each essay addresses what the writer thinks is the primary problem to be resolved. If you are an educator, there is a lot of good information to be mined here--particularly from Theresa Perry's essay (which composes 2/3 of the book) on the African-American philosophy of education, and from Claude Steele's essay on stereotype threat. The book can be very dense at points, and, unfortunately, quite uneven. I wouldn't recommend this for recreational reading.… (més)

Written by three prominent black scholars, this series of essays presents three different points of view regarding the achievement gap between black and latino students on the one hand and white and asian students on the other. Points of debate include the history of the gap, the numbers behind it, the fallout in popular culture associated with the achievement gap and ideas on what works. It is an interesting and thought provoking series in which the authors sometimes compliment each other's viewpoints and at other times almost contradict eachother. My only disappointment was that the promised listing of programs that work was more theory than nuts and bolts examples of what works for whom. Still worth keeping.… (més)