Early childhood Jewish education provides an opportune moment to teach about race and Black-Jewish relations as young children grapple with concepts like justice. This article argues that picture books containing interactions between Black and Jewish characters or a Black Jewish character are a powerful pedagogical tool for this purpose. We…

Systemic barriers often prevent young Black boys from full development of their potential, including in the area of literacy. This systematic literature review seeks to better understand the landscape of literacy development of Black boys in kindergarten, first, and second grades by answering the question: What does previous literature indicate…

There has been longstanding criticism of the whiteness of the professional discourses in teaching. Bariso (Race Ethn Educ 4(2):167-184, 2001) writes that where whiteness is constructed as being professional then blackness is constructed as unprofessional, in turn excluding blackness from the construction of the teacher. Similarly, Bhopal (Br J…

The authors reviewed the literature regarding linguistic variations seen in American Sign Language. These variations are influenced by region and culture. Features of spoken languages have also influenced sign languages as they intersected, e.g., Black ASL has been influenced by African American English. A literature review was conducted to…

Background: Teacher education programs at Minority Serving Institutions--which include Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Native American and Tribal Colleges, Asian American and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions, and Hispanic Serving Institutions--are an under-researched resource. Purpose: Our aim is to provide a foundation and set…

Does the music idiom commonly known as rap music have educational merit? With its harshest critics lambasting it with connotations that equate it with stupidity, gun culture, jail culture, or non-intellectual culture, could there be a pedagogical link after all? Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, Associate Professor of English Education and Anthropology at…

The purpose of this monograph is to provide classroom teachers, librarians, and teacher educators in the field of children's literature with information that will enable them to make better informed selections of recent literature for and about Afro-Americans. The first chapter of the work places contemporary realistic fiction about Afro-Americans…

Renewed interest in the connection between black English and reading difficulty warrants a summary of the groundwork laid in the 1960s and 1970s. Linguists have established the fact that black English is a legitimate language, that its speakers are not language deficient, and that the basic difference in black and standard English pertains to…

This paper is a critical review of Eleanor Orr's theory that African American students have difficulty with mathematical and scientific concepts because they speak Black English. Orr's data are criticized on many levels. For instance, her facts are derived from a limited subject pool and she has failed to take into account other possible reasons…

Reviews studies relating to reading instruction for Black children. Points out several problems in methodology found in the studies. (FL)

Examines home and church learning of indigenous Ethiopians, the Amara Welloye, and the richness of this indigenous education as a foundation in building an effective educational system for present-day Africans. Indigenous learning is vital to transmission of values that Africans consider essential in understanding and experiencing life's fullness.…

An overview of Black dialects, with suggestions for teaching students who speak in Black dialects. (RL)

The papers in this collection provide a brief state-of-the-art statement on the role of non-standard dialects of English in education and on some implications of the Ann Arbor decision. The following papers are included: (1) "Vernacular Black English: Setting the Issues in Time," by Roger W. Shuy; (2) "Beyond Black English:…

This study used participant observation, student interviews, reflective journals, and discussions with faculty members and administrators to examine multicultural aspects at an historically black college. It reviews three theoretical approaches: (1) the theory of John Ogbu, which classifies minority groups in the United States as either voluntary…

Describes instruction that has proven effective in teaching Black children to read. (MKM)