Nurturing the "good" in students of color requires educators to confront harmful stereotypes. Alexs Pate, author of "The Innocent Classroom," describes how teachers can create safe spaces where all young students can thrive.

"What we believe about young people matters--it informs how we treat them and what they come to believe about themselves," writes Pushout author Monique Morris. Unfortunately, according to recent studies, adults tend to view black girls as less innocent and childlike than their peers. This biased belief can lead to harsher discipline in…

Many Black female educators feel pressure to be super-strong. They neglect self-care, often leading to serious health problems (what one psychologist has termed the StrongBlackWoman cycle). Hughes Jones shares her story of denying work-related stress and breaking down, and suggests ways leaders can create more supportive work environments for…

The research about gender differences and gender inequities in education continues to yield new insights that are relevant to schools, write David Sadker and Melissa Koch. In this article, they discuss four of these insights. (1) Stereotype threat is real, but malleable. For example, research shows that simply reminding females of their gender can…

In order to reach black students academically, we must first know where they "live" socially, culturally, and emotionally, says Horace Hall, a mentor in Chicago Public Schools. In his work with Chicago teens, Hall has learned the importance of understanding the significant challenges these youth face, both within and outside of school,…

The author, a consultant on equity in schools, relates how she helped a high school's leadership team become aware of, and begin to overcome, patterns in their interactions that silenced certain voices and perspectives. Aguilar explores the concept of implicit bias--which was likely behind these leaders' harmful patterns and also contributed to…

Disparate academic outcomes for Black boys persist. Educators should use an equity-centered lens when looking at this reality, asking not what's wrong with Black boys, but what's wrong with schools that they aren't serving these students better. Howard describes obstacles to black boys' school success and argues that educators need to listen to…

Teachers of world literature have the opportunity to help students explore the more complex reality behind the stereotypes that they often see in the media. If we don't encourage students to challenge one-dimensional "single stories" that characterize an entire people--whether Muslims, Russians, Mexicans, African Americans, Chinese,…

ESOL teacher Barbara Gottshalk frequently hears well-intentioned but misinformed comments and questions about English language learners and her teaching field. In this article, she clarifies the misconceptions revealed by 10 common remarks--for example, "The students will never learn English if they don't speak it in their home,"…

Eliot, a neuroscientist who has analyzed gender differences in children's brains, asserts that--contrary to the widely held idea that boys' and girls' brains are hardwired differently--few differences exist in the neural structures and neurochemistry of boys' and girls' brains. Actual ability differences between the genders are quite small as…

For all students, the transition to high school may lead to lower academic achievement and adjustment problems. Black students are at greater risk for academic and social decline during this transition. Holcomb-McCoy identifies four obstacles that make black students more vulnerable as they navigate the transition into high school: stereotyping in…

The natural beauty that surrounds many rural schools hides the troubling realities that students in these schools frequently live in poverty and the schools struggle to give these students the education they need. James A. Bryant believes that one source of the problem is the fact that so many school reforms are designed with urban schools in…

Latinos are, after whites, the most segregated student group in the United States, and their segregation is closely tied to poor academic outcomes. Latinos experience a triple segregation: by race/ethnicity, poverty, and language. Racial segregation perpetuates negative stereotypes, reduces the likelihood of a strong teaching staff, and is often…

Broadening computer science learning to include more students is a crucial item on the United States' education agenda, these authors say. Although policymakers advocate more computer science expertise, computer science offerings in high schools are few--and actually shrinking. In addition, poorly resourced schools with a high percentage of…

Although young children cannot comprehend the wide-ranging laws and attitudes that have discriminated against minorities, they can begin to understand issues of fairness and individual rights through role-playing and other activities designed to engage both hands and minds. (MLH)