The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE) and the state's 28 public colleges and universities have collaborated over the last fifteen years to make easier and more transparent the process of transferring from a community college to a bachelor's degree program in one of the state's public colleges or universities. In this report, we…

In the wake of racial violence, teacher educators, literacy scholars, and classroom teachers are looking for ways to teach about in/equities and in/justice. In this article, I position #SayHerName as an entry point for educators and scholars to think about how English education and English language arts classrooms can become spaces to address…

In 1996, Cardinal John J. O'Connor, archbishop of New York, proposed to Rudy Crew, chancellor of the New York City public school system, that the city's most troubled public-school students be sent to Catholic schools, where he would see that they were given an education. New York City's mayor at that time, Rudolph Giuliani, a voucher supporter,…

This study examines the ways single Black mothers contribute to the educational success of their 11th-grade sons, despite the fact that their sons are enrolled in "failing schools." Data from five interviews and one focus group reveal common characteristics of how single-Black mothers help their sons beat the odds.

Research has identified successful transitions from middle to high school as critical for students' academic success. Identifying risks and protective factors associated with challenge or success in the early years of high school is crucial, especially for African American students who are disproportionately represented in the ranks of adolescents…

This study investigates the hypothesis that African American students succeed in difficult circumstances due to a type of coping that is unique to the African American experience. It was tested with a survey of 147 eleventh and twelfth grade students from different ethnic backgrounds who were enrolled in a New York City high school, The survey…

This article is on the strange confluence of culture, identity, learning, and systemic design. We argue that the work of instructional design is, essentially, work on culture and identity. A person's culture and identity fully and inextricably situate their thought, action, and interaction. For this reason, this inherent situatedness of culture…

This case study evaluated the significance of implementing an enrichment mathematics course during the summer to rising African American ninth graders entitled, "Geometry Honors Preview." In the past, 60 to 70 percent of African American students in this school district had withdrawn from Geometry Honors by the second academic quarter. This study…

This study documents the effects of an action research team, comprising parents, teachers, and school staff, from a predominately African-American elementary school, working together to design a program promoting high school completion for their young students. The study also examines the role that collaboration plays to bring together…

Gloria Ladson-Billings explains in her chapter that, in part, the promise of "Brown v. Board of Education" has not been realized because it was premised on black inferiority. She elaborates that "instead of addressing the underlying pathology of the defendant--White supremacy"--the evidence, case, and accordant ruling…