In educational research, policies and practices, African American male youth are often portrayed as a monolithic demographic of uneducable, criminalized, deviant students. This column reviews the works of two African American male scholars, Tyrone D. Howard's (2014) "Black Male(d)" and David E. Kirkland's (2013) "A Search…

Despite its failings, Herrnstein and Murray's "The Bell Curve" is valuable for emphasizing cognition as significantly affecting human performance and social achievement; acknowledging human differences; and offering a frightening depiction of contemporary American society. The authors err in reducing intelligence to a stable, immutable…

Borg, Mason, and Shapiro in "The Economic Consequences of State Lotteries" (Praeger, 1991) argue that the Florida lottery creates an implicit tax that is inequitable and inefficient. These conclusions are unconvincing. Are lotteries really responsible for 35% reductions in pupil spending in lottery states? Additional work by Borg and…

Reviews evidence that refutes unfavorable portraits of American mathematics teachers in two books, "The Teaching Gap" (James Stigler and James Hiebert) and "Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics" (Liping Ma). Young students' difficulty with the "equals" concept can be addressed by teaching algebraic concepts…

Focuses on films about dinosaurs that were made for young children. Nine films from 1981 to 1993 are reviewed and assigned ratings based on such issues as appeal for children, scientific content, and pedagogic soundness. Drawbacks such as factual errors or difficulty in following the film are also noted. Film length, source, and price are…

Richard Rothstein's booklet "What Do We Know About Declining (Or Rising) Student Achievement?" claims that anecdotes about past educational practices are unreliable and difficult to relate to today's schools. Curricula and tests change; so do student populations. There are no solid historical measures, including three well-known…

Describes the author's reactions to Denny Taylor and Catherine Dorsey-Gaines' book "Growing Up Literate: Learning from Inner-City Families" which attempts to alter the popular perception that poor, inner-city children grow up in homes bereft of any sense of family and devoid of significant models of literate behavior. (RS)

Evaluates an elementary textbook (Journeys in Science, volume 3) on thermodynamics. Points out some inadequate expressions and explains the reasons. (YP)

In "On the Desirability of Own-Group Preference" (1993), Michael L. Penn, Stanley O. Gaines, and Layli Phillips argue that misguided and mythical ideal of racial-social integration in America is the only reasonable and effective foundation for real African empowerment in American society. Serious intellectual battle will be required to…

Helen Gunter's "Rethinking Education: the Consequences of Jurassic Management" (1997) tackles the relevance of fashionable school management practices. Educational management has become a huge, lucrative multimedia enterprise that promotes management language and culture at the expense of pedagogy, professional collegiality, and scrutiny…

According to Herrnstein and Murray's "The Bell Curve" (1994), public education cannot alter the economic, social, or political stratification of American society. Intelligence is supposedly being combined and concentrated, and there is no inexpensive, reliable method to raise IQ. Actually, the book justifies the economic status quo and a…

"Do the Right Thing" leaves the viewer with contradictory and confused messages that suggest that the film has no clear view of racial relations in a city. The film is examined as an ideological statement. It deconstructs contemporary African-American ideologies but does not replace them with new visions. (SLD)

Analyzes nine statements representing the most frequently missed questions from a 53-item questionnaire administered to students in a school leadership degree program at a large regional university. Respondents mistakenly thought that effective leaders exercise direct control over organization staff, know exactly where the organization is going,…

This reference is intended for teachers who are responsible for selecting textbooks for biology or life science courses. The publication provides reviewers with a compilation of 10 biology and 7 life science textbook reviews. Using this document as a resource, teachers can save valuable time by reducing the number of books they review and pilot…

According to William Spady's "Beyond Counterfeit Reforms," politically driven, mechanistic "reforms" box educators into smaller, limiting ways of thinking and running schools. Donald McAdams's book "Fighting to Save Our Urban Schools...and Winning!" shows the salubrious effects of high expectations and community…