Reviews Ogbu's "Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement," which explores low black academic performance in a racially integrated, upper-middle-class suburb and suggests that researchers should focus on community factors, such as how minorities interpret and respond to schooling, asserting that the…

Comments on a study of Comer's School Development Model, indicating that the study, as conducted, was not a study of the model but a limited study of the effects of one application of the model's process. In addition, the evaluation was carried out over only 2 years for each group, when experience shows that at least 3 years are necessary to show…

Reviews a book by John U. Ogbu that addresses the underachievement and academic disengagement of African American students in suburban high schools, where poverty is not a factor. The book suggests that African American students learn and perform well if teachers "pour knowledge" into them, that black parents do not perceive themselves…

The third book of a trilogy dealing with innovation in a suburban midwest school district is reviewed. The district underwent rapid transition following World War II. Although methodological limits are identified, the book is declared a contribution to the documentation on the evolution of a school district. (TJH)