Niobe Way

Carol Gilligan

Alisha Ali

Pedro Noguera

""The Crisis of Connection: Roots, Consequences, and Solutions" makes a compelling argument that one of the main problems of the 21st century is the crisis of connection both between and within individuals. The book provides evidence of the crisis and explores its causes and consequences. Eventually, "The Crisis of Connection" suggests possible solutions to the state of disconnection that the world has found itself in, encouraging the readers to pursue common humanity" --

Roots, Consequences, and Solutions

The Crisis of Connection

Ann Arnett Ferguson

Statistics show that black males are disproportionately getting in trouble and being suspended from the nation's school systems. Based on three years of participant observation research at an elementary school, Bad Boys offers a richly textured account of daily interactions between teachers and students to understand this serious problem. Ann Arnett Ferguson demonstrates how a group of eleven- and twelve-year-old males are identified by school personnel as "bound for jail" and how the youth construct a sense of self under such adverse circumstances. The author focuses on the perspective and voices of pre-adolescent African American boys. How does it feel to be labeled "unsalvageable" by your teacher? How does one endure school when the educators predict one's future as "a jail cell with your name on it?" Through interviews and participation with these youth in classrooms, playgrounds, movie theaters, and video arcades, the author explores what "getting into trouble" means for the boys themselves. She argues that rather than simply internalizing these labels, the boys look critically at schooling as they dispute and evaluate the meaning and motivation behind the labels that have been attached to them. Supplementing the perspectives of the boys with interviews with teachers, principals, truant officers, and relatives of the students, the author constructs a disturbing picture of how educators' beliefs in a "natural difference" of black children and the "criminal inclination" of black males shapes decisions that disproportionately single out black males as being "at risk" for failure and punishment. ? Bad Boys is a powerful challenge to prevailing views on the problem of black males in our schools today. It will be of interest to educators, parents, and youth, and to all professionals and students in the fields of African-American studies, childhood studies, gender studies, juvenile studies, social work, and sociology, as well as anyone who is concerned about the way our schools are shaping the next generation of African American boys.

Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity

Bad Boys

A. Wade Boykin

"Unless we believe that those who have more are inherently superior to those who have less, we should be troubled by the fact that patterns of achievement are often fairly predictable, particularly with respect to students' race and class." In Creating the Opportunity to Learn, Wade Boykin and Pedro Noguera help navigate the turbid waters of evidence-based methodologies and chart a course toward closing (and eliminating) the academic achievement gap. Turning a critical eye to current and recent research, the authors present a comprehensive view of the achievement gap and advocate for strategies that contribute to the success of all children. Boykin and Noguera maintain that it is possible to close the achievement gap by abandoning failed strategies, learning from successful schools, and simply doing more of what the research shows is most effective. Success is founded on equity, but equity involves more than simply ensuring students have equal access to education; equity also entails a focus on outcomes and results. If we want to bring about significant improvements in those outcomes, we have to do more to address the context in which learning takes place. In short, we must create schools where a child's race or class is no longer a predictor for how well he or she might perform.

Moving from Research to Practice to Close the Achievement Gap

Creating the Opportunity to Learn

Edward Fergus

Margary Martin

This title investigates how seven newly formed schools, created specifically to serve boys of colour, set out to address the broad array of academic and social problems faced by black and Latino boys. Drawing on student and teacher surveys, focus groups, interviews, and classroom observations, the authors investigate how these schools were developed, what practices they employed, and how their students responded academically and socially.

Improving the Life Trajectory of Black and Latino Boys

Schooling for Resilience

Linda Darling-Hammond

Diane Friedlaender

Out of concern that the nation's schools--particularly those working with traditionally underserved populations--are not adequately preparing all students to succeed in college and careers, education policymakers have launched a series of major reform efforts in recent years. To help students meet the new standards, schools will need to provide regular opportunities to practice high-level skills such as solving complex problems, conducting research, communicating in multiple forms, and using new technologies to find, analyze, and evaluate information. This report addresses the issue of equity in the crucial dimensions of: teaching and learning. The authors argue that to ensure equity in access to deeper learning, practices and policies must address the context for education both outside and inside of schools. To inform efforts to prepare greater numbers of students for college, careers, and civic life, first are describe the obstacles that currently prevent schools from delivering high-quality instruction. Next, are examined educational models, structures, and practices that facilitate deeper learning. Finally, the authors take a wider systemic perspective to consider how policy, practice, and research can be aligned to support the development of pedagogy for deeper learning in schools serving students who have been placed at risk of school failure. [For the full report, see ED560802.].

Equal Opportunity for Deeper Learning. Executive Summary. Deeper Learning Research Series

Aída Hurtado

Latino men and boys in the United States are confronted with a wide variety of hardships that are not easily explained or understood. They are populating prisons, dropping out of high school, and are becoming overrepresented in the service industry at alarming degrees. Young Latino men, especially, have among the lowest wages earned in the country, a rapidly growing rate of HIV/AIDS, and one of the highest mortality rates due to homicide. Although there has been growing interest in the status of men in American society, there is a glaring lack of research and scholarly work available on Latino men and boys. This groundbreaking interdisciplinary volume, edited by renowned scholars Pedro Noguera, Aída Hurtado and Edward Fergus addresses the dearth of scholarship and information about Latino men and boys to further our understanding of the unique challenges and obstacles that they confront during this historical moment. The contributors represent a cross section of disciplines from health, criminal justice, education, literature, psychology, economics, labor, sociology and more. By drawing attention to the sweeping issues facing this segment of the population, this volume offers research and policy a set of principles and overarching guidelines for decreasing the invisibility and thus the disenfranchisement of Latino men and boys.

Pedro Noguera

Books

Your next favorite book is out there