



The Black-White Achievement Gap
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
When it comes to race in America, we must face one uncomfortable but undeniable fact. Almost 50 years after the birth of the civil rights movement, inequality still reigns supreme in our classrooms. At a time when African-American students trail their white peers on academic tests and experience high dropout rates, low college completion rates, and a tendency to shy away from majors in hard sciences and mathematics, the Black-White achievement gap in our schools has become the major barrier to racial equality and social justice in America. In fact, it is arguably the greatest civil rights issue of our time. The Black-White Achievement Gap is a call to action for this country to face up to and confront this crisis head on. Renowned former Secretary of Education Rod Paige believes we can close this gap. In this thought-provoking book, he and Elaine Witty trace the history of the achievement gap, discuss its relevance to racial equality and social justice, examine popular explanations, and offer suggestions for the type of committed leadership and community involvement needed to close it. African-American leaders need to rally around this important cause if we are to make real progress since students’ academic performance is a function not only of school quality, but of home and community factors as well. The Black-White Achievement Gap is an unflinching and long overdue look at the very real problem of racial disparity in our schools and what we must do to solve it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this clarion call, Paige, a former secretary of education (2001 2005) and his sister, a noted educator, pursue two threads of thought: the quest for authentic African-American leadership and the black-white achievement gap. Their argument: "while racism and discrimination are still barriers to African American progress, they are no longer the primary barriers"; and the "black-white achievement gap is the primary civil rights issue of our time." The main obstacle to closing that gap is black leadership culture, which they "criticize... for its role in the existence, magnitude, and intractability of the black-white achievement gap." Authenticity is defined as "activity by individuals or groups, regardless of ethnicity, which, with moral purpose, affects the attitude and behavior of African Americans, through identifying and confronting major barriers to African American achievement." In making their argument, the authors report quantities of confirming data; assess various explanations for the gap; review the place of education in the black experience; find the NAACP, Congressional Black Caucus, and Urban League to have "overlooked" the issue; and predictably argue for the success of No Child Left Behind, the voucher system, and charter schools. Their last chapter, "The Way Forward: A Call to Service," concludes with a useful, thought-provoking list of suggestions.