Race, Class, And Power In School Restructuring

This book challenges common assumptions about the efficacy of teacher collaboration, empowerment, and professional development to improve the educational experiences of low-achieving African American students without engaging the political and ideological contexts in which reforms take place. Written in a clear, engaging style, the book tells the story of two restructuring junior high schools in a single district, and how teachers' ideologies and race, class, and power contradictions in the schools, school district, and city shaped outcomes. Although the book is a critique of restructuring, powerful portraits of teachers who create culturally responsive and empowering educational experiences demonstrate the potential to reform educational practices and policies for African American students and suggest a direction for transforming schools.

Booknews

Examines the ways that teachers' ideologies or belief systems about African American students interfere with the goals and aims of school restructuring. Takes a hard look at the rush to restructure and moves inside the experiences of teachers and students. Describes several schools and underscores the specificity of school reform at each one. Concludes with a description of exemplary teachers and the challenge to consider superstructure, infrastructure, and core. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.