Publication Date: September 27, 2024
Pages: 336
Series: Multicultural Education Series
Valencia presents the most comprehensive, theory-based analysis to date on how society and schools are structurally organized and maintained to impede the optimal academic achievement of low-SES, marginalized K–12 Black and Latino/Latina students—compared to their privileged White counterparts. The book interrogates how society contributes to educational inequality as seen in racialized patterns in income, wealth, housing, and health, and how public schools create significant obstacles for students of color as observed in reduced access to opportunities (e.g., little access to high-status curricula knowledge). Valencia offers suggestions for achieving equal education (e.g., implementing fairness of school funding, improving teacher quality, and providing students of color access to multicultural education) by disrupting structural racism. Considering the rapid aging of the White population and the sharp decline of White youth—coupled with the explosive growth in people of color—this book argues that the “American Imperative” must be to assiduously mount an effort to provide an excellent education for students of color, who the nation will depend on for a sizable proportion of its work force.
Book Features:
Richard R. Valencia is professor emeritus of educational psychology at The University of Texas at Austin.
"This book powerfully lays out the myriad ways racism is embedded within U.S. schools and has led to the inequitable experiences and outcomes for communities of color. Through a comprehensive and data-driven analysis, Valencia compels us with the moral and economic imperative to invest in the education of students of color."
—Rita Kohli, professor, school of education, University of California, Riverside
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