Crossing Boundaries—Teaching and Learning with Urban Youth

In her new book, Valerie Kinloch, award-winning author of Harlem on Our Minds, sheds light on the ways urban youth engage in “meaning-making” experiences as a way to assert critical, creative, and highly sophisticated perspectives on teaching, learning, and survival.

Kinloch rejects deficit models that have traditionally defined the literacy abilities of students of color, especially African American and Latino/a youth. In contrast, she “crosses boundaries” to listen to the voices of students attending high school in New York City’s Harlem community.

In Crossing Boundaries, Kinloch uses a critical teacher-researcher lens to propose new directions for youth literacies and achievements. The text features examples of classroom engagements, student writings and presentations, discussions of texts and current events, and conversations on skills, process, achievement, and underachievement.

Valerie Kinloch is associate professor in literacy studies at The Ohio State University. In addition to her other books, she has recently published Urban Literacies: Critical Perspectives on Language, Learning, and Community and Harlem on Our Minds: Place, Race, and the Literacies of Urban Youth. She received the 2025 AERA Scholars of Color Distinguished Career Contribution Award.

“A must-read for anyone interested in improving the academic achievements and enhancing the literacy practices of marginalized students.”
—Beverly Moss, The Ohio State University

“This is a book of stories told by adolescents and adults about teaching and learning…. Puzzlement, wonder, curiosity, disruption, and distress mark the emotions of all the storytellers here.”
—From the Foreword by Shirley Brice Heath, Stanford University

“This book will shake the ‘common’ and reshape the ‘knowledge’ we have about the passion and potential of students in urban schools.”
—JoBeth Allen, University of Georgia

2018 NCTE Advancement of People of Color Leadership Award