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Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools

Closing the Achievement Gap in America's Classrooms

Second Edition

Tyrone C. Howard

Foreword by: James A. Banks

Publication Date: January 3, 2020

Pages: 208

Series: Multicultural Education Series

Available Formats
PAPERBACK
ISBN: 9780807763094
$34.95
HARDCOVER
ISBN: 9780807763100
$105.00
EBOOK
ISBN: 9780807778074
$34.95
Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools 9780807763094
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  • Description
  • Author
  • Reviews
  • Contents
  • Awards

Description+

“Offers solutions in the form of steps educators can take toward becoming racially aware and culturally competent.” —Teachers College Record

“If you thought the first edition of Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools was impactful, this second edition is even more of a force to be reckoned with in the fight for social justice.” —H. Richard Milner IV, Vanderbilt University

Issues tied to race and culture continue to be a part of the landscape of America’s schools and classrooms. Given the rapid demographic transformation in the nation’s states, cities, counties, and schools, it is essential that all school personnel acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and dispositions to talk, teach, and think across racial and cultural differences.

The second edition of Howard’s bestseller has been updated to take a deeper look at how schools must be prepared to respond to disparate outcomes among students of color. Tyrone Howard draws on theoretical constructs tied to race and racism, culture, and opportunity gaps to address pressing issues stemming from the chronic inequalities that remain prevalent in many schools across the country. This time-honored text will help educators at all levels respond with greater conviction and clarity on how to create more equitable, inclusive, and democratic schools as sites for teaching and learning.

The New Edition:

  • Addresses changing ethnic and racial demographics in U.S. schools and communities.
  • Identifies core gaps in academic outcomes across racial and ethnic lines.
  • Addresses potential root causes of academic disparities.
  • Offers recommendations for addressing disparities in outcomes.
  • Provides in-depth analysis on the salience of race and racism in U.S. schools.
  • Includes strategies to help school leaders create more equitable schools.
  • Identifies innovative programs with evidence-based results on eliminating disparities.

Author+

Tyrone C. Howard is a professor of education at the School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA and director of the UCLA Black Male Institute and the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families. His books include Black Male(d): Peril and Promise in the Education of African American Males and Expanding College Access for Urban Youth: What Schools and Colleges Can Do. He received the 2022 AERA Social Justice in Education Award. In 2024, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Reviews+

“Howard’s text helps readers, particularly those relatively new to the study of race and education, make sense of the genesis and doggedness of these racial disparities as well as the necessity of understanding these trends. He also offers solutions in the form of steps educators can take toward becoming racially aware and culturally competent. While Howard envisions teachers as his audience, we suggest that Why Race holds value for readers beyond the classroom and even beyond education. A general audience may find the text helpful in identifying how other seemingly race-neutral events inequitably affect people of color, how a presumably colorblind global pandemic, for instance, can nonetheless affect communities of color in decidedly unequal ways.”

—Teachers College Record

“If you thought the first edition of Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools was impactful, this second edition is even more of a force to be reckoned with in the fight for social justice. Drawing from his robust research insights and deep structural analyses, Howard has produced a book that will truly transform curriculum, pedagogical, relational, and assessment practices of educators committed to improving the learning and development trajectories of young people. By pushing the boundaries of the ordinary and the normative, this book teaches as it transforms. Every educator, pre-service and inservice, working with racially, linguistically, and culturally diverse young people should read this book.”
—H. Richard Milner IV, Cornelius Vanderbilt Distinguished Professor of Education, Vanderbilt University

“In 2010, Tyrone Howard gifted the field of education with Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools. On the 10th anniversary of this groundbreaking book, he not only reminds me of the salient role that race and culture play in education, but also moves beyond a Black-White binary that reflect the nuances and contours of diversity. This book should be in the hands of all teachers and teacher educators.”
—Maisha T. Winn, Chancellor’s Leadership Professor, School of Education, University of California, Davis

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION!

"The reader is left with a feeling of urgent, personal, moral responsibility to participate in the cause. Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools gives educators at all levels an excellent primer of the achievement gap, its causes, and remedies."
—International Journal of Multicultural Education

"A solid resource for those interested in thinking about the importance of race and culture in schools in more sophisticated ways…It squarely addresses the under-theorization of race as a factor in the analysis of students' school performance, moving the field forward appreciably."
—Language Arts

"Howard has produced a book that sheds light into abating the achievement gap in education by incrorporating important prior literature and silent theories that can be implemented to further enhance educational outcomes of all students."
—The Journal of Negro Education

“This book is at times disheartening and at other times inspiring; sometimes anguishing but always enlightening.”
—From the Foreword by Geneva Gay, University of Washington–Seattle

“Tyrone Howard provides a multi-dimensional and textured look at why students of color continue to struggle in the nation's schools. However, he does not stop there. This book points toward the solutions we have been seeking—partnerships, principles, and persistence.”
—Gloria Ladson-Billings, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Contents+

Contents (Tentative)

Series Foreword James A. Banks

Foreword Geneva Gay

Acknowledgments

Introduction
Socioeconomic Status and School Performance
Outline of the Book
Moving Away from the Black–White Dichotomy

1. Educational outcome disparities: Contextualizing the Problem
Documenting the ducational outcome disparities
Documenting the Discrepancies
Retention, Suspensions, and Expulsions
School Drop-Out and Graduation Rates
Access to Gifted and AP Courses
SAT Scores
Explaining the Gaps
Future Considerations

2. Changing Demographics
A Changing Nation
Demographic Shifts by Geographic Region and Age
U.S. Schools and Changing Demographics
Are Teachers Being Prepared to Teach in Diverse Settings?
Multicultural Education for School Reform
The Role of Social Class

3. Culture
Culture, Race, and Ethnicity
The Complexity of Culture
Sociocultural Theory
Cultural Modeling
Cultural Repertoires of Practice
Normalizing Culture in Everyday Practice

4. Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
Seeking Clarity in Culture and Pedagogy
Empirical and Conceptual Work on Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
The Importance of Pedagogy
Programs with Culturally Responsive Teaching

5. The Role of Race in Learning
Interrogating Race
Race and Education in the United States
Critical Race Theory: A Framework for Examining Race and Achievement
Empirical Works Examining Race
Granting Voice to Those Who Rarely Are Heard
Internalized Racism: Educators of Color and Acts of Exclusion
Racial Frames of Reference

6.  Developing Cultural Competence and Racial Awareness in Classroom Teachers
Cultural Competence
Critical Self-Reflection on Race and Culture
Race, Culture, and the Adaptive Unconsciousness
Racial Awareness
A Case Study of Critical Reflecting: Teaching Teachers to Reflect on Race
Final Considerations

7. Examples of School Success for Culturally Diverse Students
Stories of School Success
Visionary Leadership
Effective Instructional Practices
Intensive Academic Intervention
Explicit Acknowledgment of Race
Parental and Community Engagement
Final Thoughts

References

Index

About the Author

Awards+

2022 AERA Social Justice in Education Award for Tyrone C. Howard

$34.95

Professors: Request an Exam Copy

Print copies available for US orders only. For orders outside the US, see our international distributors.

Books In This Series
Race, Curriculum, and the Politics of Educational Justice
Race, Curriculum, and the Politics of Educational Justice
Fostering School–Family Relationships in Multicultural Communities
Fostering School–Family Relationships in Multicultural Communities
Critical Theory, Methods, and Design in Educational Research
Critical Theory, Methods, and Design in Educational Research
Affirming Student Ethnic Identities
Affirming Student Ethnic Identities
Critical Ethnic Studies and the Global Pursuit of Justice
Critical Ethnic Studies and the Global Pursuit of Justice
Let's Talk About DEI
Let's Talk About DEI
Why Historically Black Colleges and Universities Matter
Why Historically Black Colleges and Universities Matter
Hidden in Blackness
Hidden in Blackness
"To Remain an Indian"
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