Despite the substantive body of research on African American Language (AAL), designating it a meaningful, rule-governed language system and the first language of many African Americans, schools in the US have systematically failed to integrate a language policy related to African American English learners (AAELs). In this article, we employ a…

Discusses "Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School Children, et al. v Ann Arbor School District Board," a court decision requiring that teachers be instructed in the role and significance of Black English. Argues that the issues of educational achievement and Black English do not constitute a matter for the courts. (GC)

Discusses the controversy that was highlighted in the 1979 court case in Ann Arbor Michigan over the role of Black English in students' achievement ; and notes the effects of poverty and motivation on achievement. (MKM)

Following the federal court's Ann Arbor (Michigan) decision regarding the education of children who speak black English, the National Institute of Education and the Ann Arbor Public Schools cosponsored a national conference on the subject, the proceedings of which are summarized in this paper. Following an introduction, the paper provides…

This document contains the text of a United States District Court decision on a Michigan school district's proposed plan designed to help the teachers at a local elementary school (1) to identify those children who speak Black English and to determine the language spoken as a home or community language, and (2) to employ that knowledge in teaching…

In light of U.S. District Court Judge Charles W. Joiner's recent order regarding the treatment of Black English in the Ann Arbor, Michigan schools, the author reviews the development of Black English as a dialect, some of its features, and the debate over its treatment in the classroom. (SJL)