According to Gordon and Bridglall, the ability to learn is more of a developed human capacity than a fixed aptitude with which one is born. They argue that the emergence of academic ability is associated with exposure to specialized cultures that privilege the attitudes, knowledge, and skills that schools reward. Children who are born to and raised in these cultures tend to do well in school, while those who are not exposed to such cultures tend seldom rise to high levels of academic achievement. Through a collection of interesting essays, this book attempts to address how people can deliberately develop academic ability in those children who are not raised under conditions that predispose them to develop high levels of academic ability. This book is divided into two parts. Part I: Affirmative Action and Affirmative Development, contains the following chapters: Chapter (1) Toward the Development of Intellective Character (James G. Greeno); (2) Intellective Competence: The Universal Currency in Technologically Advanced Societies (Edmund W. Gordon); (3) Intelligence as a Socialized Phenomenon (Robert J. Sternberg, Elena L. Grigorenko and Beatrice L. Bridglall); (4) Affirmative Development as an Alternative to Affirmative Action (Beatrice L. Bridglall); (5) Meritocracy and the Opportunity to Learn (Aundra Saa Meroe); and (6) Cultural Experience, Academic Cultures and Academic Ability (Edmund W. Gordon). Part II: Affirmative Development of Academic Ability, contains: (7) The Curriculum and Its Functions (Edmund W. Gordon); (8) The Teaching and Learning of Intellective Competence (Carol D. Lee); (9) Psychosocial Processes in the Cultivation of Intellective Competence: The Interpenetration of Affective, Cognitive, and Situative Processes in Intellective Behavior (Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton and Joshua A. Aronson); (10) Politicalization: A Neglected Pedagogical Process (Edmund W. Gordon); (11) The Problem of Transfer and Adaptability: Applying the Learning Sciences to the Challenge of the Achievement Gap (Howard T. Everson); and (12) Task Force Report on the Affirmative Development of Academic Ability: All Students Reaching the Top: Strategies for Closing Academic Achievement Gaps.