Most African Americans in urban areas are trapped in schools that are below the national norms for reading, mathematics, or both. These young people are not only shut off from written information about their own cultural heritage, but they also are least likely to learn much about others. The majority of African Americans in the United States are concentrated in major urban areas like Detroit, but this is true for only a small percentage of the overall white population. Therefore, whites are less adversely affected by the poor school systems in urban areas. Of all African American elementary school students in the eight urban areas studied for this report, 74% are in schools that are below norm on reading, mathematics, or both. Furthermore, depending on which set of norms is used and how that data is interpreted, scores can be manipulated to appear better than they are. Thus, parents and policymakers are being misled about the education of African American students and, thus, are not taking the problem as seriously as it should be taken. For African Americans it is now a matter of life and death that immediate steps be taken to improve the way in which children learn to read and to do mathematics. Three tables and seven references are included. (JS)