This book tells the story of two African-centered schools, an elementary school and a middle school, in an urban public school system. Both schools were originally conceived as "all male academies," but legal and political obstacles caused both to become coeducational, although still African-centered. The factors that affected the…

One of the few independent black schools in New England is Paige Academy, a school that is largely based on an African-centered pedagogy. Founded in 1975, the school was initially established as a day care center, and later expanded to include an elementary school, while retaining its infant and toddler day care. The Paige Academy now enrolls 150…

Examines how sociopolitical context influenced two school districts to pursue reform models that centered on persistent segregation, highlighting research on black mobilization around community control of New York City schools and black support of African American immersion schools in Milwaukee. Results reveal that using all-Black settings as a…

This paper reports on the development of a school-based Afrocentric intervention for middle school male adolescents who are at risk for academic failure or underachievement. The intervention combined the principles of the rites of passage movement within African American communities and current thinking on the process of second culture acquisition…

Examined the interaction of social class and racial identity in urban school reform. Presents a case study of reform at one urban California high school which used an Afrocentric curriculum to help improve academic performance, arguing that the effort was ineffective because it failed to consider ways in which poverty influenced the identities of…

One new approach to the needs of at-risk African American male students that is being implemented in several urban school districts throughout the nation is the immersion school approach. This is the establishment of schools that provide a curriculum and related experiences for African American male students that are distinct from the curriculum…

Selected papers are presented from a national conference on urban issues. They are: (1) "Collaboration as a Social Process: Inter-Institutional Cooperation and Educational Change" (Charles F. Underwood and Hardy T. Frye); (2) "Mobilizing the Village To Educate the Child" (Valerie Maholmes); (3) "Pathways to Teaching: An Urban Teacher Licensure…

Findings of a 3-year study of the experiences of Black and African-Canadian students in the Ontario public school system are presented. The paper focuses on urban students in four schools and on their parents' perceptions of public schooling. Interviews were held with nearly 150 African Canadian students, including 22 dropouts, some of whom…

To improve urban schools, we must create a culture of success for African-American students. A multicultural education that infuses African and African-American history and culture throughout the curriculum is appropriate at this time because problems have reached such critical proportions. (SLD)

It is hypocritical to oppose black immersion schools (BISs) as resegregationist. BISs are a solution to urban school problems proposed in areas where integration has failed. BISs are a reaction to that failure, not a cause of it. To succeed, BISs must address issues of social and economic justice. (SLD)