This article addresses the challenges and importance of integrating discussions on race and social justice into the classroom. Considering recent legislative actions in various states aimed at restricting such discussions, the article presents an empowering framework designed to support educators in facilitating these conversations. This…

Purpose: This comparative case study focused on high schools in California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia using the lens of Culturally Responsive School Leadership to investigate the actions of school leaders in implementing detracking and asks "How do school leaders' actions regarding detracking fit into the larger framework of…

This paper explores ideas about the role of the school principal embedded in New York State education policy. Many public schools across the state fail to deliver equitable opportunities and outcomes for an increasingly diverse student population and improving school leadership offers the potential for substantial returns. Drawing on concepts of…

In spite of concerted improvement efforts to improve curricula, many university-based principal preparation programmes in the United States do not explicitly attend to issues of equity or social justice in a thorough way. While curricular efforts are important, they are not enough on their own; a working theory in the field of educational…

All teachers, regardless of their backgrounds, require appropriate preparation to address the necessities of all students. A significant challenge in preparing teachers is ensuring they are familiar with the unique characteristics of the different group of students in their classrooms. According to New York State of Education (NYSED), the…

In the United States, almost one-quarter of all youth are children of immigrants and it is projected that by 2040 over a third of all children will be growing up in immigrant households (Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2010). This shift in demographics has the potential to compound the inability that many school districts demonstrate to…

Within an early childhood methods course, teacher candidates were prepared to spend three weeks in immersive clinical field experience. Early childhood placements were in rural, high poverty areas of central New York State. In addition to readings and authentic project-based undertakings, preparation included interactive activities on culturally…

In an era of increasing teacher accountability, charter schools are finding ways to circumnavigate the restrictions placed on public schools in regard to teacher certification. These efforts purportedly are being made to fill teacher shortages in high need areas, but realistically allow charter school teachers to avoid expensive and time-consuming…

The Internationals Network for Public Schools has a reputation for engaging in culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy with immigrant youth. The 19 schools in the internationals school network serve the unique academic and emotional needs of recently arrived immigrant youth who are English language learners. INPS schools are in New York,…

One of the states served by the Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) requested the center's assistance in compiling information regarding educational support for Native American students. To obtain this information, SECC staff contacted 16 states that have state agency contacts for Indian Education and/or that indicate a population of more than…

The academic performance and engagement of youth from under-represented ethnic groups (African American, Latino, and Indigenous) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) show statistically large gaps in comparison with their White and Asian peers. Some of these differences can be attributed to the direct impact of economic…

Middle and high school students subjected to harsh school discipline policies and practices such as suspensions and expulsions are more likely to disengage from the classroom and course work, and increases their chances of dropping out, according to this new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education. The report recommends implementing…

This article examines the notion of "culturally responsive leadership" through a historical case study of the life of Gertrude Elise MacDougald Ayer, the first African American woman principal in New York City. I begin by situating Ayer's leadership practice in light of the social and political context of Harlem in the 1930s and early…

This publication offers the 56th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference (NRC). This Yearbook begins with a preface and presents profiles of three awardees, Michael C. McKenna, Douglas K. Hartman, and Michael Kamil. Included in this Yearbook are the following papers: (1) What's It All About? Literacy Research and Civic Responsibility (Victoria…