Black Educational Choice: Assessing the Private and Public Alternatives to Traditional K–12 Public Schools

This important book provides African American parents with the knowledge to diversify K–12 school choices beyond traditional neighborhood public schools in order to optimize the educational chances of their own children, and it will help educators and policymakers to close the black-white academic achievement gap throughout America. Closing the K–12 achievement gap is critical to the future welfare of African American individuals, families, and communities—and to the future of our nation as a whole. The black-white academic achievement gap—the significant statistical difference in academic performance between African American students and their white peers—is the single greatest impediment to achieving racial equality and social justice in America. Black Educational Choice provides parents, citizens, educators, and policymakers the critical knowledge they need to leverage the national trend toward increasing and diversifying K–12 school choice beyond traditional neighborhood public schools. Parents can use this information to optimize the success of their own African American children, while policymakers and educators can apply these insights to help close the black-white academic achievement gap throughout America. The book collects the interdisciplinary, multi-racial, and multi-ethnic perspectives of education experts to address the questions of millions of anxious African American families: "Would sending our children to a private school or a charter school significantly better their chances of closing the achievement gap and becoming successful individuals? And if so, what kinds of challenges would they likely experience in these alternative educational settings?"

Table of Contents:
Tables and Figures Foreword by James A. Banks Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction: Towards Black Educational Choice Diana T. Slaughter-Defoe, Michael J. Myers II, Howard C. Stevenson, Edith G. Arrington, and Deborah J. Johnson Part I Portraits of Independent Schools and Black Children 1 Negotiating Race and Class in Anderson School: 1983–1994 Diana T. Slaughter-Defoe 2 "It's About Race?…?No, It Isn't!" Negotiating Race and Social Class: Youth Identities at Anderson School in 2005 Enora Brown 3 Whither Go the Status Quo? Independent Education at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century Savannah Shange and Diana T. Slaughter-Defoe 4 "There Is a Subliminal Attitude": African American Parental Perspectives on Independent Schooling Howard C. Stevenson and Edith G. Arrington 5 "More Than What We Read in Books": Black Student Perspectives on Independent Schools Edith G. Arrington and Howard C. Stevenson 6 The Black-White Achievement Gap in Highly Selective Independent High Schools: Towards a Model Explaining Emergent Racial Differences Peter Kuriloff, Amanda C. Soto, and Rachel Garver 7 The Influence of Private and Public School Contexts on the Development of Children's Racial Coping Deborah J. Johnson, Diana T. Slaughter-Defoe, and Meeta Banerjee Part II Understanding Parental Educational Choices for African American Children 8 Commentary: We Can't Wait for "Superman": The Importance of Parental Involvement in Schools Karen G. Carlson 9 The Power of Positionality in the Educational Marketplace: Lessons from the School Choices of African American Mothers Camille M. Wilson 10 Parental Choice and Involvement in the Education of Sudanese Unaccompanied Minors Meenal Rana, Deborah J. Johnson, Laura V. Bates, Desiree B. Qin, and Andrew Saltarelli Part III The Consequences of Choice: Educational Benefits to Children—To Communities? Special Focus on Charter Schools 11 Do Charter Schools Work for African American Children? Separating the Wheat from the Chaff Valerie C. Lundy-Wagner and Herbert M. Turner III 12 Charter Schools in New York's Black Communities: Managing Resources in Local Organizational Fields Luis A. Huerta, Bruce Fuller, Lynette Parker, and Chad d'Entremont 13 When Community Control Meets Privatization: The Search for Empowerment in African American Charter Schools Janelle T. Scott 14 Closed: Competition, Segregation, and the Black Student Experience in Charter Schools David R. Garcia and Monica L. Stigler 15 Commentary: "The Teachers' Unions Strike Back?" No Need to Wait for "Superman": Magnet Schools Have Brought Success to Urban Public School Students for Over 30 Years V.P. Franklin Part IV Race and the Contemporary Education of African American Children: Theoretical and Policy Issues 16 Enhancing the Schooling Experience of African American Students in Predominantly White Independent Schools: Conceptual and Strategic Considerations to Developing a Critical Third Space Robert Cooper 17 The Changing Landscape: Enhancing the Public School Option for Black Youth Lara Perez-Felkner, E.C. Hedberg, and Barbara Schneider 18 Where Should African American Parents Send Their Children to School? Disentangling Schools' Racial Composition from Students' Financial Resources Jelani Mandara, Inez Moore, Scott Richman, and Fatima Varner 19 Visible Now? Black Educational Choices for the Few, the Desperate, and the Far Between Howard C. Stevenson, Diana T. Slaughter-Defoe, Edith G. Arrington, and Deborah J. Johnson About the Editors and Contributors Index

About the Author :
Diana T. Slaughter-Defoe, PhD, is the Constance E. Clayton Professor in Urban Education in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Howard C. Stevenson, PhD, is associate professor of education and former chair of the Applied Psychology and Human Development Division in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Edith G. Arrington, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and a project manager at the OMG Center for Collaborative Learning, Philadelphia, PA. Deborah J. Johnson, PhD, is professor of human development and family studies at Michigan State University.

Review :
Diana T. Slaughter-Defoe and her colleagues have compiled a comprehensive volume that illuminates the path to the best educational choices for African American students. The perspectives and roles of parents, school administrators, teachers, students, and the community on educational choices for African American students are framed well and thoroughly documented. . . . Black Educational Choices is highly recommended to anyone with a vested interest in the academic succes of African American children.