Asa G. Hilliard

"Racism, Research, and Educational Reform" adds to the knowledge base on educational reform, through individual, personal voices. Describing the complexities of multiple levels of engagement, it provides more accessible reading for teachers and the general public than most reform texts. This book also adds to the literature about multiple K-16 partnerships; collaborations between mainstream universities and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU); cross-district school system collaborations; the impact of racism on school reform efforts; communication problems in school collaborations; parent and teacher struggles for equal engagement; and issues of parental equity in school communities of diverse ethnic families.

American educators have largely failed to recognize the crucial significance of culture in the education of African-American children, contents Janice E. Hale in the revised edition of her groundbreaking work, Black Children. As African-American children are acculturated at home and in the African-American community, they develop cognitive patterns and behaviors that may prove incompatable with the school environment. Cultural factors produce group differences that must be addressed in the educational process. Drawing on the fields of anthropology, sociology, history, and psychology, Hale explored the effects of African-American culture on a child's intellectual development and suggests curricular reforms that would allow African-American children to develop their interlligence, pursue their strengths, and succeed in school and at work.