African American Culture and Heritage in Higher Education Research and Practice


Book Description

Leading African American scholars examine the often neglected cultural context in research and policy development in African American higher education in this collection of essays. Past research has most often been conducted by individuals unfamiliar with the historical and cultural considerations of specific ethnic groups. Therefore, the outcomes of research and the development of programs have been based on deficit models, that is, what is wrong with African Americans, or what they cannot achieve. The book examines the questions; what is the relationship between African Americans' culture and experiences, and how should their culture be integrated into research and practice? How do African Americans' intra- and interrelations differ in higher education? How does understanding African American culture as it relates to higher education research enhance policy-making and practice? What role do HBUCs play in African Americans' participation in higher education? What are the policy and practice implications of past and current research? Scholars and practitioners of education, culture, and race relations will find this collection informative and interesting.




Surmounting All Odds - Vol. 2


Book Description

Volume 2 in the two volume set about overcoming the odds in African American Education.




Controversies on Campus


Book Description

Providing a comprehensive review of pressing issues roiling American college campuses today, this book is a valuable resource for students and scholars alike. People often refer to America's colleges and universities as "Ivory Towers," a term that implies that campuses are innocent places of study largely insulated from wider societal concerns. In actuality, our nation's universities are hotbeds of controversy. Some of these sources of heated debate relate directly to access to the college experience, such as the rising cost of tuition and admission policies related to student diversity. Others reflect wider societal schisms, such as divisions over sexual assault (both causes and responses) and "political correctness." Controversies on Campus: Debating the Issues Confronting American Universities in the 21st Century examines the myriad controversies regarding today's college campuses and student bodies, such as tuition costs, campus rape, academic freedom/free speech, gun policies, binge drinking, "hook-up" culture, corporatization of academic research, poverty-level wages of adjunct faculty, and student-athletes in the era of big-money amateur sports. The book objectively examines these issues and others, taking care to not only present up-to-date quantifiable data to help readers understand the controversy but also to provide a fair and impartial summary of perspectives on the issue in question. It is a one-stop resource for learning about a wide range of issues and controversies confronting American colleges and universities and the people—students, professors, and administrators—who comprise those communities.




Black Colleges


Book Description

Black colleges are central to the delivery of higher education. Notwithstanding, there is scant treatment of these key institutions in the research literature. There is a need for a comprehensive and cogent understanding of the primary characteristics of the policies and practices endemic to black colleges. This book provides the scholarly basis requisite to organize, give meaning to, and shape the analyses and applications of policy and practice within the black college. The collected chapters respond to the paucity of research literature addressing these institutions. In each chapter, the authors acknowledge the specific characterisics of black colleges that make them unique. Understanding the fundamental characteristics that shape black colleges is critical to gaining a comprehensive understanding of higher education at large. The policy and praxis challenges exhibited at black colleges serve as exemplars to how all colleges perform their respective functions in society. Black colleges serve as testimonies to the transformative power of adversity, and beacons of possibility in and era of retrenchment and ambiguity. These roles call on black colleges to aid and assist in creating an opportunity for educational change.




Women's Studies Quarterly (28: 3-4)


Book Description

Groundbreaking volume provides positive strategies for eliminating gender bias in middle school and high school classrooms.




The Black Student's Guide to Graduate and Professional School Success


Book Description

This guide is designed to help black students prepare for standardized tests, negotiate admissions, find a faculty mentor, choose a field of study, select the best curriculum, adjust to the campus, master technology, engage in research and publishing, secure graduate assistantships, develop a global identity, maintain black pride and self esteem, and interact with other cultural groups. What are the models of success for black students in graduate and professional school careers? What should be expected and prepared for? What struggles lie ahead, and how have others overcome the obstacles? This guide is designed to help black students prepare for standardized tests, negotiate admissions, find a faculty mentor, choose a field of study, select the best curriculum, adjust to the campus, master technology, engage in research and publishing, secure graduate assistantships, develop a global identity, maintain black pride and self esteem, and interact with other cultural groups. In the first section of this guide, 21 scholars offer sound, nuts-and-bolts advice on preparing for-and excelling in-graduate and professional school. In the second section, 40 scholars from varied professions share the personal experiences that led to their successes. In the third section, current students recount their problems, solutions, and overall achievements. Their essays embody the advice and information provided in previous chapters, humanizing and reinforcing the themes of the entire book. Their success may begin in theory, but their stories and accomplishments are real. The primary audience for this guide consists of black undergraduates, black graduate students both prospective and current, deans of graduate and professional schools, graduate admissions counselors and recruiters, faculty advisors, and collegiate coaches in both predominantly black and white higher education institutions. The secondary audience includes high school students, parents, teachers, coaches, guidance counselors, and civic, community, and religious organizations.




Measuring Up


Book Description

Measuring Up revisits vital issues of equity and assessment through the research efforts and insights of many of the nation's most prominent educators and assessment experts. As its most urgent purpose, the publication aims to sensitize readers to the unfairness and inappropriate uses of testing instruments which under optimal circumstances have the potential to benefit all students. With America fervently espousing both national and state testing, the differential performance by race and social class raises the specter of tests as barriers to life milestones such as promotion, graduation, and college admissions. In response to such punitive testing, the papers included here explore a host of models and practices that are currently being piloted both in America and abroad as educators grapple with the effects the assessment is having on minority and disadvantaged students and school systems. In the process, outcomes of innovative portfolio and authentic assessments are weighed against important standards and principles of validity and consequences. As the various authors probe the gap between African-American and White test scores, they raise important questions of resources, family background and educational opportunity. Beyond their value of their recommendations to educators, their papers help to identify causes of pupil deficiencies in ways that can be addressed by policymakers. To reinforce the emphasis on equity, several authors present a definitive defense of affirmative action as a critical counter-measure to the lack of fairness in school quality, family and social supports, and educational resources.




Three Black Generations at the Crossroads


Book Description

Three Generations at the Crossroads weaves a collective tapestry, linking personal biographies of individuals in different generations to the larger social forces acting on them. This second edition contains new chapters on politicians and artists, two groups that are symbolic...