Courageous Conversations About Race
A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools
- Glenn E. Singleton - Pacific Educational Group
- Curtis Linton - School Improvement Network
Foreword by Gloria Ladson-Billings
Singleton looks at the achievement gap through the prism of race, and in Courageous Conversations About Race, he begins by examining the evidence that points to race-not poverty-as the underlying cause behind the achievement gap.
This work, while exploring how race affects all educators, declares that we need to have engaged, sustained, and deep conversations about race in order to understand students and the achievement gap. Singleton calls this process "courageous conversations." Through these "courageous conversations," educators can learn how to redesign curriculum and create community and true equity.
Action steps to close the achievement gap include creating an equity team and collaborative action research. The final chapter presents a systemwide plan for transforming schools and districts, including activities, exercises, and checklists for central office administrators, principals, and teachers.
"The beauty of this volume is that it is designed to help lay people—teachers, administrators, parents, community leaders, and even university professors—begin to engage in the emotionally and psychically difficult conversations about race. Glenn Singleton and Curtis Linton have offered us an important book that provides us with empirical data and well-constructed exercises to help us think through the ways that race affects our lives and our professional practices. My sincere desire is that after you have had an opportunity to read this volume you will, indeed, engage in some courageous conversations about race."
"Challenges educators to talk in honest and open ways about race, and provides various tools to stimulate and inform the conversation. Singleton and Linton remind us that the achievement gap will not be eliminated until we learn to talk about race in ways that build bridges of understanding that lead to effective action."
"Given the sensitive issues of race in our nation, schools and school leaders need tools that can illuminate the concerns, guide the discussions, and generate momentum for growth and change. This book provides the tools and resources needed to move from open dialogue to meaningful action that can make excellence and equity in schools a reality."
"Talking about race and its effect on academic achievement remains one of the most elusive conversations today. In their new book, Singleton and Linton help educators understand and engage in the discourse around race that affects the success of any curriculum, instructional methodology, or program implementation. The book's exercises and prompts assists school and district leadership teams in articulating those innate behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes that impair our ability to be effective in closing the racial achievement gap. I am encouraged to know that educators will be empowered and supported as we develop our personal capacity to address one of the most crucial elements of our society: the education of our children."
"This is an important book that challenges one to think critically about the effects of race and student achievement. It is an invitation to sustain a strong desire for fairness and equity for all children."
"In an era when America seems content to sweep candid talk of race under the rug, Courageous Conversations About Race recognizes that denial isn’t a prescription for interracial tolerance and social progress. The authors provide thoughtful educators with innovative instructional tools to successfully navigate the most robustly diverse nation on earth."
"Singleton and Linton challenge educators to move beyond recognizing the existence of a racial achievement gap and to develop strategies to eliminate it."
I love this book and have been using it for years. I heard that there will be a new edition coming, but cannot find any info about the release date online. Do you know if this it true?
Stephanie Poczos