Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap

Rating:
Summary: Must reading on the topic of the black-white achievement gap
Review: "Class and Schools" is a perceptive study of what we can - and cannot - expect public schools to do on their own to narrow the black-white achievement gap. Rothstein is particularly astute in his descriptions of the subtle cognigitive and psychological skills that middle class students bring to school and how these skills serve them well, particularly in the upper grades. He also offers a critique of the "outlier" literature that draws overly broad conclusions from the fact that some schools serving disadvantaged students are effective. Many, if not most, readers will take issue with Rothstein over his policy recommendations, but anyone thinking seriously about the achievement gap will have to confront the major points that he makes and the evidence behind them.