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Young, Gifted, and Black is a unique joint effort by three leading African-American scholars to radically reframe the debates swirling around the achievement of African-American students in school.

In three separate but allied essays, Theresa Perry, Claude Steele, and Asa Hilliard place students' social identity as African-Americans at the very center of the discussion. They all argue that the unique social and cultural position Black students occupy, in a society which often devalues and stereotypes African American identity, fundamentally shapes students' experience of school and sets up unique obstacles. And they all argue that a proper understanding of the forces at work can lead to practical, powerful methods for promoting high achievement at all levels.

Theresa Perry argues that African-American students face dilemmas, founded in the experience of race and ethnicity in America, that make the task of achievement distinctive and difficult. (For instance: "How do I commit myself to achieve, to work hard over time in school, if I cannot predict when or under what circumstances this hard work will be acknowledged and recognized?") She uncovers a rich and powerful African- American philosophy of education, historically forged against such obstacles and capable of addressing them, by reading African-American narratives from Frederick Douglass to Maya Angelou. She carefully critiques the most popular theoretical explanations for group differences in achievement. And she lays out how educators today—in a post­civil rights era—can draw on theory and on the historical power of the African—American philosophy and tradition of education to reorganize the school experience of African—American students.

Claude Steele reports stunningly clear empirical psychological evidence that when Black students believe they are being judged as members of a stereotyped group rather than as individuals, they do worse on tests. He finds the mechanism, which he calls "stereotype threat," to be a quite general one, affecting women's performance in mathematics, for instance, where stereotypes about gender operate. He analyzes the subtle psychology of stereotype threat and reflects on the broad implications of his research for education, suggesting techniques—based again on evidence from controlled psychological experiments—that teachers and mentors and schools can use to counter stereotype threat's powerful effect.
Asa Hilliard's ends essay, against a variety of false theories and misguided views of African American achievement, and focuses on actual schools and programs and teachers around the country that allow African-American students achieve at high levels, describing what they are like and what makes them work.

Young, Gifted, and Black will change the way we think and talk about African American student achievement and will be necessary reading on this topic for years to come..
Price: $9.40 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Enter Stuyvesant High, one of the most extraordinary schools in America, a place where the brainiacs prevail and jocks are embarrassed to admit they play on the woeful football team. Academic competition is so intense that students say they can have only two of these three things: good grades, a social life, or sleep. About one in four Stuyvesant students gains admission to the Ivy League. And the school's alumni include several Nobel laureates, Academy Award winners, and luminaries in the arts, business, and public service.

A Class Apart follows the lives of Stuyvesant's remarkable students, such asRomeo, the football team captain who teaches himself calculus and strives to make it into Harvard; Jane, a world-weary poet at seventeen, battling the demon of drug addiction; Milo, a ten-year-old prodigy trying to fit in among high-school students who are literally twice his size; Mariya, a first-generation American beginning to resist parental pressure for ever-higher grades so that she can enjoy her sophomore year. And then there is the faculty, such as math chairman Mr. Jaye, who is determined not to let bureaucratic red tape stop him from helping his teachers. He even finds a job for a depressed math genius who lacks a college degree but possesses the gift of teaching.

This is the story of the American dream, a New York City school that inspires immigrants to come to these shores so that their children can attend Stuyvesant in the first step to a better life. It's also the controversial story of elitism in education. Stuyvesant is a public school, but children must pass a rigorous entrance exam to get in. Only about 3 percent do so, which, Stuyvesant students and faculty point out, makes admission to their high school tougher than to Harvard.

On the eve of the hundredth anniversary of Stuyvesant's first graduating class, reporter Alec Klein, an alumnus, was given unfettered access to the school and the students and faculty who inhabit it. What emerges is a book filled with stunning, raw, and heartrending personalities, whose stories are hilarious, sad, and powerfully moving..
Price: $5.75 [Notify me when price goes down.]

SSAT Flashcard Secrets study system uses repetitive methods of study to teach you how to break apart and quickly solve difficult test questions on the Secondary School Admission Test. Study after study has shown that spaced repetition is the most effective form of learning, and nothing beats flashcards when it comes to making repetitive learning fun and fast. Our flashcards enable you to study small, digestible bits of information that are easy to learn and give you exposure to the different question types and concepts. SSAT Flashcard Secrets covers: Quantitative Review: Dividing Fractions, Equilateral Triangle, Real Numbers, Order of Operations, Corresponding Angles, Adding Decimals, Exponent Powers, Basics of Factors, Obtuse triangle, Irrational Numbers, Area Calculations, The Quadratic Formula, Percentages, Slope Formula, Ratios, General Polynomial, Perimeter Calculations, Intercept, Multiplying Fractions, Complex Numbers, Measurement; Reading Comprehension: Drawing Conclusions, Comparisons and Contrasts, Contextual clues, Predictions; Verbal Review: Vocabulary, and much more....
Price: $39.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Few writers can duck inside the world of teens without resorting to clichés, but journalist Meredith Maran manages to give sideline reports from the lives of three high school seniors without relying on stereotypes or typical adult incredulity. Perhaps it's because Maran's own sons recently passed through the same halls at Berkeley High, but most likely it can be chalked up to solid reporting and writing. A reporter who followed up on a story assignment and spent the 1999-2000 school year in this microcosm of society--dubbed "the most integrated school in the nation"--Maran illustrates some of today's most serious societal problems through the three teenagers she shadows. There's Autumn, a biracial achiever whose father is long gone, forcing her to hand over paychecks to help support the family. There is Keith, a black football jock who struggles with laughable remedial courses, run-ins with the police, and his own illusions about sailing into college on an athletic scholarship. And there is Jordan, the rich white kid who battles with senioritis, as well as depression, a year after his drug-addicted father dies. Along the way, Maran examines academic tracking, school safety in the wake of Columbine, teen sex, suicide, school system politics, decaying campuses, and the everyday trials of being a teenager--and a teacher--in today's high school. There's no hype, just incredible detail and description. Maran manages to be everywhere in these kids' lives and, to her credit, the subjects become living, breathing people, not mere case studies. And readers will find themselves rooting for these teens. Even the most cynical observers will feel they've been granted an insider's view of the drama that plays out daily in our public schools. --Jodi Mailander Farrell.
Price: $2.59 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Leo Tolstoy's novel that is widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction, Tolstoy considered this book his first true novel. The character of Anna was likely inspired, in part, by Maria Hartung (1832–1919), the elder daughter of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin Translated by Constance Garnett.
Price: $1.48 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The author wxplores issues of race, class, and gender among white working class youths, and she considers the roles of school and family in the production of the self. The book also examines the working class teens' attitudes toward and readiness for "postfeminist" thinking and the emerging American New Right. Presenting the first sustained ethnographic investigation of white working class youth in the context of deindustrializatin, Weis offers a complex portrait of how these young people produce themselves in a society vastly different from that of their parents and grandparents..
Price: $35.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Grades K - 2. Delightful poems, research-based lessons, and instant activities are included in this 112 page book. The predictable rhyming text is perfect for the emergent reader. Words are from the Dolch word list..
Price: $8.89 [Notify me when price goes down.]