Young, Gifted, and Black: Promoting High Achievement among African-American Students (Beacon Classics)

“An important and powerful book” that radically reframes the debates swirling around the academic achievement of African-American students (Boston Review)

“The solutions offered by each essay are creative, inspirational, and good old common sense.” —Los Angeles Times

In 3 separate but allied essays, African-American scholars Theresa Perry, Claude Steele, and Asa Hilliard examine the alleged ‘achievement gap’ between Black and white students. Each author addresses how 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. Young, Gifted and Black provides an understanding of how these forces work, opening the door to practical, powerful methods for promoting high achievement at all levels.

In the first piece, Theresa Perry argues that the dilemmas African-American students face are rooted in the experience of race and ethnicity in America, making the task of achievement distinctive and difficult.

Claude Steele follows up with 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.

Finally, Asa Hilliard argues against a variety of false theories and misguided views of African-American achievement, sharing examples of real schools, programs, and teachers around the country that allow African-American students to achieve at high levels.

Now more than ever, Young, Gifted and Black is an eye-opening work that has the power to not only change how we talk and think about African-American student achievement but how we view the African-American experience as a whole.

Theresa Perry is Professor of Africana Studies and Education at Simmons College. She is co-author ofYoung, Gifted and Black, and co-editor of The Real Ebonics Debate, among other books. She is faculty director of the Simmons College/Beacon Press Race, Education and Democracy Lecture and Book Series.

Claude M. Steele, formerly of Stanford University, is the provost and professor of psychology at Columbia University.

Asa Hilliard III (1933-2007) was the Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Urban Education at Georgia State University.