The Brown Legacy and the O’Connor Challenge:Transforming Schools in the Images of Children’s Potential

Abstract

The gap between Blacks and Whites in educational outcomes has narrowed dramatically over the past 60 years, but progress stopped around 1990. The author reviews research suggesting that increasing the quantity and quality of schooling can play a powerful role in overcoming racial inequality. To achieve that goal, he reasons, our knowledge of best instructional practice should drive our conceptions of teachers' work, teachers' expertise, school leadership, and parent involvement. The research agenda supporting this paradigm connects developmental science to instructional practice and school organization and requires close collaboration between practitioners and researchers in a relentless commitment to provide superb educational opportunities to children whose future success depends most strongly on schooling.

What Can Teachers Learn from Research?

“…In relation to this program, there is interesting policy research today that recommends a change from the traditional, privatized custom of teacher autonomy-each teacher working alone, using his or her own professional judgment-to a more public system of shared instruction (see Raudenbush 2009). The program in Algebra 2 I've referred to was one of shared instruction.…”

Myths of Early Math

“…It will serve vulnerable children the most, as they benefit most from a balanced, research-based approach to early mathematics education, as a challenge and a joy [2,62].…”

Robust Reading Instruction in the Early Grades: Conceptual and Practical Issues in the Integration and Evaluation of Tier 1 and tier 2 Instructional Supports

“…Based on our experience, during Tier 1 instruction, students with different reading ability and language proficiency levels are together in one group. Therefore, making Tier 1 instructional materials more focused and systematic helps all students, particularly those students at elevated risk for reading difficulty (Raudenbush, 2009).…”