Race, Class, and Family Intervention

In recent times, actor, comedian, and educator, Bill Cosby sparked a national debate over the role of poor black families in raising their children. Additionally, scholars including Reginald Clark, Annette Lareau, John Ogbu, Javier Tapia, James Comer, and William A. Sampson have done research that suggests that many poor black and Latino families have child-rearing strategies and home environments that are inconsistent with school achievement. Each of these educators contend that in order to increase student achievement, minority families need to change if their children are to do better in life and in school. Race, Class, and Family Intervention: Engaging Parents and Families for Academic Success reports on efforts to intervene in the home life of a group of nonwhite parents and grandparents who have low-performing children. Each family was asked to adopt the characteristics of middle-class families. This research-conducted on eight disadvantaged black and Latino families-details the author's analysis of the intervention and a conclusion based on actual results. Race, Class, and Family Intervention will be of interest to anyone striving to improve the education of minority students.