FOR HOUSTON ISD EDUCATORS ONLY

This class is based on sound research that has been done by researchers throughout the nation, to show tangible ways to promote the academic achievement of African American and Latino boys and girls.

This class will equip teachers with practical, in classroom methodologies that have shown to advance the academic performance of students of color. Based on the work of researchers such as Claude Steele, Tyrone Howard, Pedro Noguera, Gloria Ladson-Billings, Johnnie McKinely, Gary Howard and Baruti Kafele, this class takes a constructivist and research based approach toward helping educators recognize and combat the negative affect of implicit stereotype thinking and master skills needed to remove barriers to K-12 student learning. As the number of students of color increase in the school districts across the nation, teachers are looking for methods that “move the needle” for advancing the academic performance of African American and Latino students. Teachers will learn how to build counter narratives to inferiority complexes that students harbor and see examples of teachers and schools that are closing the achievement gap through in-classroom practices that work. Although the class focuses much of the material on African American students, the class is structured to provide conceptual frameworks and practices that work across cultures. Each lesson gives clarification for how to apply certain principles to Latino and other students of color. Educators will also learn key facts such as: a) You don’t have to be black to teach black students; b) Holding students to high standards is one of the best ways to break down stereotypes and improve academic performance and c) many other principles and methods that have scientifically been shown to help students learn and perform at high levels.