
Despite the Best Intentions
How Racial Inequality Thrives in Good Schools
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 8. June 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-0-19-066982-9 (ISBN)
Description
On the surface, Riverview High School looks like the post-racial ideal. Serving an enviably affluent, diverse, and liberal district, the school is well-funded, its teachers are well-trained, and many of its students are high achieving. Yet Riverview has not escaped the same unrelenting question that plagues schools throughout America: why is it that even when all of the circumstances seem right, black and Latino students continue to lag behind their peers?
Through five years' worth of interviews and data-gathering at Riverview, John Diamond and Amanda Lewis have created a rich and disturbing portrait of the achievement gap that persists more than fifty years after the formal dismantling of segregation. As students progress from elementary school to middle school to high school, their level of academic achievement increasingly tracks along racial lines, with white and Asian students maintaining higher GPAs and standardized testing scores, taking more advanced classes, and attaining better college admission results than their black and Latino counterparts. Most research to date has focused on the role of poverty, family stability, and other external influences in explaining poor performance at school, especially in urban contexts. Diamond and Lewis instead situate their research in a suburban school, and look at what factors within the school itself could be causing the disparity. Most crucially, they challenge many common explanations of the 'racial achievement gap,' exploring what race actually means in this situation, and why it matters.
An in-depth study with far-reaching consequences, Despite the Best Intentions revolutionizes our understanding of both the knotty problem of academic disparities and the larger question of the color line in American society.
Through five years' worth of interviews and data-gathering at Riverview, John Diamond and Amanda Lewis have created a rich and disturbing portrait of the achievement gap that persists more than fifty years after the formal dismantling of segregation. As students progress from elementary school to middle school to high school, their level of academic achievement increasingly tracks along racial lines, with white and Asian students maintaining higher GPAs and standardized testing scores, taking more advanced classes, and attaining better college admission results than their black and Latino counterparts. Most research to date has focused on the role of poverty, family stability, and other external influences in explaining poor performance at school, especially in urban contexts. Diamond and Lewis instead situate their research in a suburban school, and look at what factors within the school itself could be causing the disparity. Most crucially, they challenge many common explanations of the 'racial achievement gap,' exploring what race actually means in this situation, and why it matters.
An in-depth study with far-reaching consequences, Despite the Best Intentions revolutionizes our understanding of both the knotty problem of academic disparities and the larger question of the color line in American society.
Reviews / Votes
"Lewis and Diamond persuasively explain the gross misalignment between abstract values and unequal outcomes. In a racially diverse school like Riverview, parents, teachers, and students can value diversity and equality in principle, but they can also behave in ways that exacerbate and reproduce class and racial hierarchies, resulting in an achievement gap that will not disappear with raceneutral policies." - Jennifer Lee, Columbia University, American Journalof Sociology
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
465 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-066982-9 (9780190669829)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

John Diamond | Amanda Lewis
Despite the Best Intentions
How Racial Inequality Thrives in Good Schools
Book
09/2015
Oxford University Press Inc
€52.10
Shipment within 15-20 days

Amanda E. Lewis | John B. Diamond
Despite the Best Intentions
How Racial Inequality Thrives in Good Schools
E-Book
08/2015
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€9.99
Available for download

Amanda E. Lewis | John B. Diamond
Despite the Best Intentions
How Racial Inequality Thrives in Good Schools
E-Book
08/2015
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€9.99
Available for download
Persons
Amanda Lewis studies racial dynamics in the contemporary US. Her research focuses on how race shapes educational opportunities and on how our ideas about race get negotiated in everyday life. She is the author of the award-winning Race in the Schoolyard: Negotiating the color-line in classrooms and communities along with several other volumes. She is on the faculty in the Departments of Sociology and African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
John Diamond is a sociologist of education who focuses on how race, ethnicity, and social class intersect with school leadership, practices, and policies to shape educational opportunities and outcomes. He is the Hoefs-Bascom Professor of Education at University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education. Previously, he was an associate professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and past research director for a consortium of U.S. schools that used research to address racial achievement disparities.
John Diamond is a sociologist of education who focuses on how race, ethnicity, and social class intersect with school leadership, practices, and policies to shape educational opportunities and outcomes. He is the Hoefs-Bascom Professor of Education at University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education. Previously, he was an associate professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and past research director for a consortium of U.S. schools that used research to address racial achievement disparities.
Author
Associate ProfessorAssociate Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Associate Professor of SociologyAssociate Professor of Sociology, Emory University
Content
PREFACE
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 2 - RACE, OPPOSITIONAL CULTURE, AND SCHOOL OUTCOMES: ARE WE BARKING
UP THE WRONG TREE?
CHAPTER 3 - THE ROAD TO DETENTION IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS: RACE AND
DISCIPLINE AT RIVERVIEW
CHAPTER 4 - "IT'S LIKE TWO HIGH SCHOOLS:" RACE, TRACKING, AND PERFORMANCE
EXPECTATIONS
CHAPTER 5 - OPPORTUNITY HOARDING: CREATING AND MAINTAINING RACIAL ADVANTAGE
CHAPTER 6 - CONCLUSION
APPENDIX A
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 2 - RACE, OPPOSITIONAL CULTURE, AND SCHOOL OUTCOMES: ARE WE BARKING
UP THE WRONG TREE?
CHAPTER 3 - THE ROAD TO DETENTION IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS: RACE AND
DISCIPLINE AT RIVERVIEW
CHAPTER 4 - "IT'S LIKE TWO HIGH SCHOOLS:" RACE, TRACKING, AND PERFORMANCE
EXPECTATIONS
CHAPTER 5 - OPPORTUNITY HOARDING: CREATING AND MAINTAINING RACIAL ADVANTAGE
CHAPTER 6 - CONCLUSION
APPENDIX A
REFERENCES