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Also by Pedro Noguera:

Unfinished Business, April 2006
Hardcover

UNFINISHED BUSINESS
By: Pedro Noguera

Closing the Racial Achievement Gap in Our Schools

Jossey-Bass
April 2006
336 pages
ISBN: 0787972754
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction

"Fulfilling the promise of public education is the reason that so many schools and districts are now working desperately to find ways to close the achievement gap. The persistence of wide disparities in achievement that correspond with the race and class backgrounds of students serves as a reminder that America remains a deeply divided nation, a place where the lines separating the haves and the have-nots are manifest in every facet of our lives." --from the Preface

In this groundbreaking book, co-editors Pedro Noguera and Jean Yonemura Wing and their collaborators investigated the dynamics of race and achievement at Berkeley High School--a large public high school that the New York Times called "the most integrated high school in America." Berkeley's diverse student population clearly illustrates the "achievement gap" phenomenon in our schools. Unfinished Business brings to light the hidden inequities of schools--where cultural attitudes, academic tracking, curricular access, and after-school activities serve as sorting mechanisms that set students on paths of success or failure.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS examines the results of the Berkeley High School Diversity Project, a six year research and organizing project that brought together high school students, parents, teachers, staff, and university researchers to explore how a school and a community can act together to address the racial disparities that exist in academic performance. The book explores what factors contribute to the disparity in academic achievement between students of different racial and class backgrounds, and identifies the factors that are responsible for the racial separation of students within the school.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS analyzes the successes and failures the project members encountered during their work and describes the revelations and insights they gained during the project. While the task of closing the achievement gap is daunting, Unfinished Business explains the concrete steps that parents, educators, and the larger community can take to help close the education gap in their community.

Media Buzz

Lou Dobbs Tonight - June 29, 2006