DESPITE BEST INTENTIONS TRB P

How Racial Inequality Thrives in Good Schools

By: Amanda E. Lewis

Write A Review

Paperback | 13 April 2017

At a Glance

Paperback
270 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.39 x 15.6 x 1.55

New Edition

Published: 7th February 2025

Paperback

RRP $61.95

$50.75

18%OFF

or 4 interest-free payments of $12.69 with

Ships in 5 to 7 business days

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.

Industry Reviews

"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 Journal of Sociology

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $0.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.