This volume reframes the negative national conversation around educational deficits and academic achievement of Black American students. Echoing John Ogbu's Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb (2003), this volume provides positive counterstories of Black students' and parents' engagement and negotiation through elite suburban public school systems in the face of structural and personal marginalization. These stories bring to light the importance of academic achievement and cultural identity, supportive social networks, managing peer socialization, and working with caring, engaging teachers. The volume then offers practical strategies for addressing racial inequalities that can be used by families and school staff to produce lasting positive changes in equity and opportunity, and close the achievement gaps in growing racially and socio-economically diverse school districts.

Author Biography

Vilma Seeburg is Associate Professor of International-Multicultural Education at Kent State University, OH, USA.