With each generation, we seek anew to adapt to the changing face of American education. Darlene Leiding burrows into the core of a problem and shows us the kernels of success. Her observations are crisp, insightful and highly relevant. They ring with the truth that comes from living her craft.
Scott M. Taylor, Ed.D., professor, Small Business Management, South ... Read moreCentral College, New Ulm, MN Dr. Leiding takes a unique stance as she explores the worlds and the perspectives of the students who fail. She helps us to see how traditional cultural biases and prejudices target these students for failure long before they have had a chance to succeed. The reader is left with the uncomfortable realization that it may be time to stop trying to figure out what is wrong with these failing youngsters and start putting our energies into trying to figure out what is wrong with the education system we are providing.
Penny A. Armstrong, high school principal, Fort Worth, TX We are living in the most diverse time in the history of the United States. Nowhere is this more evident than in our schools. The author speaks to this current reality and provides us with a desperately needed guide to the many cultures that exist side by side in classrooms and offers us essential strategies for ensuring that ALL students are educated to excel.
Curtiss Paul DeYoung, associate professor, Bethel University, St. Paul, MN Of the leading education issues today, none is more underreported than racial bias that reaches into the classroom. It takes a practitioner with on-the-ground experience to be able to tell this story adequately—and it is not a pretty story. This should be required reading for all teachers and parents.
Laura Waterman Wittstock, founder and former director of Migizi Communications, Minneapolis, MN As a professional, Dr. Darlene Leiding has always been dedicated to education, as evidenced by her degrees and the certifications she has earned in special education. Dr. Leiding has worked with students from all walks of life; she values diversity and accepts it as a challenge for herself.
Mongsher M. Ly, executive director/ co-founder of Urban Academy Charter School Throughout her career, Darlene Leiding has been one step ahead of her peers in working with culturally diverse and academically disadvantaged students. Educators would be wise to heed her thoughts on educating America's youth. She has an important message about yesterday's education system that is failing to educate today's students.
John King, vice president of academic affairs, College Group Career Education Corporation, Hoffman Estates, IL Finally, a book that provide educators facing increasingly multicultural classrooms with a new, and much overdue framework for understanding their interactions with students. Hats off to Darlene Leiding for moving multicultural understanding beyond food, fun and fashion.
Michael Damyanovich, Ed.D., director of curriculum and academic technology, Township High School District 214, Arlington Heights, IL The information presented on the history of immigration in our country really opened my eyes and provided me with a wealth of examples for my students — especially at this time of immigration "reform" in our country. Some of the stories and quotes brought tears to my eyes.
Kim Martinez, Elementary Ed. professor, Troy University A Minneapolis-based expert on charter and alternative schools addresses the challenges of educating students from culturally diverse groups, who as she points out, are fast becoming a majority.
Reference and Research Book News
This volume is a strong addition to the literature about diversity in education. Leiding...offers a more complete picture of the American public school classroom than many textbooks on the subject. Highly recommended.
CHOICE
[Leiding] provides space for the rich history of minority resistance and resilence amidst adversity....This last feature of the book challenges communities of color to address these concerns in a manner within their power, while placing them squarely in the larger history of race relations so as not to blame them for their own vicitimization.
Tcrecord, March 2007
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