About the Author.

Introduction.

PART ONE: IN THE CLASSROOM.

1. "You Can Tell If They Care": Why Students Need Caring and Highly Qualified Teachers.

2. "It Would Be Nice to Learn Something About My Culture": A Plea for a Culturally Relevant and More Interesting Education.

3. "It Don't Make No Sense to Give Us All These Tests": Student Effort, Achievement, and Attitudes About Standardized Tests.

4. "They Just Think We're Loud": How Discipline Policies and Practices Can Affect Students' Attitudes About School.

PART TWO: ON THE SCHOOLYARD.

5. "We Just Can't Seem to Get Along": Race Relations on Campus.

6. "You Don't Know If They're Gonna...Bust a Columbine on Everybody": Why Schools Won't Ever Be Entirely Safe.

7. "Everybody's Intimidated by Us": A Candid Conversation with African American Males.

8. "This Place Is Nasty": How the School's Physical Environment Can Contribute to Student Apathy.

PART THREE: OUT IN THE WORLD: BEYOND THE CLASSROOM AND THE SCHOOLYARD.

9. "Yes! They Do Care About My Education": Parent Involvement in Schools.

10. "They Should Worry More About Our Future": Why America's Stepchildren Need a College Preparatory Curriculum.

11. The Truth Can Set Us Free! Seven Lessons I've Learned About School Reform in America.

Bibliography.

Appendix A: Teacher Demographics.

Appendix B: Student Demographics.

Appendix C: Additional Information About the Student Questionnaire Respondents.

Appendix D: Teacher Questionnaire Results.

Appendix E: Student Questionnaire Results.

Appendix F: Classroom Management Exercise 1.

Appendix G: Classroom Management Exercise 2.

Index.