The focus on accountability, particularly through the federal No Child Left Behind law, has had the perverse effect of widening the achievement gap between African-American students and their peers. Unfortunately, most education theories do not address the needs of African-American students, and so many teachers enter the classroom without the cultural knowledge needed to effectively instruct African-American students.
In order for learning to be maximized, it has to be related to prior knowledge and experiences. Too often, teachers who struggle to effectively educate African-American students attribute their failure to cultural deficiencies in their students. This explains why African-Americans have overpopulated special education programs. This is not to say that non-African-American educators can’t teach African-American students, because many of them are great educators, but rather that many of them need to become more familiar with the experiences associated with being born African-American. Geographic living patterns prevent this from happening naturally, so it requires a little more effort from the teacher.
