An intimate look at our nation's historically rooted struggle to adequately educate vulnerable children, and a call to action to the privileged who are able to swing wide doors of opportunity.
In every society, individuals use strategies to maintain or improve their social position, as well as their children's position. Although these strategies are different for children who face different challenges, the ability to read and write is a common thread in the lives of people considered to be successful by society at large. Reading and writing, however, are not the only practices involved in literacy. Environments of excellence assist learners in gaining multiple literacies and discourses, or the many ways that people make sense of their world, by developing such skills as critical thinking, self-discipline, curiosity, leadership, motivation, responsibility for learning, and school literacy skills.
In addition to exploring the legacy of excellence that pulses through communities of color, this book is a call to action. The days when we could afford to sit on the sidelines quietly while others make decisions about the fate of our children are long gone, if they ever even existed. We convinced ourselves that once we cast our votes, our elected officials would advance the best interest of our nation, making our children a top priority. It's time to wake up to the bald and uncompromising facts. The gap between white academic achievement and that of students of color is widening, and that statistic holds true even when data from upper social economic levels are examined.
Numerous programs are operating around the country to address the issue of underperformance and how it can be reversed. Through one such program, Freedom Readers, Tracy Swinton Bailey has honed an approach to strengthening communities and the educational prospects of all children that invites the privileged into low-income areas for the purpose of growing literacy skills together. In Forever Free, she outlines how it has worked in rural southern communities, and how it can work around the country.
