Short description:

This eminently timely volume explores successful practice and effective intervention strategies in schools to drive school improvement and close the achievement gap for black and minority ethnic students.

Long description:

This eminently timely volume explores the successful practice and effective intervention strategies in schools to drive school improvement and close the achievement gap for Black and minority ethnic students.

Representing a seminal publication in the literature, this book collates 20 years of original research into race, achievement, and educational equality in schools in England to find out what?s really working in education and identify the key areas for improvement. Looking at leading issues such as the curriculum, school exclusions, and language barriers, chapters focus on the lived experiences of headteachers, teachers, parents, pupils, and other school staff obtained through focus groups and interviews. Presenting longitudinal evidence from school surveys and the National Pupil Database, the book considers:

• The scale of the achievement gap and educational inequality


• The barriers to learning for Black and ethnic minorities


• The experience of raising achievement in successful multicultural schools


• Strategies and success factors to drive improvement in schools


• Targeted intervention to tackle inequality


• The international experience to close the achievement gap


• Lessons learned from successful schools to inform policy and practice

Ultimately tackling educational inequality head-on, the book demonstrates concrete strategies for how to close the achievement gap for Black and ethnic minority students and will therefore be essential reading for academics, policymakers, and school staff involved with multicultural education, education policy and politics, and school improvement and effectiveness, as well as race and ethnicity studies more broadly.

?This is a new book by prolific author Professor Feyisa Demie looking at attainment gaps at school for minority ethnic groups, especially Black students. The focus is on England, but there are lessons here for other countries and education systems. Using a combination of research evidence and professional experience the book looks in detail at how ethnic attainment gaps can be, and in some cases have been, successfully addressed. It moves from description, to analysis, and practical recommendations. Its main audience will be policy-makers, school leaders, and other practitioners. But it will be of great interest to anyone concerned with improving outcomes for any disadvantaged groups ? including parents, activists, and the public more generally.?

Stephen Gorard, Professor of Education and Public Policy, Director of the Durham University Evidence for Education, UK

?This is a timely, contemporary and relevant examination of Black and Ethnic Minority Achievement. What makes Feyisa Demie important is his career and research in local authorities which has given him over thirty years of access into culturally diverse schools and classrooms. This is a key text in education and the wider social sciences not only for undergraduate and postgraduate students, but significantly teachers and everybody who works and cares for children and young adults.?

Dr. Richard Race, Senior Lecturer in Education, Teesside University, UK

?This is an excellent book that is firmly located in the ?what works? approach to education. It should be a must read for staff in schools who are teaching diverse pupil communities. It offers a wide range of effective strategies and good practice to address disadvantage and tackle educational inequality. It should prove invaluable to classroom teachers, school leaders and school improvement professionals alike.?

Sean Hayes was a local authority educational researcher for over 30 years and is an Honorary Fellow at the Education Department of Durham University.

Table of Contents:

PART I

Introduction - Black and ethnic minority educational achievement issues, debates, and policy concerns

1    Introduction: Policy concerns and challenges.

2   The achievement gap: the empirical evidence

3    Barriers to learning

PART II

The experience of raising the achievement of Black and ethnic minority students in schools

4   Success factors in improving leadership and teaching to raise achievement

5    Targeted interventions strategy to raise achievement

6     Strategies and success factors to raise pupils with English as an additional language achievement

PART III

Good practice in parental engagement, use of inclusive curriculum, and school exclusions

7     The experience in parental engagement: teachers, headteachers, parents, and pupils view

8    Inclusive curriculums to raise achievement: teachers and headteachers' perspectives

9    Tackling school exclusions of ethnic minority pupils

PART IV

The international experience in raising the achievement of Black and ethnic minority students

10   The international experience in raising the achievement of black and ethnic minority students 

PART V

What are the lessons for those concerned with Black and ethnic minority Achievement?

11   Summary, conclusions, and lessons to raise achievement and tackle inequality

12  Implications for policy and practice