Learning in a Burning House: Educational Inequality, Ideology, and (Dis)Integration

''I hope Dr. Horsford's book will spur much discussion about the greatest national security threat faced by our nation: millions of illiterate and poorly prepared children unprepared to meet the future demands in an increasingly competitive globalizing economy. Wake up, America!'' --From the foreword by Marian Wright Edelman, Founder and President, Children's Defense Fund
''Learning in a Burning House tackles head-on the complex issues of race, power, and politics in education and is a must read for anyone troubled by the current state of urban education and committed to doing something about it.'' --Joyce E. King, Benjamin E. Mays Endowed Chair for Urban Teaching, Learning & Leadership, Georgia State University
The negative consequences of school desegregation on Black communities in the United States are now well documented in education research. Learning in a Burning House is the first book to offer a historical look at the desegregation dilemma with clear recommendations for what must be done to ensure Black student success in today's schools. This important book centers race and voice in the desegregation discourse, examining and reconceptualizing the meaning of ''equal education.'' Featuring the unique perspectives of Black school leaders, Horsford provides a critical race analysis of how racism has undermined the integration ideal and the subsequent schooling of Black children. Most importantly, the book discusses how meaningful education reform must be grounded in a moral activist vision of equal education through a cross-racial commitment to racial literacy, realism, reconstruction, and reconciliation in our schools and society.