Ogbu, John (2003). Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement. Reviewed by Yovonda Ingram, College of Notre Dame of Maryland

	Ogbu, John (2003). Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Pages: xx + 320 $32.50   ISBN 0-8058-4516-X Reviewed by Yovonda Ingram College of Notre Dame of Maryland November 14, 2006 The achievement gap between minority and majority students has been studied for years as it relates to societal and school factors. However, community forces have not received as much attention in the quest to close the minority achievement gap. Community forces include the ways minorities interpret and respond to schooling: these interpretations and responses extend to cultural and language differences (p. vii). In this book, the author completes an ethnographic study on community forces in an attempt to explain why the Black students in the Shaker Heights school district are not performing academically like their white counterparts. Shaker Heights is an upper middle class suburb located outside Cleveland Ohio. The school system is one of the best in the nation; however, a wide gap in academic achievement existed between White and Black students. As ethnographers, the author and his team lived in Shaker Heights and interacted on a daily basis with African Americans in the community and at school. For eight months, they collected data using group and individual discussion, formal documents, and participant observations. They also conducted individual interviews with students, school personnel, and community members. This research was conducted using four elementary schools, one middle school and the community’s high school. I believe that this study is valuable on developing a framework for understanding the Black-White achievement gap. Ogbu begins the book by discussing historical facts that largely impacted the way in which black minorities were educated. Cases such as Brown v. Board of Education were mentioned to provide some foundational information that may have contributed to the causes of the gap that exists today. I believe that the author referenced this historical case because it is hard to explain the gap that exists between blacks and whites without facing the brutal facts that unequal education did legally exist. Although the author mentions historical cases as a factor that may have contributed to the academic disenchantment, he does not focus the study on this information. Ogbu continues his study with an exploration on academic disengagement. He talks about factors such as intelligent quotient (IQ), social class status, teacher expectation, social differences and sociolinguistic differences. The idea that the lower school performance of Black students is due to inadequate IQ has persisted throughout the history of American education (p. 33). However, in the context of Shaker Heights Blacks, the inadequate-IQ explanation is inapplicable because their performance on IQ tests did not predict their academic achievement. Ogbu found that low teacher expectations coexisted with students’ unwillingness or refusal to do class work or homework (p. 37). Findings from this study also indicate that students suffer from social and sociolinguistic differences. While the author recognizes that schooling in the United States is based on White culture, he challenges us to move away from this viewpoint and to consider school as an institution that prepares students for their future adult cultural task and roles in society. After Ogbu explains some causes of the achievement gap, he discusses societal and school factors. In this section, he looks at race relations, Pygmalion or internalized White beliefs and expectations, leveling or tracking, and the roles of teachers, counselors, and discipline. He describes how cultural racism and hegemony are manifested in the attitudes and actions of White school authorities toward Black students (p. 39). The conversation on hegemony is particularly important, because through conversations with Black students, they express how they feel inferior to white people. For example, one middle school student noted that no Black American has ever been elected President of the United States, thus making him feel as if Black people will never reach that status (p. 251). Another example evolved from a conversation with a high school student who noted that “sometimes in the classroom, black kids seem to think that Blacks are inferior to Whites and I think that takes a toll on some Black students. They unconsciously act like society believes Blacks will act because they are inferior” (p. 78). The author further explains that both the hegemonic practices of the school and the interpretations leading to the feelings of inferiority of the Black community must change in order for the achievement gap to narrow. Teachers must maintain high expectations for all students, black and white, and students must put forth the effort needed to succeed. The last section of this book focuses on community forces. These final chapters are about the educational impact of opportunity structure, collective identity, cultural and language or dialect frame of reference in school, peer pressures, and the role of the family. Some major findings from this section indicate that Black students feel compelled to work twice as hard as their White peers. However, even though Black students recognized the importance of working hard to make good grades, they had not developed the habit of working hard to make good grades or making it a priority. Another finding shows that Black students identified sports, athletics, entertainment, and drug dealing as alternative mechanisms for achieving the “American Dream.” Other findings from the research on community forces identify a Black child’s resistance to “acting White” and how ambivalence has impacted the attitudes of the community. Lastly, the findings from the family research indicates that Black families lack a close supervision of children’s homework, poor coaching for effective time management, lack of shielding negative peer pressures, and ineffective methods for motivating children to engage in schoolwork. In this section, Ogbu does an excellent job of bringing to the forefront the community issues that largely impact academic disengagement. The book “speaks” the “silent truths” that exist in the minds of the Shaker Heights community. Through group and individual discussions, individual interviews, formal documents, and participant observations, the author was able to extract the ingredients that make up the perceptions that lead to the achievement gap. Ogbu is to be commended for not placing blame on the community or the school. He does, however, identify factors and truths that contribute to the achievement gap. One major finding from his research is that the Black community and the school system are both responsible for the academic disengagement of Black students. Recommendations from this study are based on this joint responsibility and the belief that the community and the school system should also share the responsibility for solving the problem collectively. Ogbu recommends that the community and school authorities read and critically discuss the research findings from this study, followed by conversations with all stakeholders (p. 274). The hope is that the discussions will lead to changes in the community and in school policy that will lead to the closing of the achievement gap. A major recommendation for the school system is to enhance the effectiveness of the Minority Achievement Committee (MAC) program in the school because it “integrated Black collective identity with academic identity” (p. 282). The author also advocated increased parent involvement by providing workshops on leveling and tracking and other structural features within the school that assist parents in helping their children make more informed academic decisions. For the Black community, Ogbu suggests the following: enhance academic orientation with supplementary educational programs; develop a cultural context to increase the value of academic success and the visibility of academically successful Blacks as role models; distinguish the affective from the pragmatic value of education; develop and institutionalize appropriate and effective parental educational strategies; and teach children how to work hard and persevere to make good grades. Many African American families are moving into affluent suburbs with the idea that their child will receive a better education. However, the fact remains that an achievement gap exists between the blacks and whites even in these communities. Ogbu's research can benefit Black families in these affluent neighborhoods as well as families in less affluent black communities. About the Reviewer Yovonda Ingram is a doctoral student in Education at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.