Education Commons^™

Not So “Black And White” An Examination Of The Theoretical Perspectives And Empirical Research Of The Afrocentric School Debate, Emma Rose Bonanno

2015 Undergraduate Awards

This paper explores the public debate of "Afrocentric Schools", as an alternative education system. In an attempt to explain the relative underachievement of African-American students, various theoretical perspectives concerning the black-white achievement gap are presented. Furthermore, the author examines existing empirical evidence concerning the achievement/underachievement of African-American students, offering either support or disapproval for Afrocentric Schools. In addition, The Africentric Alternative School in Toronto is utilized as a case study to examine the efficacy of Afrocentric Schools. The examined empirical evidence illustrates that the Afrocentric School debate is not so "black and white". Rather, the black-white achievement gap depends on …