Racial Inequality and American Education: Policies, Practices and Politics: Pedro A. Noguera

On February 5, 2015, The Bahá'í Chair for World Peace invited Pedro A. Noguera to give a lecture on Racial Inequality and American Education: Policies, Practices and Politics as part of the 2015 Bahá'í Chair for World Peace Spring Symposium in the series on Structural Racism and the Root Causes of Prejudice.

Several commentators have described the effort to close the racial achievement gap in education as the civil rights issue of the 21st century. However, most of those who have made this pronouncement (Education Secretary Arne Duncan and President Barack Obama to name only two) have never spelled out exactly what this actually means or what it should entail. At a time when all forms of inequality in American society are increasing is it reasonable to expect that schools can play a role in creating a more equitable society? Have the education policies our nation has pursued (No Child Left Behind and now Race for the Top) helped or hindered the effort to use education as a means to promote social equality? These questions and others will be explored in a probing analysis of the role and potential of education in reducing racial inequality in American society.

About the Speaker:
Pedro Noguera is the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York University. He holds tenured faculty appointments in the departments of Teaching and Learning and Humanities and Social Sciences at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Development at NYU. He is also the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. Dr. Noguera is the author of eight books and over 150 articles and monographs. His most recent books are “School for Resilience: Improving the Life Trajectory of African American and Latino Boys”, “Creating the Opportunity to Learn” with A. Wade Boykin (ASCD, 2011) and “Invisible No More: Understanding and Responding to the Disenfranchisement of Latino Males” with A. Hurtado and E. Fergus (Routledge, 2011). Dr. Noguera appears as a regular commentator on educational issues on CNN, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and other national news outlets. From 2009 - 2012 he served as a Trustee for the State University of New York (SUNY) as an appointee of the Governor. He serves on the boards of numerous national and local organizations including the Economic Policy Institute, the Young Women’s Leadership Institute, The After School Corporation and The Nation Magazine. In 2013 he was appointed to the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society and in 2014 he was appointed to the National Academy of Education. Noguera recently received awards from the Center for the Advanced Study of the Behavioral Sciences/Sage for outstanding achievement in advancing the understanding of the behavioral and social sciences as they are applied to pressing social issues, the National Association of Secondary Principals for distinguished service to the field of education, and from the McSilver Institute at NYU for his research and advocacy efforts aimed at fighting poverty.

Copyright: University of Maryland 2015