Books
Harvard University Press, April 2019.
How Girls Achieve examines the experiences of Black girls that attend non-elite schools both in the U.S. and Africa and highlights the specific role of Feminist Schools to act as conduits of equity and democracy.
Listen to Recent Interview on New Books Network
Awards:
2021 Jackie Kirk Outstanding Book Award, Comparative International Education Society
2020 Prose Award in Education Practice, American Publishers Association
2020 Critics Choice Award, American Educational Studies Association; Favorite Books for Educators, UC Berkeley Greater Good Society
Reviewed (academic):
Select Features: Booklist (Starred), ForbesWomen, Washington Post, Ms.Magazine, Gurly Book Club, Good Reads.
Invited Talks: Book Culture, NY (#1bestseller), Politics and Prose, D.C., Global Women’s Institute, D.C., The Regulator, N.C, Card Carrying Shop, N.Y, Women Children First, IL, University of Pennsylvania Book Store, PA., Blue Stockings, N.Y Bookmaks, N.C. Princeton University, Harvard University, Google, Quail Ridge Book Store, National Council on Girls Schools.
Books Donated to: Girls Circle, Baltimore Leadership School, Brave House, Desire to Aspire, Girls Mentor Girls and more.
Cambridge University Press, November 2022
Closed for Democracy examines the relationship between public school closures and democratic disillusionment among Black and Brown communities.
Read more about the book on City Lab/Bloomberg.
Book Summary: Every year, nearly 2,000 public schools are permanently closed across the United States affecting approximately 200,000 students. In 2013, Chicago and Philadelphia closed more public schools in a single year than any other school district in U.S. history. Across both cities, over 20,000 students were affected, 90% of which were low-income and either Black or Latinx. The large-scale and targeted nature of these school closures raises serious questions about the equitable distribution of public goods and its impacts on the political beliefs of Americans. Specifically, when public schools close, what message does this send to those affected about their value as citizens? What lessons do those affected learn about the efficacy of political participation? Further, how do decisions to close schools impact the life and death of a democracy?
Closed for Democracy takes these questions on and illustrates how exposure to the threat of mass public school closure contributes to citizens negative attitudes not only toward the policy, but also government and politics, broadly. Blacks and Latinx citizens, in particular, hold these negative political attitudes despite contrasting policy rationales that promote public school closures as beneficial for their academic achievement. In fact, the book highlights how Black and Latinx citizens become the most likely to participate in community meetings, to advocate for an elected school board and to turnout to vote following the announcement of mass school closure in their communities. Nonetheless, the lack of substantive policy response from the government undermines their belief in the power of political participation thus producing Collective Participatory Debt, even when they are successful at keeping some schools open. Ultimately, this book reveals that when schools shut down, so do affected citizens' access to, and belief in, American democracy.
Awards:
2024 NCOBPS W.E.B Dubois Distinguished Book Award for Closed for Democracy
2023 Prose Finalist in Government and Politics for Closed for Democracy
2023 APSA Ralph J. Bunche Best Book Award for Closed for Democracy
2023 APSA Race, Ethnicity and Politics Section, Best Book Award for Closed for Democracy
2023 APSA Dennis Judd Best Book Award for Closed for Democracy
Reviewed (academic):
Select Features: Chalkbeat, NEPC, IPR, Hetchinger, Nation, American Prospect
