minority students

Can five overlooked kids make one big difference? There's George: the brain Sara: the loner Dayara: the tough kid Nico: the rich kid And Miguel: the athlete And they're stuck together when they're forced to complete their school's community service hours. Although they're sure they have nothing in common with one another, some people see them as all the same... just five Spanish-speaking kids. Then they meet someone who truly needs their help, and they must decide whether they are each willing to expose their own secrets to help... or if remaining invisible is the only way to survive middle school.

"Kendra James began her professional life selling a lie. As an admissions officer specializing in diversity recruitment for select prep schools, her job was persuading students and families to embark on the same perilous journey attending cutthroat and largely white schools similar to The Taft School, an elite institution in Connecticut where she had been the first African-American legacy student only a few years earlier. Forced to reflect on her own elite educational experience, she quickly became disillusioned by America's inequitable system."--.

Offers teachers practical strategies for creating language workshops in linguistically diverse classrooms, explaining the best ways to teach grammar, vocabulary, and phonics to students who speak different languages.

Examines the performance rate of African-American and Hispanic students compared to others, the reasons several programs including Head Start and Title I have not closed the gap, and possible solutions.

Addresses the cultural needs of ethnic groups within the curriculum and in the library collection.