That teachers need to understand themselves—their talents as well as their shortcomings, their sensitivities as well as their biases—before they can be effective with students of all backgrounds is by now fairly well accepted. In Questioning Assumptions and Changing Perceptions, authors Connie Schaffer, Meg White, and Corine Meredith Brown go beyond platitudes to explore not only why but also how teachers and other educators can do so. This book will be useful for novice as well as veteran teachers who want to make a difference for themselves and their students.

Sonia Nieto, Professor Emerita in Language, Literacy, and Culture at the College of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Building on an urban ecological framework, this book powerfully shepherds preservice and inservice teachers into processes of reflection on unexamined assumptions that can lead to practices detrimental for youth. Educators interested in learning more about how their beliefs and mindsets shape their practice should read this book. The authors remind educators that they must be audaciously deliberate in their efforts to learn and develop as they work to support their students in urban environments who deserve our best everyday! This is an important book!

H. Richard Milner IV, author of Rac(e)ing to Class, Confronting poverty and race in schools and classrooms