Every Closed Eye Ain’t Sleep: African American Perspectives on the Achievement Gap

Every Closed Eye Ain’t Sleep: African American Perspectives on the Achievement Gap examines the origins and perpetuation of the achievement gap from the perspective of the African American community. Instead of accepting the achievement gap as an inevitable matter of fact, Every Closed Eye Ain’t Sleep questions the fundamental beliefs that perpetuate the gap. Drawing on dialogue with African American community members, Teresa Hill advances a framework for understanding a predominant African American view of the educational process. She then juxtaposes this framework with the norms perpetrated by the educational establishment to demonstrate how disagreements about the roles and responsibilities of parents, teachers and students affect community members’ experiences in schools. Every Closed Eye Ain’t Sleep opens a dialogue about the achievement gap on different terms, analyzes the gap as an issue of social justice, and provides educational leaders and policymakers with ways to engage in the productive dialogue necessary to improve education for African American children.