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The last word: an interview with Alfred P. Tatum.

Article Excerpt
JAA: What is your definition of the achievement gap?

Tatum: I define the achievement gap as the difference between high academically performing students and low academically performing students as indicated by scores on standardized reading and math assessments, placement in middle and high schools, and grade point averages that are often quite arbitrary in the absence of clear academic performance standards and consistent assessment profiles of students' work.

JAA: How does teaching reading to Black adolescent males serve to close the achievement gap?

Tatum: I am assuming here that you are referring to Black adolescent males who are not performing well in schools based on some of the indicators I mentioned above, the young men who are disproportionately assigned to special education courses or lower level reading and math tracks, and the ones who opt to drop out of high school after years of accumulated failures.

JAA: Yes.

Tatum: High-quality reading instruction can interrupt the accumulated failure they experience if their difficulties are reading-related. In addition, taking a broader perspective of reading instruction that aims to empower these young men through curriculum choices, forms of responsive pedagogy, and texts they find meaningful and significant can nurture the resilience of many young adolescent males who come to view themselves as vulnerable in school and society. Resilience theorists often talk about risk contributors and protective factors. High-quality reading instruction that is based on sound reading research and has the interdisciplinary depth and theoretical grounding can and will serve as a protective factor for Black adolescent males. Ultimately, the...

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