Transforming America

DeVillar (education, Kennesaw State U.) and Jiang (educational leadership, Kennesaw State U.) make the case for a United States still divided by racism and offer a comprehensive account of how racism is disseminated by the culture, industry, science and academia. This is the basis for their interrogation of how national education policies pushing high-stakes testing and learning metrics that fail to account for out-of-school factors, like income, language and family structure, reproduce racial inequalities. They offer a detailed vision of multicultural education based on the actions of minority groups pressing for equality and equity, while also arguing that cultural cohesion, on a basis of a socioacademic framework, is also needed for renewed global competitiveness. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Robert A. DeVillar, Professor of Education at Kennesaw State University, received a BA in Latin American studies, an MA in ethnic studies, and an MA and PhD in education from Stanford University. He has held tenured faculty and leadership positions within the several university systems. As a year-long Fulbright Scholar at the Center for Social Science Research at the University of Colima, Mexico, he conducted and later published research on indigenous economic, educational, and immigration issues. Other published research includes work in Belize, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Mexico, and various books, journal editorships and articles.
Binbin Jiang is Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership of the Bagwell College of Education at Kennesaw State University. Educated in both China and the United States, Dr. Jiang has over 20 years of experience in teaching, research, and educational administration in both countries, as well as in professional development for K-16 teachers from Mexico, Japan, China, and the United States. Her research focuses on effective teaching and leadership in multicultural education, international education, cross-cultural contexts, second and foreign language learning settings, and the preparation of educational leaders and programs.