Educating for Competence in Community and Culture

Abstract

There are too few positive images of African-American teachers in the education literature. In this article, the author reports the results of two ethnographic studies of 18 exemplary African-American teachers. Using the teachers' words, their backgrounds, educational philosophies, and the relationship between the two are described. The author emphasizes the differences that teachers' backgrounds make in their conceptions of the purpose and function of schooling and its relationship to education. She also argues that their knowledge of their community's norms and of the position of that community within the larger society explains their success with students.