Exploring the social & contextual forces that shape the appearance of academic ability & disability, this book shows how these forces influence the perception of academic underachievement by minority students.

Ability Profiling and School Failure, Second Edition explores the social and contextual forces that shape the appearance of academic ability and disability and how these forces influence the perception of academic underachievement of minority students. At the book's core is the powerful case study of a competent fifth grader named Jay, an African American boy growing up in a predominantly white, rural community, who was excluded from participating in science and literacy discourses within his classroom community.

In this new edition, researcher and...