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The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of African American children’s oral language skills with the intention of building the understanding of how these skills translate to classroom contexts. The chapter also summarizes the goals of the Common Core that are specifically related to speaking and listening and describes how African American children might meet these goals.

This introduction chapter provides an overview of the key issues highlighted throughout this book. First, we tackle why it is problematic to only characterize Black children’s accomplishment in terms of the “academic achievement gap.” Second, we discuss the importance of the home-school environment connection. Finally, we discuss the changes that need to be made in terms of teacher preparation in order to ensure that the workforce can practice racial equity in the classroom. All these issues are woven together by a call for closing the education opportunity gap via “equity adjustments” that can target educational and health disparities facing the Black community.

In this chapter, we dismantle the current educational rhetoric that pervasively characterizes Black children as being at-risk, deficient, or underachievers. Instead, we replace this deficit-oriented rhetoric with one that encapsulates the cultural and educational excellence that inspires Black children to reach their potential. First, we provide an overview of the current educational landscape for Black children and articulate by whom and how Black children are being educated. Next, we then define educational success and excellence within the context of an African-centric perspective of holistic development and wellness. Then, we highlight programs, schools, and approaches that have been successful in educating Black children. Finally, we identify key principles and guidelines in educating Black children that will have educational, research, and policy implications.