Foreword Christine E. Sleeter The Social Construction of Children and Families "at Risk": An Introduction Beth Blue Swadener and Sally Lubeck I Deconstructing the "at Risk" Label 1. Children and Families "at Promise":Deconstructing the Discourse of Risk Beth Blue Swadener 2. Mothers at Risk Sally Lubeck 3. The Politics of Who's "at Risk" Michelle Fine II Children and Families at Promise 4. Voice Unaltered: Marginalized Young Writers Speak Elizabeth Quintero and Mary Kay Rummel 5. "Motherwit": Childrearing Lessons from African American Mothers of Low Income Donelda A. Cook and Michelle Fine 6. Exploding the Myths: African American Families at Promise Mary Smith Arnold 7. Native Americans at Promise: Travel in Borderlands Carolyne J. White III Reconstructing Classrooms and Community Contexts 8. Learning in and out of School: Critical Perspectives on the Theory of Cultural Compatibility B. Robert Tabachnick and Marianne N. Bloch 9. Creating a Classroom Culture of Promise: Lessons from a First Grade Mary E. Hauser and Cynthia Thompson 10. Student Success: A Matter of Compatibility and Expectations Joyce S. Waldoch 11. Advocating for Aric: Strategies for Full Inclusion Lisa Leifield and Tina Murray Epilogue Naming and Blaming: Beyond a Pedagogy of the Poor Valerie Polakow Contributors Index

"In Children and Families 'At Promise': Deconstructing the Discourse of Risk we see how deconstructing the at risk label is inextricably linked to a critical analysis of pervasive poverty and exclusionary and discriminatory educational practices within our society. Many myths have been decoded in these chapters. The 'at promise' narratives present a countertext of possiblility and action. It is clear, in reading the accounts of successful classrooms in this book, that when classrooms do become landscapes of promise, they offer children a place where their selfhood matters, where they do find acceptance and possibility, and where they can become meaningmakers within their lifeworld of school." — from the Epilogue by Valerie Polakow, author of Lives on the Edge: Single Mothers and Their Children in the Other America