"This book follows along all the stages in the college prep pipeline: from access in school to participation in classes to demonstration of mastery of the course content. Today's research focuses on the middle stage: who participates in the courses and who does not. Since the turn of the century, scholarly work in the US largely ignores the first part of the pipeline about whether or not students even have access to these courses in their districts. Nearly no studies address mastery, except for the College Board's own reporting on the issue"--

This book walks readers through the stages of the high school college prep pipeline that introduces interlocked structural barriers to students. The author shows how these barriers reinforce segregated structures that unfairly distribute the public good of education to some students and not others. Price argues that the college prep pipeline of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate coursework in American high schools constitutes a new form of tracking in the 21st century. Even further, this new tracking introduces a faade of “college readiness” that veils the unequal learning opportunities that send some students out into the college world with pockets full of counterfeit credentials that serve only to reinforce the historically oppressive system. Whether intentional or not, this new form of tracking is embedded in schools across the United States and have lifetime consequences for individual students that reinforce historically racial, ethnic, and spatial inequalities. “This book is a rigorous and engaging portrait of the architecture of opportunity in American schools. With a fine-grained analysis that never loses sight of the big picture, Heather Price reveals structural realities of college readiness in the United States that are ripe for change.” —Sean Kelly, University of Pittsburgh

Anxiety sufferers, as well as the health professionals and loved ones who support them, are often unaware of the true extent of their struggles. Family and friends misunderstand anxious people, believing they are lazy or lack initiative. Patients seek treatment for the symptoms of anxiety again and again, never addressing the underlying reasons for their disorder. This book covers the complexity of anxiety in everyday life, as well as its effect on happiness and achievement, told through the experiences of anxiety sufferers across life stages, from childhood through retirement years. The author uses scientific literature and 40+ years of clinical experience to describe the major anxiety disorders and to illuminate their scope. For anxiety sufferers, as well as their family members and medical professionals, this book provides solutions for dealing with anxiety before it becomes too overwhelming.

Nya, an inner-city public high school teacher, is committed to her students but desperate to give her only son Omari opportunities they’ll never have. When a controversial incident at his upstate private school threatens to get him expelled, Nya must confront his rage and her own choices as a parent. But will she be able to reach him before a world beyond her control pulls him away? With profound compassion and lyricism, Pipeline brings an urgent conversation powerfully to the fore. Morisseau pens a deeply moving story of a mother’s fight to give her son a future — without turning her back on the community that made him who he is.

A mystery linking Manhattan circa 1991 to eastern Afghanistan in 2012, Blue Hours tells of a life-changing friendship between two memorable heroines. When we first meet Mim, she is a recent college graduate who has disavowed her lower middle class roots to befriend Kyra, a dancer and daughter of privilege, until calamity causes their estrangement. Twenty years later, Kyra has gone missing from her NGO’s headquarters in Jalalabad, and Mim—now a recluse in rural New England—embarks on a journey to find her. In its nuance, originality, and moral complexity, Blue Hours becomes an unexpected page-turner.

This book tells the story of six secondary schools that have succeeded in eliminating or dramatically shrinking the achievement gap between whites and disadvantaged black and Hispanic students. It recounts the stories of the University Park Campus School (UPCS) in Worcester, the American Indian Public Charter School in Oakland, Amistad Academy in New Haven, the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago, the KIPP Academy in the Bronx, and the SEED school in Washington, D.C.