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MATTERS OF RACE is a four-part documentary series that explores race, culture, and identity in the United States today. Each of the 60-minute programs focuses on a single story or set of stories that reveals how "matters of race" continue to shape and misshape American life. Each program challenges conventional thinking about difference. Each also raises important questions: ■ What is race? How does it shape identity and inform relationships between self and other? ■ How does notions of race shape a community? A nation? ■ What is the relationship between race and culture? ■ What is the relationship between race and power? ■ How are long-held notions of difference based on race changing today? How are those changes redefining what it means to be an American? ■ What meaning, if any, will race have for future generations?

At NCPIE, our mission is simple: to advocate the involvement of parents and families in their children's education, and to foster relationships between home, school, and community to enhance the education of all our nation's young people. How We Make a Difference Our coalition seeks to: Serve as a visible representative for strong parent and family involvement initiatives at the national level. Conduct activities that involve the coalition's member organizations and their affiliates and constituencies in efforts to increase family involvement. Provide resources and legislative information that can help member organizations promote parent and family involvement.

"In a March 14, 2005, Op-Ed piece published in The New York Times, Dr. Armand Marie Leroi, an evolutionary developmental biologist at Imperial College in London, challenged scholarly approaches that treat race as a social construction, arguing that recent research in the biological and the social sciences offers fresh evidence that racial differences are genetically identifiable. His editorial, "A Family Tree in Every Gene," expresses a more widespread tendency among certain communities of researchers to revise longstanding scientific understandings about the relationship between race and genetics. The SSRC believes the subject of race and genomics warrants critical reflection and debate among researchers and the broader public, given its important implications across an array of disciplines in the biological and social sciences, its potential impact on a number of policy domains, as well as broader consequences for society at large. In an effort to contribute to this discussion, we have commissioned a series of short essays by leading researchers with a diverse set of disciplinary and analytic perspectives. We hope this forum will serve as a tool for scholars, educators, policy makers and students, and promote informed debate on what is no doubt one of the most important public issues of our time."

Talking about what appear to be racial issues with respect to student interactions, student-teacher interactions or interactions among members of the school staff is uncommon. Race is a "hot button" issue in our country, and it may feel that discussing potential misunderstandings or conflicts would make things worse. Moreover, many worry about being seen as insensitive or preoccupied with race. No doubt some issues that could be race-related are not actually related to race. But, this cannot be known without bringing up the issue. The country has made great progress in reducing racial prejudice and discrimination, but negative stereotypes, concerns about fairness, and the absence of comfort in interracial relationships persist. For racial issues to be openly dealt with, school leaders must make clear that it is important to be candid and to trust one another while ensuring that action is taken when problems are identified.

The Freire Project is dedicated to building an international critical community which works to promote social justice in a variety of cultural contexts. We are committed to conducting and sharing critical research in social, political, and educational locations. The project promotes research in Critical Pedagogy, and brings together local and international educators. We are committed to continuing the global development of Critical Pedagogy and to highlighting its relevance with marginalized and indigenous peoples. The Freire Archives and International Journal of Critical Pedagogy are publicly accessible, publications will be available in both hard copy and virtually through this website. Housed in the project are the papers of seminal scholars who have contributed to the evolution of Critical Pedagogy. In addition, the project will promote research in Critical Pedagogy and bring together both local and international educators and continue its development globally while highlighting its relevance with marginalized and indigenous peoples. Critical Pedagogy is a domain of education and research that studies the social, cultural, political, economic, and cognitive dynamics of teaching and learning. Critical Pedagogy emphasizes the impact of power relationships in the educational process. Emerging in the late 1960s with the work of Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, Critical Pedagogy has evolved as a cross-disciplinary field.