"It is ironic that our ever-present preoccupation with closing the achievement gap is insufficiently articulated in current federal education policy. To this end, Pierre Orelus' study cogently underscores the fruitfulness of caring teachers' persistence in bridging the all-too-frequent gulf that exists between school and community together with an apprenticeship model that saturates youth in academic discourses. This is an encouraging and inspiring read." - Angela Valenzuela, College of Education, University of Texas at Austin, author of Subtractive Schooling and Leaving Children Behind.