This study reports on four years of classroom research in which alternative teaching strategies, designed to motivate under-achieving inner-city, African-American middle school students, were used and evaluated. The book offers insights into the discrepancy between student’s academic dreams (their high performance aspirations) and the realities of their classroom performance. The issues covered include: the authors' convictions that the disproportionate under-achievement of African- American students is the result of inappropriate teaching strategies; the prevalent use of a Eurocentric curriculum; results of the author’s research; a guide for teachers wishing to carry out their own research and a study of the collaboration between a university and a school in an attempt to bring about change from the ground up.