Making School Count 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 students' academic dreams (their high performance aspirations) and the realities of their classroom performance.Issues 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 authors' research*a guide for teachers wishing to carry out their own research*a study of the collaboration between a university and a schools in an attempt to bring about change from the ground up.