Chapter 1: Alternative Schools: Portraits in Black and White.

Chapter 1 of the book "Building Community in an Alternative School: The Perspective of an African American Principal," by Lionel H. Brown and Kelvin S. Beckett is presented. This chapter introduces the case study conducted by the authors which looked at new practices of alternative elementary and middle schools in urban districts for the transformation of the way people approach the education of younger students. It says that in the U.S., there are approximately 11,000 public alternative schools, which enroll more than 600,000 students.