Advance Praise for No BS (Bad Stats)
“As a member of the Little Rock Nine, I know firsthand how racial discrimination and segregation damages schools and harms millions of Black learners. Dr. Toldson is an education activist for this century who skillfully blends academic prose with sharp wit and human sensibilities to challenge wayward thinking and stimulate innovation. We need to stop the BS driving education policy by reading No BS!”
– Ernest Gideon Green, member of the Little Rock Nine (1957)
“Toldson brings science, common sense and passion to bear on an issue on which too many of us have given up. To know Black youth is to recognize their ability to learn when given appropriate opportunities. This is a book well worth reading.”
– Edmund W. Gordon, PhD, John M. Musser Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, Yale University
“No BS is the book the HBCU Community has been waiting for! For those committed to educating students of color, Toldson’s intellectually honest, data driven analysis is a breath of fresh air. This seminal work should be required reading for anyone who is sincere about educational access and equity.”
– Roslyn Clark Artis, JD, EdD, President, Benedict College
“Ivory Toldson, with his cleverly entitled book No BS, is at his best with real talk and real data. He is my numbers scholar. This unique book debunks myths and lies to improve excellence and equity for students of color.”
– Donna Y. Ford, PhD, Professor of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University
“No BS (Bad Stats) is an instant classic! Dr. Toldson masterfully guides the reader through an intellectually invigorating thought-process that debunks the BS (Bad Stats) about Black students to illuminating a pathway for academic success and life transformation. I highly endorse this much-needed contribution to the field of education!”
– Chance W. Lewis, PhD, Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Urban Education, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
“Everything is good about No BS. In an era where ‘alternative facts’ have entered our lexicon, Ivory Toldson lays out the real data, facts and statistics about what’s really going on in the Black community. He also provides keen insights and evidenced-based strategies on how to craft an agenda to empower Black students to realize all of their potential. Terrific book!”
– David Wilson, PhD, President, Morgan State University
Praise for the Author
“Dr. Ivory Toldson is a prolific young scholar and myth buster. He has courageously debunked research and media coverage that perpetuates misleading stereotypes about African Americans. And he is a champion of increasing opportunities for black men, including teaching opportunities.”
– Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in speech, The Enduring and Evolving Role of HBCUs
(https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/enduring-and-evolving-role-hbcus)
“Look deeper into the dispiriting statistics about young black men and boys and you’ll find a rarely acknowledged beauty: an indomitable spirit and irrepressible desire to beat the odds. That’s what Howard University psychology professor Ivory Toldson revealed.”
– Courtland Milloy, Washington Post
“Toldson had another point which was this: This representation of a crisis scenario too often leads to extreme and unhelpful solutions, including a dumbing down of the kinds of educational opportunities that are often directed to black boys, not to mention an ongoing stigma that even the most motivated and excellent students have to fight. He says this refusal to look at the data closely – to prefer a story over the facts – creates more problems than it solves.”
– Michel Martin, NPR
(https://www.npr.org/2014/06/11/320997355/do-you-want-the-truth-or-do-you-just-like-your-story-better)