V99 N5 kappanonline.org 51 •••• R&D •••• R&D appears in each issue of Kappan with the assistance of the Deans Alliance, which is composed of the deans of the education schools/colleges at the following universities: George Washington University, Harvard University, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, Teachers College Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Colorado, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Wisconsin. Looking to near peers to guide student discussions about race To engage high school students in learning about racial identity and difference, ask college students to lead the discussion. By Donna Rich Kaplowitz, Jasmine A. Lee, and Sheri L. Seyka A black student tweets at a white teammate that it is not OK for him to use the “N” word, and the white teammate tweets back, “I can say whatever I want whenever I want.” The next day at school, the black student throws a punch and is suspended. The white student walks away. This particular incident occurred recently in a Midwestern high school. However, ver- sions of it are playing out in countless schools across the country. Teachers and administra- tors everywhere are searching for ways to address racial tensions before they erupt in classrooms and hallways, but many lack the skills needed to teach young people how to live, work, and thrive in diverse communities. Further, at a time when 80% of public school teachers are white but almost half of students are not (Maxwell, 2014), many educators are DONNA RICH KAPLOWITZ (donnak@msu.edu) is an assistant professor of teacher education and a faculty฀associate,฀Off฀ce฀of฀Inclusion฀and฀Intercultural฀ Initiatives, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich. JASMINE A. LEE (leejasm@msu.edu) is Neighborhood Student Success Collaborative, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich. SHERI L. SEYKA (sheri.seyka@elps.us) is chair of the English depart- ment at East Lansing High School, East Lansing, Mich. Students share their reflections about what they learned about dialogue during an end-of-the-semester open house. Photo by Donna Rich Kaplowitz.