The purpose of this article is to advance Derrick Bell's (1992b) interest-convergence principle as an analytical lens for understanding the complex role of race in the educational experiences of AfricanAmerican football student athletes. Currently, there is a scarcity of educational research that employs a critical theoretical perspective on race to address the education of African-American students in general, and student athletes in particular. This article includes American law cases that attend to the educational experiences of student athletes participating in high profile intercollegiate football programs. The inclusion of the legal literature is meant to adhere to the intellectual and methodological origins of critical race theory and to demonstrate how educational differences are institutionalized through coercion and ideology. The article concludes with a discussion of the interest-convergence principle as a means of investigating and establishing alternative strategies on behalf of the student athlete in order to improve his educational experience and academic outcomes.

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Charter schools have substantial bipartisan support for their expansion. Yet, the bulk of charter school research ascertains that the majority of students in charter schools do not significantly outscore their traditional school peers on measurable indicators of academic performance. Additionally, students in charter schools do not have comparable schooling experiences to their middle-class, White peers in affluent urban and suburban schools. Using critical race theory to analyze recent charter school research, we challenge the notion of marketplace theory as a viable reform strategy to create more equitable education, and we suggest that the substantial financial profits associated with charter schools are one reason policymakers continue to ignore the negative outcomes of charter schools and push for the creation of more charter schools.