Closing the educational achievement gap has been a schooling issue since Brown v. Board of Topeka, Kansas decision. Generally, the learning achievement of elementary and secondary African-American student has been an issue in majority school populations across the United States. And evidence of performance of these students appears to be more dismal than ever before. A becoming challenge to contemporary educators is manifested in the need for classroom instructional processes that can serve as solutions for decreasing the achievement gap which plagues segments of the African-American student population. The term "educators" used herein is inclusive of administrators and counselors, as well as instructional personnel.The purpose of this paper is to identify and examine research-based findings on effective instructional practices in the context of their applicability for classroom teaching-learning situations. Such information can be valuable to the student learning-achievement work of teachers and instructional support personnel. Particularly, this knowledge can be valuable to teachers in the decisions they make about their students, content, and their teaching. This paper addresses the interrelationship of these decisions and teachers' instructional plan regarding teaching methods and strategies. Teacher decision-making is a critical component of the instructional planning process. Additional to the research on effective teaching, this paper presents teacher development outcomes from workshops settings and best practice instructional strategies for practitioners.