Education
Overview
Many groups organize in order to address the persistent and profoundly disturbing statistical differences in academic outcomes for students by race/ethnicity. Some of the root causes of these disparities are well known. The educational system in the United States is itself profoundly inequitable. A system of funding derived from unequal local tax bases coupled with neighborhoods that remain intensely segregated ensures differences by race/ethnicity. Compared to white children, children of color are more likely to attend schools that are overcrowded, under-funded, with fewer up to date materials and less current technology, and a lower percentage of highly qualified teachers in the subjects being taught. This is not to deny that many students in these circumstances succeed to high levels, or that many highly trained, dedicated and effective teachers and other educational staff are doing excellent work every day. However, the truth remains that students of color experience potent current and accumulated disadvantages. It is thus not surprising that differences in educational opportunities are mirrored in differences in academic achievement by race/ethnicity at every level – in access to high quality pre-school, credit accumulation and rates of high school graduation, college admissions, retention and graduation, etc. Resources in this section provide conceptual information, examples and potential entry points for change.
Key sites
- Justice Matters
- The Civil Rights Project
- EdChange
- Alliance for Educational Justice
- The Alliance to Reclaim our Schools
Tools
- Action for Access: Do Your Students Have Access?
- Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality in Special Education: Data Analysis Workbook
- Equity in Education: Key Questions to Consider
- Racial Equity Analysis Tool
Research
- Appealing to Mississippi Values: Identifying Values That Elevate Support for Education Reform and for Addressing Racial Disparities in Mississippi
- The Benefits of Racial and Economic Integration in Our Education System: Why This Matters for Our Democracy
- Beyond the Test Scores: Teaching and Learning Under Arrest
- The New Frontier: An Integrated Framework for Equity & Transformative Improvement in Education
- Reviving the Goal of an Integrated Society: A 21st Century Challenge
- School Accountability under NCLB: Aid or Obstacle for Measuring Racial Equity?
- The Segregation of American Teachers
- The Urgency of Now: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males
- Reversing the Rising Tide of Inequality: Achieving Education Equity for Each and Every Child
- For Each and Every Child
- A Timeline of Boston School Desegregation, 1961-1985 With Emphasis on 1964-1976
- The Distribution of Grants and Scholarships by Race
- Segregation Now
- Brown at 60: Great Progress, a Long Retreat and an Uncertain Future
- Performance Funding at MSIs: Considerations for Public Minority Serving Institutions
- Heading in the Wrong Direction: Growing School Segregation on Long Island
- The Time for Equity Indicators Framework
- The Economic Benefits of Closing the U.S. Academic Achievement Gap
- The School Discipline Consensus Report
- A Better Start: Why Classroom Diversity Matters in Early Education
- Cheating Our Future: How Decades of Disinvestment Jeopardizes Equal Educational Opportunity
- Policies to Eliminate Racial Disparities in Education: A Literature Review
- Black Lives Matter: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males
- The Trump Effect: The Impact of the Presidential Campaign on our Nation's Schools
- Segregation at an Early Age
- The Counter Narrative: Reframing Success of High Achieving Black and Latino Males in Los Angeles County
- Mass Incarceration and Children’s Outcomes
- Five Key Trends in U.S. Student Performance
- The $746 Million a Year School-to-Prison Pipeline: The Ineffective, Discriminatory, and Costly Process of Criminalizing New York City Students
- Let Her Learn: Stopping School Pushout for Girls of Color
- A Decade of Change: Growing School Segregation on Long Island
- The Racist Origins of Private School Vouchers
- Responding to Educational Inequality: Addressing Race and Social Class Disparities to Increase Opportunity
- Education Reform Strategies -Six Countries
- Unrealized Impact: The Case for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Miami-Dade County Public Schools: The Hidden Truth
- Reclaiming Promise of Racial Equity: Reclaiming the Promise of Racial Equity in Education, Economics
- Education and the Path to One Nation, Indivisible
- Failing Brown v. Board: A Continuous Struggle Against Inequity in Public Education
- Educational Racism: Andrew Cuomo's Record of Underfunding Schools in Black and Latino Communities
- The Equity-Driven Systems Change (ESC) Model: A Toolkit for Improving Institutional Practice and Student Outcomes
- Racial Justice in Education Resource Guide
- The Education Comination: 10 Dimensions of Education Resource Equity to Unlock Opportunities for Every Student
Practices
- After the Test: How Schools are Using Data to Close the Achievement Gap
- Growing Up with Injustice:: A Case Study on School Discipline
- Building Equalizing Schools Within Inclusive Communities Strategies in the Classroom and Beyond that Redirect the School- to-Prison Pipeline
- Confronting Systemic Inequity In Education: High Impact Strategies for Philanthropy
- Equity Strategy Framework
- Learning English & Beyond: A Holistic Approach for Supporting English Learners in After School
- Reasons for Hope: You Can Challenge Educational Inequities
- Six Critical Paradigm Shifts for Multicultural Education
- Supporting the Education Organizing Movement: An Exchange Between Intermediaries
- Unleashing the Power of Parents to Fix their Kids' Schools
- Equity in Education: Addressing Racial/Ethnic Disproportionally in Special Education - TA Manual for Identifying Root Causes
- Boston Busing/Desegregation Project For Truth, Learning, And Change Key Findings From Data Collection To Date
- The Distribution of Grants and Scholarships by Race
- Discipline Policies, Successful Schools, And Racial Justice
- Parent-to-Parent Guide Restorative Justice in Chicago Public Schools
- Can We Talk About Equity, Access, and Excellence?
- Class Action: An Activist Teacher's Handbook
- Here Are Easy Ways to Have Tough Talks With Kids About Race
- Grassroots Voices Listening Project: Facilitator's Guides
- How Educators Can Eradicate Disparities in School Discipline
- Death of Thousand Cuts: Racism, School Closures and Public School Sabotage
- Ending the Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track
- Breaking the School to Prison Pipeline: The Crisis Affecting Rochester's Students and What We Can Do
- Unfinished Business: Linking Boston’s “Busing/Desegregation Crisis” to Struggles for Equity
- Landmark Lawsuit Filed in CA to Make Trauma-informed Practices Mandatory for all Public Schools
- Racial Equity Analysis Tool Facilitator's Guide
- Racial Equity Tool: Policy Review Worksheet
- Investing in the Future: Revenue Options to Give Every Child the Opportunity to Learn
- The Racist Origins of Private School Vouchers
- School-Wide Restorative Practices: Step by Step
- Be Her Resource: A Toolkit about School Resource Officers and Girls of Color
- Seattle Public Schools Racial Equity Analysis Tool
- Promoting Children's Well Being
- Breaking The Chains 2: The Preschool-To-Prison Pipeline Epidemic
- Confronting White Nationalism in Schools: A Toolkit
- We Came to Learn: A Call to Action for Police-Free Schools - Report and toolkit
- We Are Educators for Justice
- Leading an Equity-Focused Response Through and Beyond COVID-19
