Equality in Education Law and Policy, 1954-2010

Educational equality has long been a vital concept in US law and policy. Since Brown v. Board of Education, the concept of educational equality has remained markedly durable and animated major school reform efforts, including desegregation, school finance reform, the education of students with disabilities and English language learners, charter schools, voucher policies, the various iterations of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (including No Child Left Behind) and the 'Stimulus'. Despite such attention, students' educational opportunities have remained persistently unequal as understandings of the goals underlying schooling, fundamental changes in educational governance, and the definition of an equal education have continually shifted. Drawing from law, education policy, history and political science, this book examines how the concept of equality in education law and policy has transformed from Brown through the Stimulus, the major factors influencing this transformation, and the significant problems that school reforms accordingly continue to face.

1. Introduction; 2. Government, equality, and school reform; 3. Brown and the foundations of educational equality; 4. The maturation of educational equality; 5. The turn to adequacy, outcomes, and systemic change; 6. Developments in local control; 7. The continuing expansion of the federal role; 8. Conclusion.