The "Brown" decision represents a watershed moment in U.S. history as the remedy served as a guiding light during a pandemic. A pandemic is an epidemic taking place on a scale that spans the globe. A circumstance is not a pandemic merely because it exists in different regions of the world or results in the death of many people; it must…

Ten years ago, the United States Supreme Court struck down two local school board initiatives meant to reverse extreme racial segregation in public schools. The sharply divided 5-4 decision in "Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District" marked the end of an era of efforts by local authorities to fulfill the promise…

Building on W. E. B. Du Bois's color line concept, I argue that white supremacy is deeply embedded in U.S. educational organizations and that White racial actors, opportunity hoarding, and the cultivation of racial ideology and racial ignorance help sustain it. In doing this, I seek to move away from the aspirational progress narratives often…

This article contextualises the crisis in Black education and the death of a 100-year-old Black educational system resulting from an unintended consequence of Brown: the excavation of thousands of highly educated and skilled Black educators. This theoretical article advances the literature on Brown using two critical race theory (CRT) tenets, the…

In June 2008, Albert Sidney Johnston High School (JHS) in the Austin Independent School District (AISD) became the first school in the state of Texas to be closed by the Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) after receiving ratings of academically unacceptable for five consecutive years under the Texas public school accountability…

We present the first quantitative analysis of the impact of ending de jure segregation of Mexican-American school children in the United States by examining the effects of the 1947 Mendez v. Westminster court decision on long-run educational attainment for Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites in California. Our identification strategy relies on…

In this important volume, leading scholars take an honest look at the progress made since "Brown v. Board of Education." Critical and forward-looking chapters document the shifts over time on key aspects of education, including school segregation, achievement trends in relation to policies and practices, the diversity of the teaching…

National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman's poem "The Hill We Climb"--among the most powerful moments of the 2021 presidential inauguration--inspired the central inquiry of the 18th Annual "Brown" Lecture in Education Research: Why are we still climbing the hill of educational equity 67 years after the U.S. Supreme Court's…

This article describes the cultural characteristics of four elite African American high schools, initiated prior to Brown v. Board of Education, that produced outstanding graduates. Positive school culture characteristics examined were leadership, faculty, curriculum and instruction, student qualities, the environment, and internal and external…

This article presents key insights about diversifying the educator workforce as interpreted by Eric Duncan of the Education Trust. Duncan discusses five key themes: (1) the importance of a diverse educator workforce, (2) opportunities for and impediments to improvement, (3) Ohio's efforts, (4) collaboration and mentorship, and (5) sustainability.…

As part of NCHC's tribute to Dr. Ada Long (1945-2024), this response to "Honors as Neighborhood" (1995) encourages scholars and practitioners to (re)consider the problems with conceptualizing honors programs as neighborhoods given the systemic inequalities associated with both. Drawing from experience at an R1 regional institution in the…

In "Radical Brown," renowned developmental scholar Margaret Beale Spencer and critical legal analyst Nancy E. Dowd offer a fresh perspective on the "Brown v. Board of Education" decision. Noting that decades of flawed implementation have subverted "Brown's" great promise of educational equality for K-12 public school…

The underrepresentation of African American male teachers in K-12 education significantly impacts educational equity and student success, especially in urban areas where these students often lack relatable role models. Historically, African American males were a significant presence in teaching, but their numbers have drastically declined since…

This study explores educators' perspectives on educational equity and the challenges in overcoming instructional barriers. Despite the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, an enduring achievement gap persists, particularly affecting Black students due to inadequate teacher preparation and culturally relevant knowledge. Through action…

Between 2017 and 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court examined three cases that involved states that tried to limit the use of public money to support religious-affiliated schools. The Supreme Court found a violation of the Free Exercise Clause in all three cases. Although not the focus of the Court's opinions, these cases may have created avenues for…