News and Recent Posts
  Scholars, Adovocates and Policymakers Convene to Discuss Education as a Civil Right
      In observance of thee National Alliance of Black School Educators call for February 12 as a national day of recognition 
          of education as a civil right, Howard University School of Education hosted a symposium on the issue this year.  The Education 
          Rights Center's Director, Derek Black, was one of the presenters and explained the legal rational and basis for education as a 
          civil right.  Other presentations included those from John Marshall, Legislative Assistant to Congressman Bobby Rush, NABSE 
          Board Members, and faculty from the School of Education.  For more information about the symposium and NABSE's initiative, 
          please visit www.nabse.org or contact the Education Rights Center.
           

          

    
     The Education Rights Center Begins Investigation of Unequal Access to Curriculum
       In collaboration with the Howard Civil Rights Clinic, the Education Rights Center has initiated a state by state analysis of 
            unequal access to high quality curriculum.  The investigation will assess the extent to race and socio-economic class affects 
            the likelihood that a student will have access to high quality instruction and high level classes, such as Advanced Placement 
            and College Prepatory classes.  The Center is also expanding its explanation of parents' and students' legal rights 
            in regard to access to curriculum.  Legal analysis and reports of the Center's findings are forthcoming on the website.

           

     Harvard Law School Hosts National Conference on School Desegregation
           The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute at Harvard Law School convened desegregation experts from across the nation 
           to explore the future of interdistrict desegregation.  Participants included educators, administrators, parents, students, 
           attorneys, and social scientists.  The presentations revealed the current state of desegregation, the legal issues involved in 
           desegregation plans, and best practices as districts move forward.  The Education Rights Center's Director, Derek Black, was 
           fortunate enough to be invited to attend and present at the conference.  He remarked that "the conference was one the 
           substantively strongest he has attended.  The issues were explored from a multitude of perspectives and with sophisticated 
           depth.  I don't see how anyone could have walked away without feeling far more prepared to defend desegregation plans than 
           he or she was before the conference."  Conference materials and reports are fortcoming and available at:
           http://www.charleshamiltonhouston.org/Events/Event.aspx?id=100083

        

  
      Obama Names Arne Duncan Secretary of Education
            President Elect Obama has chosen Arne Duncan as the next Secretary of Education.  Duncan has been the chief executive
            officer of the Chicago public schools since 2001.  Thus far, Duncan has been cast as a school reformer whom all  stake holders
           (teachers, school districts, unions, and reformers) will support.  Deborah Strauss, of the Illinois PTA adds, "He's sort of a roll-
            up-your-sleeves-and-get-down-to-work kind of individual.  He brings a very down-to-earth perspective." 
            Full Story http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/16/AR2008121600265.html?hpid=sec-education

       Derek Black, Director, Publishes Article on the Future of School Desegregation
            The article, The Uncertain Future of School Desegregation and the Importance of Goodwill, Good Sense, and a Misguided
            Decision, explores the barriers that the Supreme Court's decision in Parents Involved v. Seattle creates for school districts
            that attempt to voluntarily desegregation.  However, the article cautions that the greatest determinate of the future of school 
            desegregation will not be the courts, but rather the good will and good sense of schools in making the choice to desegregate. 
            Only once schools make the choice to pursue effective plans will the decision become relevant.  Currently, such plans are
            limited in number.  The article concludes by assessing the options schools might pursue to desegregate.
           

           

                  Full Article

      Forthcoming Article on the Effects of Racial Isolation on Schools' Ability to Provide Adequate
       Educational Opportunities to All
           Derek Black's article, In Defense of Voluntary Desegregation: All Things Are Not Equal, is forthcoming in WAKE FOREST LAW
           REVIEW.  The article responds to Justice Kennedy's assumption in Parents Involved v. Seattle Schools that voluntary
           desegregation is an attempt to foster diversity, rather than an attempt to deliver a constitututionally mandated adequate
           education.  The article examines how racial isolation limits the options that school districts have for delivering a quality and
           an equal education to their students and, thus, situates voluntary desegregation as an educational necessity.  
                 Article Abstract