On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided on the case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, ruling that racial segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional. In the decades that followed, the integration process has been in many places slow, dangerous, or even functionally nonexistent. The United States' ongoing racial turmoil has impacted nearly every citizen in different ways, perhaps most perniciously through public education, as most Americans will interact with the public education system at multiple times in their lives, particularly as children. Many studies demonstrate the importance of early education, both academically and with regards to socialization, and while Brown codified the "separate but equal" doctrine as unconstitutional, in practice, much of the country has yet to fully embrace this, impacting education and development outcomes for a wide range of students, their families, and their communities.
Inequality in education takes many forms, many of which are inextricably interwoven, with the intersections of race, class, and power working to undermine equitable systems in a number of ways. The Throwback Thursdays for the week of May 13-19 features a September 2015 talk by Julian Vasquez Heilig, "Education Reform: What Instead? Community-Based Education Policy as the Alternative to Top-Down, Private Control," discussing community-based reform efforts designed to improve student achievement and school success as an alternative to the decades-long era of increasing private control in education. The top-down nature of school reform in urban communities has prompted educators, students, parents, and citizens alike to question the ways in which we hold public schools accountable for student learning and performance. Given increased support for testing and standardization, policies incentivizing the expansion of school vouchers and charters, assessment of students and teachers linked to test scores, and a federal role in education of historic proportions, this lecture considers community-based reforms within current school reform discourse and the education policy landscape.