A history of social justice in education is useful for at least two reasons. First, competing notions of social justice in education are not new. Tension between a belief in assimilation and the ability of individuals to climb the meritocratic ladder and the belief in a respect for cultural and linguistic differences and a flattening of the…

The Duke University School Research Partnership (SRP) Office was developed with support from the Office of the Provost and the Center for Child and Family Policy. Begun in 2006 as the Duke Office for Research in Schools (DORIS), the SRP Office is an integral part of the work of the Center for Child and Family Policy. The SRP Office facilitates…

Tracing the history of Native American schooling in North America, this book emphasizes factors in society at large--and sometimes within indigenous communities--which led to Native American children being separate from the white majority. Charles Glenn examines the evolving assumptions about race and culture as applied to schooling, the reactions…

Since Independence in 1963, Kenya has launched three Free Primary Education programmes: the first in 1974, the second in 1979 and the most recent in 2003. Using historical data, this paper first outlines each initiative in turn, and discusses why, in the case of the earlier initiatives, impressive initial gains in improved access proved difficult…

The Banneker History Project (BHP) reconstructed the history of the Benjamin Banneker School, which operated as a segregated school for African Americans from 1915 to 1951. It was a project in social justice education with community service as its base. Here, the authors provide an insider perspective of group dynamics among core leaders for the…

Through a critical interpretivist frame, the authors use ethnography and archives to examine themes associated with society's ongoing denial of literate citizenship for people with perceived intellectual disabilities. They link this denial to the experiences of other devalued and marginalized groups to challenge the common perception that…

This article explores the legacies of the 1954 "Brown v. Board of Education" Supreme Court decision within the historical context of race relations in the United States. The pursuit by African Americans to exercise their rights of citizenship is described as influenced by the changing face of fear. The Supreme Court decisions that…

The powerful, reciprocal connection between school and housing segregation has long been recognized. The housing-school link was a key element in both the 1968 Kerner Commission Report and in the legislative history of the Fair Housing Act. The relation of school and housing segregation was also explored in a series of school desegregation cases…

"Research on Schools, Neighborhoods, and Communities: Toward Civic Responsibility" focuses on research and theoretical developments related to the role of geography in education, human development, and health. William F. Tate IV, the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in…

This article explains the court decision on the "Brown v. Board of Education" lawsuit. In this case, there are findings that the Negro and white schools involved have been equalized, or are being equalized, with respect to buildings, curricula, qualifications and salaries of teachers, and other "tangible" factors. The Court…

This article takes a look at the Mendez v. Westminster School District, a landmark case that faded into historical obscurity. In the 1940s, Gonzalo and Felicita Mendez wanted their three children to attend the school nearest their farm, which was the 17th Street Elementary School in Westminster. But in the Westminster, Orange County, El Medina,…

Latinos now constitute the largest minority group in the United States and the fastest growing segment of its school-age population. Yet they are the least educated of all major ethnic groups. Poverty, lack of access to high-quality preschool, low levels of parental education attainment, and hypersegregated schools all play a crucial role. The…

This article documents the efforts by Mexican Americans to challenge school segregation in Arizona in the first half of the twentieth century. As in Texas and California, although state law never formally mandated the segregation of Mexican American students, school districts in Arizona often established separate "Mexican Schools" for…

The Executive Director of ASCD joins a group of U.S. educators traveling to Israel on an education mission sponsored by the America-Israel Friendship League. The educators visit the Gesher al Hawadi school, which was established by the Hand in Hand Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel. Located in an Arab town, the school has equal numbers of…

In the Soviet Union, the decade of the 1930s saw a remarkable rate of educational expansion, as state schools enrolled millions of pupils in higher proportions and for longer periods of time than ever before. Much of this expansion occurred in the "non-Russian" regions, where the native language of children and thus the primary language…