Educational Freedom in Urban America: Fifty Years After Brown v. Board of Education

David Salisbury · Casey Lartigue Jr.

May 2004 · Cato Institute

About this ebook

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregated public schools unconstitutional. The ruling in Brown v. Board of Education set public education on a course toward equality. Yet, five decades later, schools are not equal. Minority children living in America’s inner cities suffer disproportionately from a failing education system, with black and Hispanic students dropping out of public high schools at much higher rates than whites. There is, however, reason for hope. The expansion of school choice offers new opportunities for children struggling in failing schools.

In this collection, a dozen leading scholars, educators, and reformers—including Andrew Coulson, Floyd Flake, Frederick Hess, and Paul E. Peterson—examine the legacy of Brown v. Board and its relation to the modern-day school choice movement. A school administrator and a charter school founder also reveal the challenges and obstacles faced by enterprising teachers in trying to help their students. Together these experts expose the modern barriers that deprive inner-city children of a good education and call for increased school choice as the most effective way to achieve the goals of Brown v. Board.

Educational Freedom in Urban America is essential reading for anyone concerned with the condition of our inner-city schools and the racial and social inequities that still exist in American education.

About the author

David Salisbury is the former director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute. Prior to joinging Cato, he was an associate professor in the Graduate School of Education at Florida State University and president of the Sutherland Insti

Casey Lartigue Jr. is a senior partner with the D.C. K–12 Education Initiative, a project of the philanthropic organization Fight for Children. He is a former policy analyst with the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom in Washington, D.C. The author of two widely quoted studies on education in the nation’s capital, Lartigue is a much sought-after speaker about school choice and minority education issues.