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1950's to Today
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Brown vs. the Board of Education
A watershed moment in American Education, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The Supreme Court unanimously agrees that segregated schools are "inherently unequal" and must be abolished. -
Little Rock Nine
A federal court orders integration of Little Rock, Arkansas public schools. Governor Orval Faubus sends his National Guard to physically prevent nine African American students from enrolling at all-white Central High School. Reluctantly, President Eisenhower sends federal troops to enforce the court order not because he supports desegregation, but because he can't let a state governor use military power to defy the U.S. federal government. -
New York City Teacher Strike
African American parents and white teachers clash in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville area of New York City, over the issue of community control of the schools. Teachers go on strike, and the community organizes freedom schools while the public schools are closed. -
MIlliken vs. Bradley
In a blow to advocates of forced bussing, The Supreme Court ruled that schools may not be desegregated across school districts, or at least that this districts are not required to do so. This effectively legally segregates students of color in inner-city districts from white students in wealthier white suburban districts, and allowed it as long as segregation was not explicity the district's policy. -
Proposition 13
Along with similar measures in other states, proposition 13 (The people's initiative to Limit property taxation) California froze property taxes, which are a major source of funding for public schools. This severely defunded public schools in many area, dropping California's educational ranking. -
Propositioin 187
Proposition 187 passes in California, barring children of undocumented immigrants from taking advantage of public services, including public school. Federal courts found Proposition 187 unconstitutional, and in 1999 Govenor Gray Davis halted state appeals against the courts ruling. -
Proposition 209
This bill prohibited state institutions from discriminating based on race, sex, or ethnicity, effectively preventing affirmative action and race based quotas in state universities. Much maligned as preventing California's State Univerisities from helping to minority groups that had historically less access to higher education, the law has survived numerous attempts to overturn it. -
Proposition 227
Designed to fast track non english speaking students into all English speaking classrooms, this bill is someitmes criticized for aiming to assimilate English learners, and therefore students from other cultures, races and backgrounds, over the more inclusive approach of multiculturalism. -
No Child Left Behind
With the support of then President, George W. Bush, congress passed NCLB, a standards based education reform, based on the idea that universal standards, and testing to these standards, would lead to better individual academic performance. It is widely believed that this act failed to achieve its goals. Since that time the gap between minority and majority achievment has grown. Depending on which statistics are selected, the opposite case can also be made; the results of the act are mixed.
