Every day in America, the promise of educational equity is not met…
According to the Harvard Civil Rights Project, public schools in the United States are resegregating. As we began the new millennium, 40 percent of Black students attended schools that were 90 percent to 100 percent Black. This is up from 32 percent in 1988. In nine out of 10 of these schools the majority of children were poor.
This is not the promise of Brown and Mendez.
Latino children are the most segregated, and they attend the poorest schools. They receive the poorest preparation by the least trained teachers and have little access to rigorous curriculum that would prepare them for college.
This is not the promise of Brown and Mendez.
Seventy-five percent of the 4.5 million students who speak a language other than English have a seat in the classroom but are left out of the class because of English-only policies that are concerned with politics instead of learning.
This is not the promise we have made to children.
Now, more than ever before, equity and excellence in education for all children is of paramount importance. Now, more than ever before, it is critical that our communities come together in order to foster lasting and meaningful educational change. Mechanisms for engagement with African American and Latino families and communities need to be firmly embedded in the mission, vision and central activities of our educational institutions from preschool through higher education. A culture of shared vision and shared action across races and ethnic group and class will have lasting impact on student access and success. While not easy, these partnerships are an important investment in the future of our children and our nation.
The Intercultural Development Research Association is pleased to share this web site as a tool for community members who join us in their commitment and in the shared vision to create greater equity, excellence and access for all students in education.
As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cesar Chavez have both emphasized, the end of education must be service to community, as we are inextricably linked in a web of mutuality. We hope this web site is useful to your community as we join together in making the promise of Brown and Mendez a reality for our children.
