Seperat but Not Yet Equal

Journal Review

In the article “Separate but Not Yet Equal”, the relationship between school finance adequacy litigation and African American student achievement is explored. As desegregation cases were once the means for school reform and equality, the article stated that school finance litigation is now the focal point in legal efforts for school change. Brown vs. Board (1954) was the primary case to address the issue of unequal access to education. In this case, it was ruled that segregated schools caused certain racial groups to receive a lower quality of education than others. The courts mandated that black children be place in the same classrooms as white children in order to receive the same quality education whites had previously received. The original thinking of desegregation was based on the thoughts that whites would continue sending their children to the same schools despite the desegregation rulings. This was not the case! The migration to suburban areas was a direct effect of the desegregation rulings and those attempting to remove their children from the newly “mixed” schools. In the 1990s the litigation for school reform began shifting from inequalities based on racial premises to inadequacies correlated with student achievement (or lack of). The focus would now lie with the fact that certain schools needed more resources to “properly” educate students. This new litigation technique was thought to bring more success to lower socio-economically located schools because the suit would now focus on the school’s inability to service the students as opposed to a direct comparison with other schools. The underlying question asked by the author of this article is “Does increasing a school’s monies improve student achievement?” Based on the research shown in the article the answer to this question is no.

This article is directly related to schools because this is an issue that whether we want to face it or not, it affects us all! Schools around the world are suffering and students ARE receiving substandard educations depending on where they