60 Years after <em>Brown v. Board of Education</em>: Educational Advancement or Decline?

Abstract

On May 17, 2014, the United States of America commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954), the Supreme Court's landmark decision that outlawed segregation according to race in public spaces throughout the nation (Zirkel & Cantor, 2004). The ruling became arguably the most influential legal decision of the 20th century (Benjamin & Crouse, 2002). It generated new momentum for the pursuit of racial justice and civil rights. It also represented the turning point for many African Americans throughout the nation. The Brown decision clearly reinforced the importance of education and its significance in advancing the larger society. The Supreme Court ruling also conveyed that access to an education is paramount and should be afforded to all American citizenry. Stated differently, Zirkel and Cantor (2004) wrote that the decision:highlighted the human suffering caused by racism and its correspondent racial segregation; it clarified that state sponsored segregation (and racism) were inherently more harmful than segregation that occurred without the force of law; it articulated the central role that education had come to play in modem life and concluded that opportunity for all required an end to racial segregation in education; and [it] provided the fuel and the encouragement necessary to further the civil rights work of the 1960s (p. 4).In essence, the Brown decision abolished the separate but equal doctrine previously upheld by the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 (Groves, 1951), which maintained the constitutionality of racial segregation in public spaces. Without any doubt, advancement has been made 60 years after the Supreme Court ruled on Brown; however, much improvement is still needed throughout the American educational enterprise (Russo, Harris, & Sandidge, 1994). Access to a quality education remains a topic of concern (Moore & Lewis, 2012, 2014; Orfield & Eaton, 1996). Although some educational progress has been made, the same social and economic conditions outlined in Brown still persist for many African Americans (Cartledge, Gibson, & Keyes, 2012; Ford & Moore, 2013; Zirkel & Cantor, 2004). Too many African American students find themselves in failing educational systems (Kozol, 2005; Moore & Lewis, 2012), where they are unable to obtain the needed education to advance through society (Johnson, 2014; Lewis & Moore, 2008a, 2008b).Across the nation, African American students experience extreme levels of residential and school segregation (Acevedo-Garcia, Rosenfield, McArdle, & Osypuk, 2010). In such communities, they tend to endure high levels of poverty, where they encounter immense difficulty accessing meaningful opportunities in their neighborhoods (Kozol, 2005). Extant social science research highlights the blatant inequities found in communities with high-concentrations of poverty and African Americans (Acevedo-Garcia et al., 2010; Moore & Lewis, 2012). This body of research also draws attention to the huge disparities in the schools as well (Kozol, 2005; Lewis, Venzant Chambers, & Butler Ray, 2012; Miller, Wilkinson, Cummings, & Moore, 2014). With increasing residential segregation in the United States, African American students often find themselves trapped in struggling schools with meager resources (Moore & Lewis, 2008a, 2008b), high student-teacher ratios (Moore & Lewis, 2012), and less experienced teachers, school counselors, and administrators (Eaton, 2010; Kozol, 2005).Over the last 60 years, a plethora of publications have been devoted to examining the status of African American students at every juncture of their formal education (e.g., elementary, secondary, and postsecondary). Much of the literature base highlights the educational experiences and outcomes of African American students. Therefore, it is startling that many of the educational concerns presented prior to Brown still exist today. …