The Enduring Legacy of Rodriguez: Creating New Pathways to Equal Educational Opportunity

by Charles J. Ogletree Jr. (Editor), Kimberly Jenkins Robinson (Editor), James E. Ryan (Foreword)

In this ambitious volume, leading legal and educational scholars examine San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1973), the landmark US Supreme Court decision that held that the Constitution does not guarantee equality of educational opportunity. Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., and Kimberly Jenkins Robinson have brought together a host of experts in their field to examine the road that led up to the Rodriguez decision, assess the successes and failures of the reforms that followed in its wake, and lay out an array of creative strategies for addressing the ongoing inequality of resources and socioeconomic segregation that perpetuate the inequity of opportunity in education.

Successive waves of school reform efforts have failed to counteract the pernicious effects of inequality on student learning and achievement. The widely perceived exhaustion of these conventional approaches has led to a renewed interest in the Rodriguez decision and its impact on efforts to improve educational opportunity and outcomes for all students. A timely volume, The Enduring Legacy of Rodriguez makes a comprehensive statement that will inform research and reform for the next generation of scholars, educators, lawyers, and policy makers.

Genres: Law, Education

360 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2015

About the author

Charles James Ogletree Jr. was an American attorney, law professor and the Jesse Climenko Professor at Harvard Law School, the founder of the school's Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice. He was also the author of books on legal topics.

Reviews

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting and timely collection, but too many of the essays just wanted a federal constitutional right to education without engaging in any surprising thinking. Well, actually, I'm having some trouble remembering. But at any rate, the last few essays started seeming redundant.