History

“We are still looking at inequality, the American tragedy.  It’s an extraordinary tragedy, and we should be ashamed.” 
– Minnijean Brown-Trickey (“Little Rock Nine”)

The Education Equality Project (EEP) was launched in June 2008. A group of elected officials, civil rights leaders, and education reformers came together with a single purpose — to eliminate the racial and ethnic achievement gap in our nation’s public school system. EEP’s 15 founding members are:

The Education Equality Project recognizes that eliminating the achievement gap in public schools is the civil rights issue of our time. EEP’s founding members pledged to challenge politicians, public officials, educators, union leaders, and all Americans to join with them in addressing this civil rights issue and reforming our country’s public schools. Key press about the launch of EEP can be found here.

Leaders across the country responded to the call, and soon EEP’s signatories surpassed fifty in two months. Among the leaders were Cabinet Secretaries, Presidential candidates, Governors, United States Senators, Mayors, School Superintendents, civil rights leaders, education reformers, and business leaders. EEP continues to attract a diverse and determined group of signatories and supporters all focused on the same clear goal: close the racial and ethnic achievement gap in public education now. For the most up-to-date list, click here.

During the 2008 Presidential campaign, EEP organized high-level panel discussions at the Republican and Democratic Party conventions to highlight the inequality that African-American and Latino students endure every day in their neighborhood schools. Momentum for EEP’s mission gained strength following the election of Barack Obama and as an EEP signatory, Chicago Public Schools CEO, Arne Duncan, was nominated and confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Education. Other signatories also joined the newly formed Administration including Colorado Senate President Peter Groff and Citizens Commission on Civil Rights Executive Director, Dianne Piché, while Denver Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet was appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate.

On the eve of the historic 2009 Presidential inauguration and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, EEP held a rally at Cardozo High School in Washington, D.C. A bipartisan group of leaders including Senator John McCain; outgoing Education Secretary Margaret Spellings; incoming Secretary Arne Duncan; Mayors Bloomberg, Booker, Nutter, and Johnson; and entertainer Wyclef Jean joined together to urge newly elected leaders, students, teachers, and parents alike to unite to close the achievement gap as quickly and decisively as possible. (See video clips from this historic event here).

To highlight the dollars and sense cost of the achievement gap to individuals and the country at-large, EEP, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Action Network, the Gates Foundation, and the Center for American Progress worked with McKinsey & Co. on a comprehensive analysis of the nation’s achievement gaps. The study, The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools, was released at the National Press Club on April 22, 2009. The release was attended by more than 300 leaders and the study has rapidly become one of the most cited resources in the field. This study is the first of its kind to compile the wealth of data that underscores the adverse financial effects the achievement gap poses to the United States economy. The study added critical weight to the pressing need for reforms to close the achievement gap.

On the 55th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, EEP and a coalition of supporters gathered at the White House Ellipse to call for immediate steps to begin closing the achievement gap. Co-sponsored by The United Negro College Fund, The National Council of La Raza, the National Action Network, and EEP, the coalition and its speakers challenged its supporters to:

• Ensure an effective teacher in every classroom, and an effective principal in every school, by paying educators as the professionals they are, by giving them the tools and training they need to succeed, and by making tough decisions about those who do not;
• Empower parents by giving them a meaningful voice in where their children are educated including public charter schools; 
• Create accountability for educational success at every level-at the system and school level, for teachers and principals, and for central office administrators;
• Commit to making every decision about whom we employ, how money is spent, and where resources are deployed with a single-minded focus: what will best serve our students, regardless of how it affects other interests;
• Call on parents and students to demand more from their schools, but also to demand more from themselves; 
• Have the strength in our convictions to stand up to those political forces and interests who seek to preserve a failed system.

For photos, video, press, and more regarding Education Equality Day, click here.
EEP is working to transform the power and resources of our wide coalition of supporters into a civil rights and education reform movement that advocates immediate and real change and promotes the most effective strategies for advancing student achievement. Join us!

We will always test our proposed solutions against two simple measures: will this help children succeed? Will this narrow the achievement gap?