Education

The overall goal of the NAACP National Education Department is to ensure that all students have access to an equal and high-quality public education by eliminating all education related racial and ethnic disparities. Through advocacy training, policy development and guidance, building collaborative networks, and direct action, the National Education Department works to accomplish this goal with assistance from NAACP regional directors, state and local education committee chairs, and our Partners in Education.

KEY EDUCATIONAL DISPARITIES

Ensuring School Resource Equity:  Quality public education for African American and Latino students is persistently threatened as a direct result of inequitable school funding. Generally, wealthy school districts have higher per pupil expenditures than high poverty districts. The NAACP is committed to working with local education agencies to reduce resource disparities by 50%.

Increasing Teacher Quality: Schools with heavy concentrations of minority students have an average of 78% of math teachers teaching outside of their subject area. The NAACP is committed not only to ensuring that minority children are taught by qualified teachers, but we are also committed to ensuring that teachers receive the supports necessary to do their jobs effectively.

Promoting Parent and Family Engagement: Research has established that sustained parental involvement is critical to the educational success of children. Unfortunately, black families are less likely to manage the amount of time their children spend reading, doing homework or watching TV. The NAACP is committed to helping parents become more directly engaged in their education of the children.

Enhancing Early Childhood and Literacy Initiatives: Early childhood education has been shown to be an important predictor of future academic and emotional success for children. Still, far too many minority children start kindergarten performing far below their potential as a result of their inability to access quality early childhood education programs. The NAACP is committed to enhancing early learning opportunities for all students.

CURRENT ADVOCACY INITIATIVES

Voluntary School Integration Under Threat
The United States U.S. Supreme Court on December 4, 2006, heard oral arguments in two cases that could forseeably threaten the ability of schools, school districts, and local communities to pursue innovative measures toward greater integration. In short, the cases before the court will decide whether or not voluntary integration measures undertaken by the Seattle, WA and Louisville, KY school districts are consistent with the goals of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

National Call for Action in Education State Equity Plans
The NAACP Call for Action recently called on states to develop a five-year plan to reduce education-related racial disparities by fifty percent. Each state was provided with a web-based template to integrate the elements described in the Call for Action, into measurable and quantifiable indicators and milestones designed to reduce racial disparities and close the achievement gap. To date, twenty-three states have submitted equity plans to the NAACP, ten states refused to submit plans, and seventeen states never responded to the NAACP request. The map below shows the state response rates:

Opposing the Re-segregation of Omaha Schools:
The NAACP recently filed a lawsuit against the State of Nebraska to reverse a recently passed law that would create three separate and racially distinguishable public school districts in the city of Omaha. A complete discussion of the Omaha advocacy campaign is located here: