Research Articles and Books
Access, along with the Campaign for Educational
Equity and the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, have researched
the numerous school funding litigations and public engagement
efforts across the country.
| "Equal
Opportunity and the Courts"
by Michael A. Rebell |
In this article Rebell that the
adequacy movement is "the only game in town"
when it comes to advancing equal educational opportunity.
The article defends the movement from critics’
charges that adequacy suits have not resulted
in improvement in student performance and that
the state courts’ have overstepped their
proper constitutional boundaries in these cases. |
February 2008 |
| "Poverty,
'Meaningful' Educational Opportunity and the Necessary
Role of the Courts," by Michael
A. Rebell |
This article argues for a commitment
to “meaningful educational opportunity”
that would require a comprehensive range of in-school
and coordinated out-of-school services to the
millions of children living in poverty. This theory
of “meaningful educational opportunity”
is rooted in federal equal educational opportunity
laws and court decisions and in the state education
adequacy cases. The needed reforms, which are
feasible and affordable, cannot be achieved without
the involvement of the courts to enforce constitutional
education provisions. |
June 2007 |
| "Professional
Rigor, Public Engagement and Judicial Review,"
by Michael A. Rebell |
"A
Proposal for Enhancing the Validity of Education
Adequacy Studies." This article,
which appeared in the Teachers
College Record, provides the first detailed
analysis of judicial critiques of the state of
the art of “costing out” studies and
recommends improvements to the current practice
of costing out. |
October 2006 |
| "The
Social Costs of Inadequate Education,"
by Henry M. Levin |
A Summary of the 2005 Teachers College Symposium
on Educational Equity. The article describes the
consequences of inequality in education, the changing
demographics in education, and the economic, social,
and civic costs associated with inadequate education. |
October 2005 |
| "Adequacy
Litigations: A New Path to Equity?" by
Michael A. Rebell |
This paper is the final chapter in Bringing
Equity Back, a book that examines
the concept of educational equity and addresses
the imperfect legacy of reform efforts since
Brown v. Board of Education. This chapter
argues that adequacy litigation offers a new
path towards the ideal of equal opportunity
and excellent education for all students. The
author argues that adequacylawsuits contain
immense potential for achieving the democratic
principles that have characterized reform goals,
but will only prove successful in realizing
them when combined with public and community
engagement.
|
May 2005 |
| "Why
Adequacy Lawsuits Matter,"
by Michael A. Rebell |
This article was written for Education
Week to address inaccuracies in an article
by Alfred A. Lindseth. |
August 2004 |
| "'Highly
Qualified' Teachers: Pretense or Legal Requirement?"
by Michael A. Rebell and Molly A. Hunter |
The authors contrast the promise of the federal
"No Child Left Behind Act" (NCLB) that
only highly qualified teachers will be permitted
to instruct the nation's youth with the Department
of Education's regulations and actual state efforts,
both of which are falling far short of that goal.
The article argues that NCLB should require all
states to adopt reforms to ensure highly qualified
teachers in all classrooms and points to education
adequacy litigations in many states that may compel
that result even if NCLB does not. |
May 2004 |
| "Of
Course Money Matters: Why the Arguments to the
Contrary Never Added Up,"
by Michael A. Rebell and Joseph Wardenski |
The authors review the academic findings and
court holdings that have debunked one of the great
school funding myths of our time: that money spent
on poor and minority students is akin to throwing
money away. The authors conclude that money spent
on qualified teachers, smaller class sizes, preschool
initiatives, and academic intervention programs
boosts student achievement dramatically - especially
for poor and minority students. |
February 2004 |
Studies in Judicial Remedies
and Public Engagement
Click here to order publications
not available on website.
Volume Two
| "Building on Judicial
Intervention: The Redesign of School Facilities
Funding in Arizona," by Molly A. Hunter |
Analyzes the Arizona litigations that
challenged the state education finance system for
facilities and other capital items, examines a unique,
three-day public engagement event, and documents
an iterative decision-making process that led to
enactment of a remarkably successful, innovative
capital funding system and resulted from standards-based
funding principles established by the Arizona Supreme
Court. Also discusses current litigations that ask
the courts to extend those principles to funding
for English language learners and "at-risk"
students. |
September 2003 |
| "Inequitable Equilibrium: School
Finance in the United States," by
Jeffrey Metzler |
Examines relationship between changes in school
finance systems for the purpose of improving equity
and the actual degree of equity achieved; uses statistical
analysis and voluminous data from all 50 states
to determine such measures of equity as the wealth
neutrality score, targeting score, coefficient of
variation, and McLloone index; analyzes why even
states that have, as the result of court orders,
adopted full state funding or guaranteed tax yield
approaches, have gradually regressed into inequity. |
June 2003 |
"Education Adequacy, Democracy
and the Courts," by Michael A. Rebell
|
Surveys recent school finance litigations and
finds core definition of an "adequate education"
emerging across the nation; discusses elements of
adequacy such as preparation to participate in democracy
and obtain competitive employment, with emphasis
on providing meaningful educational opportunities
to all students; describes relationship between
definition of adequacy and national standards-based
reform movement. |
May 2001 |
"Moving Mountains in the Granite
State: Reforming School Finance and Defining Adequacy
in New Hampshire," by Drew Dunphy
|
Analyzes the Claremont decisions on school
finance in New Hampshire and the sweeping change
and heated debates they have brought on the issues
of taxation and educational adequacy. It examines
the role of public engagement in the state and the
difficulty of implementing reform principles with
a process that may require a more comprehensive
public dialogue and change in political will before
achieving a lasting solution. |
March 2001 |
"Rapid Response, Radical Reform:
The Story of School Finance Litigation in Vermont,"
by Michael A. Rebell and Jeffrey Metzler
|
Analyzes one of the most far-reaching fiscal
equity remedies in the nation; examines reform initiatives
of legislature and rapid response to state court
decision that also established important new precedents
for defining an adequate education; looks at strong
backlash against funding reform and examines potential
benefits of public engagement in addressing school
funding conflict. |
October 2000 |
"Who's in Control? The Courts,
the Legislature and the Public in Colorado's
School Finance Debate," by Christina
Burnett and Drew Dunphy
|
Analyzes effects of three litigations on state
school finance system even without a major plaintiff
victory; examines effects of state constitutional
amendments dramatically limiting school funding
increases; describes advocacy efforts, new attention
to capital funding problems, and growing awareness
of the need for statewide public dialogue. |
June 1999 |
Volume One
"Trying to Bridge the Gaps: Ohio's
Search for an Education Finance Remedy,"
by Molly A. Hunter
|
Traces extensive public engagement work by a number
of statewide organizations, including an advocacy
effort spearheaded by Ohio's business leaders; details
statewide forums and a number of influential television
programs demonstrating inadqeuacy of schools; also
examines on-going attempts to determine the actual
costs of providing a 'thorough and efficient' education.
|
February 1999 |
"Defining a ‘Basic Education’:
Equity and Adequacy Litigation in the State of
Washington," by Diane W.
Cipollone
|
Charts on-going struggle to define a "basic
education" in the state of Washington and
efforts to determine the costs of providing such
an education to all students; details influence
of public dialogue on this process, as well as
the work of a newly-formed organization; describes
recent shift among some state legislators to a
focus on standards reform. |
December 1998 |
"Building Plans for Reform: Alabama’s
School Finance Litigation," by Jeffrey
Scott Berman and Drew Dunphy
|
Examines advocates and plaintiffs’ struggles
to implement a sweeping court-ordered remedy; documents
development of remedial plan and extensive campaign
of public engagement to develop and support that
remedy; examines changes in advocacy and public
engagement strategies in light of recent decision
vacating remedial order. |
July 1998 |
"All Eyes Forward:
Public Engagement and Fiscal Equity in Kentucky,"
by Molly A. Hunter
|
Traces fifteen years of advocacy and
public engagement to help implement a court decision
and some of the most extensive education reforms
ever enacted; provides a comprehensive overview
of court orders and reform legislation; describes
the work of advocacy groups whose activities have
never before been significantly documented. |
April 1998 |
"Fiscal Equity Litigation and
the Democratic Imperative," by
Michael A. Rebell
|
Examines a trend toward plaintiff victories in
fiscal equity decisions since 1989; provides an
overview of these decisions and examines them within
the framework of the "democratic imperative,"
a resurgent manifestation of the underlying principles
of American political culture that will no longer
tolerate inadequate educational opportunities for
disadvantaged children. |
January 1998 |
| "Gambling on a Settlement: The Baltimore
City Schools Adequacy Litigations,"
by Diane W. Cipollone |
Discusses the recent Maryland adequacy litigations
and the state’s education finance system; examines
earlier court rulings and the state’s defense
arguments; focuses on the intricate political developments
that led to a major eve-of-trial settlement in the
case. |
November 1997 |
Other Articles
Click here to order publications
not available on website.
"Efficacy and Engagement:
The Remedies Problem Posed by Sheff v. O’Neill
-- and a Proposed Solution" by Michael
A. Rebell and Robert L. Hughes
|
Reprinted from The Connecticut
Law Review. Analyzes problems of remedies
in Connecticut’s recent de facto segregation/fiscal
equity suit; provides an overview of federal and
state remedies in desegregation and fiscal equity
cases; reviews past statewide public dialogue
process in Connecticut; proposes a new public
engagement-oriented remedy for Sheff
and other statewide litigations.
|
1997 |
"Schools, Communities and the
Courts: A Dialogic Approach to Education Reform,"
by Michael A. Rebell and Robert L. Hughes.
|
Reprinted from The Yale Law and Policy
Review. Reviews history of recent education
reform initiatives and judicial intervention in
educational policy disputes; argues that effective
reform requires a revitalization of community
involvement; proposes a specific dialogic method
for doing so; applies the dialogic method to controversies
involving sex education, special education and
fiscal equity reforms.
|
1996 |
"Fiscal Equity in Education: Deconstructing
the Reigning Myths and Facing Reality,"
by Michael A. Rebell
|
Reprinted from The NYU Review of Law and
Social Change. Provides a critical overview
of recent fiscal equity litigations throughout
the country from an advocacy perspective; proposes
an approach to fiscal equity reform and a candid
consideration of underlying political and legal
issues.
|
1995 |
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