Quality Education as a Constitutional Right
Creating a Grassroots Movement to Transform Public School
Theresa Perry, Robert P. Moses, Ernesto Cortés Jr., Lisa Delpit, Joan T. Wynne
A passionately argued case for a new civil rights movement—centered on schools
Legendary civil rights leader and education activist Robert Moses
invited one hundred prominent African American and Latino intellec-
tuals and activists to meet to discuss a proposal for a campaign to
guarantee a quality education for all children as a constitutional
right—a movement that would “transform current approaches to edu-
cational inequity, all of which have failed miserably to yield results for
our children.” The response was overwhelming, and people literally
started organizing on the spot.
This book-emerging directly from that effort-includes a fierce, elo-
quent call by Moses for a new approach to school reform. He argues
that the crisis in public education for children of color won’t be solved
by bureaucratic fixes but only by a grassroots, popular movement
modeled after the civil rights movement.
Latino organizer Ernesto Cortés tells us about the realities of organiz-
ing based on the success stories of grassroots change in Texas. Lisa
Delpit shows us the key features of culturally grounded quality educa-
tion. Other eminent educators, historians, and legal experts lend their
voices to this groundbreaking book.
Theresa Perry is professor of education at Wheelock College in Boston and coeditor of The Real Ebonics Debate.
Robert P. Moses is the winner of many awards including a MacArthur fellowship and a Heinz Award in the Human Condition.
Ernesto Cortesis director of the Southwest Regional Industrial Areas Foundation.
Lisa Delpitis a professor at Florida International University and author of Other People’s Children.
Joan T. Wynne is the Associate Director of the Center for Urban Education & Innovation at Florida International University College of Education.
Available June 30, 2010
$16.00 PAPERBACK
978-0-8070-3282-4
You can purchase the book through Beacon Press