ASCD and Education Policy: 75 Years of Leadership

For most of the 20th century, most U.S. public schools operated under a system of legally sanctioned racial segregation. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected that framework with Brown v. Board of Education, followed by 1975 legislation that guaranteed a free, appropriate public education for students with disabilities. Still, the United States struggles to educate an increasingly diverse and less affluent K–12 student population. This issue of Policy Priorities reviews achievements by educator advocates, supported and informed by ASCD over 75 years, to enact significant legislative and legal changes to the nation's public education system that benefit all children.