Education Rights Institute

🎉 Good news in the world of student civil rights!

We're encouraged to see New Jersey take important steps to protect students from discrimination through its new Education and Public Accommodations Enforcement Section, and we're thrilled that our colleagues at the National Center for Youth Law are helping advance this work. Every student deserves the opportunity to learn in a safe and welcoming learning environment. 🏫

🔗 Read the press release: bit.ly/NJcivilrights

📢 Breaking News: Today, the U.S. Department of Education issued a final rule that removes disparate impact from ED’s regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. You can view ED’s press release here:
https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-removes-disparate-impact-tit….
⚖️ This action eliminates an important tool that has been used for decades to root out systemic discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in schools.
👉Federal law generally requires agencies to provide the public an opportunity to comment on a final rule, but ED did not allow the public to comment before issuing this new rule.
📹 You can learn more about disparate impact liability and how it protects students from discrimination based on race, color, and national origin discrimination in this short ERI video: https://youtu.be/WCQ1Pr9JnH0

Title VI: Disparate Treatment v. Disparate Impact Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects students in schoo...

☀️ Summer reading recommendation!

Paul Gorski's third edition of Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty: Strategies for Erasing the Opportunity Gap offers practical, research-based strategies for educators and district leaders committed to expanding opportunity for all students.

If you're looking for a book that connects systems thinking and everyday practice, add this one to your reading list. 📖

https://www.tcpress.com/products/reaching-and-teaching-students-in-poverty_9780807783788

Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty This influential book describes the knowledge and skills teachers, school administrators, and other educators need to combat the bias and inequity that deny students experiencing poverty the levels of educational access and opportunity their wealthier peers often enjoy.Written in an engaging, conver...

Meet the ERI Advisory Board!

We’re thrilled to announce the support of Linda Darling-Hammond (Learning Policy Institute), Jeff Livingston (EdSolutions), Pedro Noguera (USC Rossier School of Education), and Jeff Wetzler (Transcend) as members of ERI’s Advisory Board.

Their leadership and insight help guide our work to advance a federal right to education and turn equal educational opportunity from rhetoric into reality by expanding access to a high-quality public education.

🔗 Learn more about our Advisory Board members: https://www.law.virginia.edu/education/education-rights-institute-team

We are so grateful to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for its support of the Education Rights Institute through an 18-month grant for core support of our operations.

This investment will strengthen our work to expand the capacity of educators, district leaders, policymakers and families to implement civil rights protections and close opportunity gaps. It also will help us continue developing research, resources and partnerships that support high-quality public education. ERI leverages law, policy and research to develop practical resources and partnerships that strengthen delivery of a high-quality public education.

We appreciate the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's commitment to creating conditions in which all students can thrive and look forward to working together to support public education.

As we prepare to celebrate America's 250th birthday, we embrace this opportunity to reflect on our nation’s highest ideals and its progress toward them.

Public education serves as a cornerstone of our democracy, and equal educational opportunity represents both a legal obligation and an unmet goal. At the Education Rights Institute, we celebrate the progress our nation has made toward equal educational access as we work tirelessly to ensure that all students receive the high-quality public education they need to lead, contribute, and thrive.

Wishing you a holiday weekend filled with joy, community, and connection. 🇺🇸

⚖️Come join our team! ERI is seeking an attorney who wants to lead our work that will help school districts and educators bring civil rights to life by implementing them in schools and districts.

The Director of Policy Implementation / Policy Implementation Associate will support ERI's new partnerships with school districts as districts use ERI tools to implement civil rights protections and advance equal educational opportunity for K–12 students.

If you are passionate about education, civil rights, and working collaboratively with school systems to build education systems where all students can thrive, please apply here: https://jobs.virginia.edu/us/en/job/R0084734/Director-of-Policy-Implementation-Policy-Implementation-Associate-Education-Rights-Institute-ERI

📣 Please REPOST and share with your networks! Thank you for your support!

🎉 We're proud to share that "Highlights From a Primer on Opportunity Gaps for District Leaders" was named the 2026 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division H Outstanding Publications Competition Winner in Category 5: Communicating Research to a Lay Audience.

Based on the ERI report authored by Kimberly Jenkins Robinson, Sarah Beach, and Helen Min, this publication aims to help district leaders understand the importance of focusing on educational opportunity gaps and offers a checklist for district leaders to begin their efforts to identify and close these gaps.

Thank you to AERA- Division H for this recognition. We're excited to continue our work that translates educational research into actionable items for practitioners.

You can download the publication here: https://doi.org/10.18130/naab-6r94

We’re excited to share that our Director of Research, Dr. Sarah Beach, will serve as a keynote speaker at this year’s Copenhaver Institute at Roanoke College.
This year’s conference highlights the experiences, beliefs, and passions educators bring to the profession.
Learn more and register:
https://www.roanoke.edu/msci

Our founding director, Kimberly Robinson, had a great three days at the Virginia State Bar Annual conference in Virginia Beach last week and renewed her Virginia law license as a result of her attendance.

She enjoyed connecting with Judge Roger Gregory and alums from University of Virginia School of Law at the conference, including Chief Justice Cleo E. Powell of the Virginia Supreme Court, Craig Sampson, Chambers Hank, Kevin Martingayle, Dave Thomas, Tim Freilich, as well as her colleagues Rosanne Ibanez, Crystal Shin, and Channing Poole.