An analysis of the Brown rulings and their relationship to equal educational opportunity as perceived by educators in one school in Louisiana

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perspectives and experiences of a small group of educators regarding desegregation in aftermath of Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and on the state of equal educational opportunity in a high poverty urban high school in southeastern Louisiana. The findings should help inform policymakers and educators regarding the presence and absence of research-based factors that are indicative of equal educational opportunity and about concerns that resegregation is present and may be interfering with providing equal educational opportunity to African American youth who are attending high poverty urban public schools.;As phenomenological and narrative research, this single case study was designed to reveal the educational and cultural experiences of long time educators who experienced desegregation as students and who have witnessed the status of educational opportunity for the students in the selected high school in which they teach or function as administrators today. The findings revealed that many of the nine indicators associated with equal educational opportunity were not readily evident, leading the researcher to conclude that the promise of Brown has not been realized for those students who attend this high poverty urban high school. Likewise, concerns were expressed about the re-emergence of segregation and how resegregation may be stymieing access to a high quality education for African American students and other students of color.;Brown was intended to provide and ensure the promise and hope of equal educational opportunities for all public school children in the United States. The years following the rulings have been marked with inconsistent progress toward eliminating "separate but equal" schools. As African American students show lagging achievement results compared to their white cohorts, two benefits of the findings are the potential for educational leaders to reflect on the status of equal education opportunity for the students in their schools and for policymakers to take an account of the progress toward or away from equal education opportunity in their state.