About Us

Securing every child’s right to education is key to a fair society and strong democracy. A meaningful education equips young people with the knowledge, skills, habits, and experiences they need to build their own futures and shape the futures of their communities.

At the Center for Educational Equity, we work to guarantee every child a meaningful educational opportunity to graduate from high school prepared for college, careers, and engaged civic participation. We use legal strategies, academic research, and collective advocacy to achieve foundational change.

We promote strong state and local education policies, improved investment in schooling, informed stakeholders, and effective court orders, to strengthen educational rights and to ensure all schools are well equipped to meet the needs of all their students, especially in underserved communities.

The Center for Educational Equity is a nonprofit policy and research center at Teachers College, Columbia University. The Center was founded in 2005 by educational law scholar Michael A. Rebell, who successfully litigated the landmark school-funding lawsuit, CFE v. State of New York.

The Center pursues systems change through a dynamic approach that includes research, policy development, legal action, public engagement, and advocacy to advance educational equity at the federal, state, and local levels.

We believe that lasting transformation of the educational landscape requires sustained, productive cross-sector collaborations, particularly partnerships with those most affected by educational inequities, namely students and their families.