The civil rights community has long recognized that the twin pillars of American democracy are the right to vote and securing educational opportunity for all Americans. Yet 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education – and six years after No Child Left Behind was signed into law – the extent of educational inequality is still startling.

No Child Left Behind’s test scores paint a bleak picture of the achievement gap, with virtually every state’s white students passing state exams at a significantly higher rate than low income, minority, and language minority students. While roughly 70 percent of high school students graduate on time, African-American, Hispanic, American Indian and Native Alaskan students have only a 55 percent or less chance of graduating high school with a regular diploma.

And the opportunity gap is even wider. Low income, minority, and language minority students attend schools with far less funding; they attend larger classes that are far more likely to have inexperienced or out-of-subject teachers; and have less access to computers, high-speed internet, and modern science labs.

Congressional leadership to address the entrenched inequities and failures within our education system and bring about fundamental education reform is crucial. Importantly, reform must extend to high schools, where federal money and policy have been largely absent. An improved and fully funded No Child Left Behind and other federal laws must play an important role in making educational opportunity for all Americans a reality.