Our Mission

Mission Statement

The Education Equality Project is leading a civil rights movement to eliminate the racial and ethnic achievement gap in public education by working to create an effective school for every child.

Why did we start EEP?

By any measure, our public education system is in a state of crisis.  It is time for us all to confront the reality that this challenge cannot be met by continuing to rely on solutions that have not worked in the past, or by implementing incremental changes and hoping for dramatic results.

What is our mission?

The Education Equality Project is leading a civil rights movement to eliminate the racial and ethnic achievement gap in public education by working to create an effective school for every child.

What are our goals?

  • Ensure an effective teacher in every classroom, and an effective principal in every school, by paying educators as the professionals they are, by giving them the tools and training they need to succeed, and by making tough decisions about those who do not;
  • Empower parents by giving them a meaningful voice in where their children are educated including public charter schools; 
  • Create accountability for educational success at every level—at the system and school level, for teachers and principals, and for central office administrators;
  • Commit to making every decision about whom we employ, how money is spent, and where resources are deployed with a single-minded focus: what will best serve our students, regardless of how it affects other interests;
  • Call on parents and students to demand more from their schools, but also to demand more from themselves;
  • Have the strength in our convictions to stand up to those political forces and interests who seek to preserve a failed system.

What do we do?

EEP is using grass-roots and grass-tops strategies to create a non-partisan movement of students, parents, community leaders, educators, religious leaders, business leaders, civil rights advocates, academics, and policymakers who demand focused efforts at the city, state, and federal level to close the achievement gap.

Our activities include:

  • Organizing off-line and on-line communities to advocate loudly for EEP’s principles
  • Supporting local reform efforts aligned with EEP’s mission
  • Communicating relevant research and proven strategies to elected officials, policymakers, opinion leaders, and voters
  • Coordinating existing efforts and groups into a unified national campaign to close the achievement gap
  • Publicizing EEP’s principles and mission via web, print, TV, radio, opinion pieces, viral communications, text messaging, blogs, social networking sites, etc.
  • Supporting specific policies that improve student achievement at the local, state, and federal levels
  • Convening key stakeholders and signatories to draw attention to the magnitude of the crisis and to demand that we close the achievement gap now