The 1954 Supreme Court decision in the case of "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" provided the legal basis for equal educational opportunity. More than 40 years after the decision, equal opportunity, equal access, and affirmative action remain issues of intense debate. This book offers essays by 23 prominent voices in American education, who discuss the issue of equal educational opportunity for all students. The essays include the following: (1) "An American Dilemma Still" (Ellen Condliffe Lagemann); (2) "Tracking the Progress of 'Brown'" (Lamar P. Miller); (3) "Dream Deferred but Not Defeated" (Roger Wilkins); (4) "The Unending Struggle for Equal Educational Opportunity" (Robert L. Carter); (5) "The Federal Government and the Promise of 'Brown'" (Brian K. Landsberg); (6) "The Legacy of 'Brown v. Board of Education'" (Constance Baker Motley); (7) "Revisiting the Supreme Court's Opinion in 'Brown v. Board of Education' from a Multiculturalist Perspective" (Kevin Brown); (8) "Public Opinion and School Desegregation" (Gary Orfield); (9) "Diversity and the New Immigrants" (Lamar P. Miller and Lisa A. Tanners); (10) "Two Cities' Tracking and Within-School Segregation" (Jeannie Oakes); (11) "Reexamining Social Science Research on School Desegregation: Long- versus Short-term Effects" (Amy Stuart Wells); (12) "Reflections on the Promise of 'Brown' and Multicultural Education" (Carl A. Grant); (13) "Inequalities in Educational Financing" (Howard A. Glickstein); (14) "Race and Choice in Montgomery County, Maryland, Magnet Schools" (Jeffrey R. Henig); (15) "The False Premises and False Promises of the Movement to Privatize Public Education" (Willis D. Hawley); (16) "After Forty Years: The Other Half of the Puzzle" (John A. Murphy); (17) "The Promise of Accountability and Standards in the Achievement of Equal Educational Opportunity" (Edmund W. Gordon); (18) "Fulfilling the Promise of 'Brown'" (Judith A. Winston); (19) "Educational Equity Issues in an Information Age" (Dennis Sayers); (20) "'Brown' and 'Lau': Seeking the Common Ground" (Rosa Castro Feinberg); (21) "Of Promises and Visions: 'Brown' as a Gift to American Democracy" (Joshua P. Bogin); and (22) "'Brown' at Forty: Six Visions" (Burt Neuborne). An index is included. Each essay contains references. (LMI)