The verdict in the case of GI Forum et al. v. Texas Education Agency et al. is examined for the ways in which it undermines the concept of equitable access to education by the acceptance of “sameness” as a standard for equity. The implied comparability in a state testing system masks the educational inequities behind the test scores. The verdict also undermines equity as a legal standard by excluding from admissible testimony empirical evidence of those bureaucratic processes that create new inequities: the test prep and the artificial manipulation of students’ grade level designations that produce school-level test scores to the detriment of the quality of education provided to Latino and African American students.
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