Students' Bill of Rights Declaración del los derechos de los estudiantes I. Clear Standards II. Appropriate Materials III. Adequate Facilities IV. Quality Teachers V. College Prep VI. Safe Schools VII. Fair Tests VIII. Home Language IX. Rights Information X. Public Forums I. Expectativas claras II. Materiales apropiados III. Edificios adecuados IV. Maestros de calidad V. Preparación para la universidad VI. Escuelas seguras VII. Exámenes justos VIII. Lenguaje materno IX. Información sobre sus derechos X. Foros públicos

“I think students can make a difference. I think students can have the ability to engage in legal debates, whether it’s in the courtroom or in the statehouse, to change any policy."
- Marco Firebaugh, California Assemblymember, 50th District, Interviewed by high school students in an IDEA research class

The Students’ Bill of Rights articulates a public commitment to providing every student in California with a high quality education that prepares him or her for a 4-year university, a living wage job, and active participation in civic life. Many young people, particularly those living in low-income communities of color, do not presently receive such an education. In May 2000, Eliezer Williams and a group of other students in troubled schools around California filed a lawsuit arguing that they deserve schools like those that serve their more affluent peers.

Williams v California holds more promise for promoting educational equity than any California case in the past two decades. Yet, the history of legal advocacy suggests that court decisions alone cannot insure quality or equitable education. Educational justice is born out of larger movements of students, educators, and parents who bring pressure to bear on the political and education system.

This online journal, sponsored UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA), invites educators from greater Los Angeles to study and teach about the Students’ Bill of Rights. It seeks to initiate dialogue among teachers and students about the education that every California student deserves. It also provides teachers with curricular materials and pedagogic strategies for engaging their students in studying access and equity in their own communities. Teachers and their students will be encouraged to post the results of these studies, as well as their ideas for guaranteeing students’ rights, in IDEA’s online journal, Teaching to Change LA. In these ways, the web site simultaneously promotes changing teaching and teaching for change.