Derek W. Black

Derek W. Black is a professor of law and one of the nation’s foremost experts in education law and policy. He focuses on educational equality for disadvantaged students and the privatization of public education. In this era of dwindling public school resources and ever-expanding inequality and privatization, his commentary and essays regularly appear in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Atlantic, Newsweek, and more. His scholarly research is published in the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, and other top legal journals, and has been cited several times in the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

He currently teaches at the University of South Carolina. He began his career in teaching at Howard University School of Law, where he founded and directed the Education Rights Center. Prior to teaching, he litigated education cases at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.