Coleman, James

An American sociologist, James S. Coleman (1926–1995) earned a doctor of philosophy degree from Columbia University in 1955 and is considered one of the most significant academic figures in education policy making over the last several decades. His sociological research ranged over a number of topics, from social capital to adolescent behavior. His three most significant bodies of research which have contributed most to the education debate are Equality of Educational Opportunity, also known as the “Coleman Report”; the study of school busing and White flight in the 1970s; and the research in the 1980s on the advantages of private schools. In a career spanning over 35 years, he authored 30 books and many articles, which collectively have had significant influence on policymakers' and researchers' understanding of American education. Coleman initially achieved recognition with two studies on problem solving: An Introduction to Mathematical Sociology (1964) and Mathematics of Collective Action (1973).

While teaching at Johns Hopkins University in the 1960s, Coleman chaired the commission that published Equality of Educational Opportunity in 1966. This study investigated the assumptions that funding differences between Black and White schools would be significant and that these differences would explain the unequal achievement between African American and Anglo students. The Coleman report's findings were surprising in that it found that the funding differences between schools attended by African American children and those attended by Anglo children were smaller than originally assumed. A second unexpected finding indicated that funding was not closely related to achievement, but instead that student success was more closely related to family socioeconomic status. Another significant finding, and the one used by policymakers to justify the U.S. government's desegregation policies of the next two decades, also implied that school characteristics were not the strongest predictor of student success. His findings suggested that going to school with middleclass peers provided students with a greater learning advantage than dollars spent on instruction, and that the influence appeared the greatest on students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

This study is considered by some as controversial, and others believe it was poorly designed, the latter point suggesting the findings to be suspect. Even so, the Coleman report began the redefinition of equal educational opportunity by placing policymakers' focus on student achievement as the primary measure of quality as opposed to quality being defined as a measure of equal inputs—equal spending, equal teachers, and equal facilities. Coleman argued that the study established an important precedent for much educational research that followed. Also, results of the study influenced the formation of school desegregation policy.

Coleman's work has consistently challenged conventional wisdom especially with regard to schooling as the key remedy for inequalities in social and economic opportunity. In addition, his work has served as a foundation for researchers to better understand what it is about schools, schooling and home-community-school relationships that can make a difference for students. Coleman's greatest contribution to education is his mobilization of the sociological profession to study education.