A resolute examination of systemic racism in school funding, Assistant Professor Roseann Liu’s book, Designed to Fail: Why Racial Equity in School Funding Is So Hard to Achieve (University of Chicago Press, 2024), took the field of education by storm, exposing how lawmakers make policy decisions that bolster racial inequity.

Designed to Fail has received two national awards: The America Education Studies Association 2024 Critic's Choice Book Award, honoring outstanding educational studies books; and The Council of Anthropology and Education’s Outstanding Book Award, recognizing authors of exceptional books that have made a significant contribution to the field of anthropology and education.

The award-winning book, released in March 2024, focuses on districts like Philadelphia, where stark funding disparities exist between majority-minority and predominantly white schools. The book’s commitments to equity, public engagement, and accessibility are emblematic of Liu’s scholarship. She not only studies issues that matter to everyday, non-academic people, but also communicates her findings in ways that are broadly accessible to those very audiences.

“From the very start of this book project, my goal was to have people learn and care more about racial inequity in school funding,” says Liu. “I'm really grateful to receive these book awards because it provides a platform for doing that. Hopefully, in its own small way, the book contributes to building a movement for educational equity. One of the most enjoyable things I've gotten to do since the book release is talk to people about this issue and to hear their questions and see their reactions to my presentations, and I hope these awards allow me the chance to do more of that.”

Liu is a scholar and author whose research focuses on race, education inequality, and social justice. She says her own experiences attending and working in public schools shaped her scholarship. She attended public schools in New York City and later taught in the school system from which she graduated. She received her B.S. in early childhood and elementary education from New York University; an M.Ed. in education leadership and policy from Teachers College, Columbia University; and a joint Ph.D. in anthropology and education from the University of Pennsylvania. Upon moving to Philadelphia, Liu worked as an education policy and evaluation researcher and visited many schools.

This spring, she is teaching Pedagogy and Power: An Introduction to Education and Consuming Asian America.

Read more about Liu’s book here or in The Philadelphia Inquirer.