Preston Green III

John and Maria Neag Professor of Urban Education

Titles:

John and Maria Neag Professor of Urban Education
Professor of Educational Leadership and Law

Academic Degrees:

Ed.D., Educational Administration, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1995
J.D., Columbia University, 1992
B.A., Government, University of Virginia, 1989

Areas of Expertise:

Charter Schools

School Vouchers

School Finance

School Desegregation

Civil Rights

Biography:

Preston Green is the John and Maria Neag Professor of Urban Education and Professor of Educational Leadership and Law at the University of Connecticut. He is a nationally recognized expert on the legal issues surrounding charter schools, school vouchers, student rights, school desegregation, and school finance. Before arriving at UConn, Professor Green taught education law courses covering both K-12 and higher education contexts at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Penn State. He was also a visiting professor for three consecutive years at Wesleyan University.

Professor Green draws from his personal experiences and academic training to find creative legal solutions to ensure that all students’ civil rights are protected in this changing educational landscape.

Professor Green’s research addresses cutting-edge issues such as reparations, education privatization, and religion in education. He has written five books as well as numerous book chapters, law review articles, and education journal articles. Recent publications include “All Aboard!: Making Charter School Boards All-Purpose State Actors Under the Supreme Court’s Amtrak Case” (2024); “Segregation and School Funding: How Housing Discrimination Reproduces Unequal Opportunity” (2022); and “School Finance, Race, and Reparations” (2021).

Professor Green is a highly sought-after speaker on a wide range of education law and policy topics, including education reform and DEI. He has given presentations and lectures to universities, policymakers, advocacy groups, and professional organizations. Examples include Princeton, Vanderbilt, Columbia, Georgetown, the Advancement Project, the Network for Public Education, Public Funds for Public Schools, the National Education Association, the American Bar Association, and the Law School Admissions Council, and the Spencer Foundation.

Professor Green has also provided his expertise on education law to the media. He has been quoted or cited by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, USA Today, Business Insider, The New Republic, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, and The Christian Science Monitor, among others. He has also been interviewed by several radio and television stations including WKPFA in Berkeley, WBAI in New York, KJZZ in Phoenix, WBUR in Boston, WNPR in Connecticut, CUNY Television, and Bloomberg Radio.

Professor Green’s research has also been cited in numerous briefs and court cases including Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent in the affirmative action case, S.F.F.A. v. Harvard.

Moreover, Professor Green is an innovative designer of education law programs. At UConn, he developed an online school law certificate. This program covers topics in education technology, employee rights, student rights, and special education law. While at Penn State, he developed the university’s joint degree program in law and education. Professor Green also created the Law and Education Institute at Penn State, a professional development program that taught administrators and attorneys about education law.

Professor Green has received recognition for his creative scholarship and other work. In 2020, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Teachers College at Columbia University. Professor Green was also recognized as an RHSU Public Influence Edu-Scholar for 2023 and 2024. This list consists of 200 university-based scholars in the United States who have done the most to influence education policy.