69ý

Blog

Your Education Road Map

Politics K-12®

Politics K-12 kept watch on education policy and politics in the nation’s capital and in the states. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: , .

Federal

Citing Pandemic, Ed. Dept. Will Collect School Civil Rights Data for Two Consecutive Years

By Evie Blad — August 13, 2021 3 min read
Images shows a data trend line climbing high and going low.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

The U.S. Department of Education will take the unprecedented step of collecting a massive trove of school civil rights data for two consecutive years, citing concerns about equity exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The agency will inform school superintendents Friday that it will conduct its civil rights data collection survey in the 2021-22 school year. It typically issues the survey every other year, but the collection that was originally scheduled for 2019-20 had been delayed a year because of mass school closures in the early months of the public health crisis.

The covers learning conditions for nearly every public K-12 student in the country, documenting issues like access to advanced coursework, rates of discipline, and the presence of support staff in their schools. It has been key in helping educators, researchers, and policymakers detect disparities for students in certain groups based on race, ethnicity, poverty, gender, or disability status.

“This data is enormously important for understanding where we are on advancing equity at a time when the nation’s educational landscape has been affected by COVID-19,” acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Suzanne Goldberg told Education Week.

School and district leaders will submit data for the 2020-21 school year in early 2022. In a letter to school leaders Friday, Goldberg did not specify a collection date for the 2021-22 collection, and she did not say if both surveys will use the same questions. Any changes would be subject to a public comment period.

The 2020-21 survey was developed by the Trump administration, and civil rights leaders and some congressional Democrats have pressured the Education Department to restore some elements that were included in previous versions. Among its changes, the Trump Education Department changed the civil rights data collection survey to add optional questions about religious bullying and new data points about sexual assault or attempted sexual assault by school staff. It also eliminated or reduced parts of the survey that dealt with school-level spending, data about preschool suspension broken down by different student subgroups, and disaggregated information on advanced coursework and teacher absenteeism.

The Biden administration, which has signaled a more aggressive approach to education civil rights enforcement, may also choose to add items on the 2021-22 survey that correspond with its priorities, which include racial equity in school discipline and LGBTQ rights.

Pandemic makes collecting consistent data difficult

For years, many school leaders have called collecting the data a cumbersome task, especially when federal officials introduce new questions that may be difficult for schools to consistently interpret.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it even more challenging to collect and present reliable data. In April, the Biden administration released a guide that instructed school leaders how to answer survey questions if their students had been in remote learning, rather than in-person instruction. For example, the guidance told administrators that it would count as a suspension if students were temporarily blocked from their virtual classrooms for disciplinary reasons and transferred to a different and supervised virtual setting.

Goldberg acknowledged those challenges and promised assistance for school leaders as they head into another uncertain school year.

“We’ve always provided robust support and we are committed to doing even more because we want this process to be not only as streamlined as possible, but also as useful as possible,” she said.

It’s worth confronting those challenges to record school conditions as educators spend a surge of federal relief money and tackle concerns about student equity that may reverberate into future school years, Goldberg said.

“The significant changes in our educational landscape, along with the substantially increased resources available to schools to meet the needs of your students, educators, and staff, make this year’s data collection all the more important,” she wrote in her letter to superintendents.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Politics K-12 blog.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI and Educational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Equity
Discover how to leverage AI to transform teaching, leadership, and administration. Network with experts and learn practical strategies.
Content provided by 
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
Content provided by 
Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Federal From Our Research Center How Educators Say They'll Vote in the 2024 Election
Educators' feelings on Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump vary by age and the communities where they work.
4 min read
Jacob Lewis, 3, waits at a privacy booth as his grandfather, Robert Schroyer, fills out his ballot while voting at Sabillasville Elementary School, Nov. 8, 2022, in Sabillasville, Md.
Jacob Lewis, 3, waits at a privacy booth as his grandfather, Robert Schroyer, fills out his ballot while voting at Sabillasville Elementary School, Nov. 8, 2022, in Sabillasville, Md.
Julio Cortez/AP
Federal Q&A Oklahoma State Chief Ryan Walters: 'Trump's Won the Argument on Education'
The state schools chief's name comes up as Republicans discuss who could become education secretary in a second Trump administration.
8 min read
Ryan Walters, then-Republican candidate for Oklahoma State Superintendent, speaks at a rally, Nov. 1, 2022, in Oklahoma City.
Ryan Walters speaks at a rally on Nov. 1, 2022, in Oklahoma City as a candidate for state superintendent of public instruction. He won the race and has built a national profile for governing in the MAGA mold.
Sue Ogrocki/AP
Federal Why Trump and Harris Have Barely Talked About 69ý This Election
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump haven't outlined many plans for K-12 schools, reflecting what's been the norm in recent contests for the White House.
6 min read
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris participate during an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept.10, 2024, in Philadelphia.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris participate in an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center on Sept.10, 2024, in Philadelphia.
Alex Brandon/AP
Federal Who Could Be Donald Trump's Next Education Secretary?
Trump must decide if he wants someone with a "proven track record" or a "culture warrior," says a former GOP Hill staffer.
9 min read
President Donald Trump, right, arrives in a classroom at St. Andrew Catholic School in Orlando, Fla., on March 3, 2017.
President Donald Trump, right, arrives in a classroom at St. Andrew Catholic School in Orlando, Fla., on March 3, 2017.
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP