Using newly available data on all civil rights complaints submitted to the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights related to racial discrimination in discipline between 1999 and 2018, I provide the first systematic evidence on how modern federal civil rights enforcement is used to address racial discrimination in discipline. I find…

This document is the first of a semi-annual "stocktaking" publication to analyze various political trends impacting education and young people. Bellwether hopes to help the field separate signal from noise and provide context around various issues and trends affecting the sector. The impact of COVID-19 school closures on schools and…

The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a biennial survey required by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights since 1968. This survey measures factors that impact education equity and opportunity for students, including student access to courses, programs, resources, instructional and other staff -- and school climate factors.…

This November 2021 report provides a summary of demographic data collected by the McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program. The report includes an examination of data collected for the 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 school years. Information on the number of students experiencing homelessness, their primary nighttime…

India took a decisive step toward universal basic education by proclaiming a constitutionally-guaranteed Right to Education (RTE) Act in 2009 that called for full access of children aged 6-14 to free schooling. This paper considers the offsetting effects to RTE from induced expansion of private tutoring in the educationally competitive districts…

The 2017-18 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a survey of nearly all public schools and school districts in the United States. The CRDC measures student access to courses, programs, staff, and resources that relate to Federal civil rights laws. The CRDC has long provided important information used by the U.S. Department of Education's…

As the nation has become increasingly politically divided in the wake of the 2016 Presidential elections, educators have turned their attention to civics education that might have the ability to encourage students to engage productively in public life. In addition, the February 2018 shootings at Parkland High School sparked a nationwide movement…

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) ensures educational equity for multilingual learners through supporting school districts and charter schools to develop, implement and evaluate research-based language instruction education programs so that multilingual learners, including students with English learner status, attain academic language…

The "Effect of Discipline Reform Plans on Exclusionary Discipline Outcomes in Minnesota" study examined the use of exclusionary discipline practices by Minnesota local education agencies from 2014/15 through 2018/19 and the extent to which the creation of discipline reform plans by identified local education agencies was associated with…

Concerns about the equitable distribution of school funding within and across school districts have led to new federal data collections on school-level expenditures. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) required states to collect and report, for the first time, school-level data on both personnel and non-personnel expenditures…

In 2013, the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) published the first-ever report on English language learners (ELLs) enrolled in member districts, reporting on a range of indicators in addition to ELL enrollment and languages spoken by such students. This report updates most of the data presented in the 2013 Council ELL report, shedding light…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 inaugurated important changes in assessment and accountability for English Learner (EL) students. Specifically, Title III of the law required states to develop or adopt English-language proficiency (ELP) standards aligned with language demands of…

This article examines the historical relationship between political power and the pursuit of education and social equality from the Reconstruction era to the present. The chief argument is that education equality is historically linked to and even predicated on equal political power, specifically, equal access to the franchise and instruments of…

The gap between the levels of learning that education systems are providing and what children, communities and economies need, is growing. The breadth and depth of this learning crisis constitute the greatest global challenge to preparing children and adolescents for life, work and active citizenship. The lesson of the learning crisis is clear:…

Since 1968, the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) has collected data on key education and civil rights issues in our nation's public schools for use by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), other Department offices, other federal agencies, and by policymakers and researchers outside of the Department. The CRDC has…