The U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has issued its first report in almost 15 years examining civil rights data from public schools nationwide, says The Chronicle. The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) from the 2011-12 school year compiled data from all 97,000 of the nation’s public schools and its 16,500 school districts – representing 49 million students.
The report was unveiled jointly by ED Secretary Arne Duncan and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. ”This data collection shines a clear, unbiased light on places that are delivering on the promise of an equal education for every child and places where the largest gaps remain. In all, it is clear that the United States has a great distance to go to meet our goal of providing opportunities for every student to succeed,” Duncan said.