In a Wednesday, November 15, 2023 press conference, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona expressed strong concerns regarding analyses of the national data collection from the 2020-21 school year through the U.S. Education Department’s (USDE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Data Collection. The data from the mandatory survey of preK-12 public schools contains information collected from 17,821 school districts and over 97,575 schools. That year, for the first time, 100% of required data submitters provided and certified data.
Sec. Cardona specifically highlighted “unacceptable” disparities in access to math courses for Black and Latino students and “serious inequities” in discipline rates for special ed. students, resulting in “stark inequalities” in pre-K-12 education with regard to Black and Latino students.
In addition, the USDE views 2020-21 as an “anomalous year” that was seriously affected by the pandemic and thus comparisons with other collection years should proceed cautiously with that in mind.
The USDE plans to release additional data reports from the 2020-21 OCR collection.
The next data collection will this school year.
Source: K-12 Dive