U.S. Department of Education Announces 2021–22 Civil Rights Data Collection
U.S. Department of Education Announces 2021–22 Civil Rights Data Collection
 
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August 2021

On August 13, the U.S. Department of Education announced that the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) will conduct the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) for the 2021–22 school year. This will be the first time that the CRDC is conducted in consecutive years, as the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the administration of the 2019–20 CRDC to the 2020–21 school year.

Education secretary Miguel Cardona highlighted the importance of conducting the CRDC in consecutive years, particularly as COVID-19 has exacerbated persistent and longstanding inequities in education.

“Without timely and robust data about students’ educational experiences, we cannot begin to understand and then address the impact that the pandemic has had—and continues to have—on student learning and success,” said Cardona.

The CRDC typically runs on a biennial cycle, although civil rights organizations and many in the education research community have advocated for a shift to an annual collection. AERA included this recommendation most recently in comments to the White House Office of Management and Budget in July on advancing equity through government.

“We applaud Secretary Cardona for taking this step in these unprecedented times to collect more frequent data on educational equity through the CRDC,” said AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine. “As the nation’s schools enter a third year of instruction affected by COVID-19, the data in the CRDC is even more critical to understanding trends in educational equity and access.”

The Department of Education will make the 2021–22 survey and proposed data elements available for public comment in the Federal Register later this year.

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