August 2025

AERA and Peer Organizations Commend Action and Urge Public Comments

On August 7, the Federal Register published a notice from the Department of Education of the opening of a 30-day public comment period for the 2025–26 and 2027–28 school year collections for the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). The Department of Education Office for Civil Rights conducts this mandatory collection on a biennial basis with data provided by public schools and school districts in areas that include student enrollment; access to courses, programs, and school staff; and school climate factors such as bullying, harassment, and student discipline.

In an August 7 news release, AERA, along with 10 other education research organizations, commended the department on issuing this updated proposal. The organizations had sent a joint letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor on July 8 calling for immediate action to implement an update to the CRDC after the February withdrawal.

“We applaud the actions that the Department of Education has taken to ensure that this important data collection continues in a timely manner,” said then-AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine, in the August 7 release. “The CRDC is an essential resource for parents; school, district, and state leaders; federal policymakers; and researchers who use and examine these data to understand and determine how to best address disparities across all facets of PK–12 education.”

The process for these two iterations of the CRDC began in October 2024 with a 60-day public comment period that closed in December (see December 2024 AERA Highlights on AERA comments).

Although an initial 30-day public comment period opened in January, it was withdrawn in February. The department noted that the withdrawal was made to ensure alignment of data indicators to the executive order issued in February: “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

Several of the proposed updates to the CRDC respond to feedback from directed questions that were initially proposed around informal removals and threat assessment and a new indicator related to teacher bilingual certification and licensure. In addition, the Department provided an update on the transition to race and ethnicity categories established in an update to Statistical Policy Directive (SPD) 15. The Department will be planning to maintain current race and ethnicity classifications for the 2025–26 collection with the required action plan on implementation of the updated SPD 15 falling after that cycle of the CRDC begins, with potential for a revision on the 2027–28 cycle of the CRDC.

This most recent update removes reference to gender identity and the inclusion of a nonbinary category for gender to be consistent with the related executive order. The nonbinary category for gender was first included for the 2021–22 CRDC.

Comments to the CRDC are due on September 8 and can be submitted through the Federal Register website. AERA members and others in the education research community are encouraged to provide comments.