Education

Education Dept. Data Highlight Race Disparities

By Mark Walsh — March 06, 2012 1 min read
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The U.S. Department of Education has released data showing that minority students face harsher discipline, have less access to rigorous high school curricula, and are more likely to be taught by lower-paid and less-experienced teachers.

The department provided the data to selected news organizations for analysis, including Education Week. Caralee J. Adams, Erik W. Robelen, and Nirvi Shah of Education Week report here that the data “reveal stark racial and ethnic disparities in student retentions, with black and Hispanic students far more likely than white students to repeat a grade, especially in elementary and middle school.”

The Washington Post, meanwhile, reports that “African American students in large school systems are arrested far more often on campus than their white peers, new federal data show.”

“The new figures also show continuing racial disparities in out-of-school suspensions and expulsions, which are far more common in schools than arrests and referrals to law enforcement,” the Post reported Tuesday.

The Education Department has a press release, a detailed fact sheet, and the data site itself.

A version of this news article first appeared in The School Law Blog.