Ringing the Alarm for Civil Rights Data in Schools

by Quintessa Williams

As advocates worry that critical data is on the chopping block, Catherine E. Lhamon, former assistant secretary for the Office for Civil Rights, tells us why it matters and how we can fight for it.

In 1968, at the height of the civil rights movement, the U.S. Department of Education launched a groundbreaking initiative: the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). Designed to track disparities in educational access, the CRDC has since become a cornerstone of efforts to ensure equity in America’s schools. 

Without the CRDC, schools would lose a critical tool for identifying and addressing disparities. Federal enforcement of civil rights would be hampered, and advocates would struggle to hold institutions accountable. And as the Trump administration moves to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs across the federal government, advocates worry this vital tool could be next on the chopping block.

“I think about it every day,” says Catherine E. Lhamon, who served as the DOE’s assistant secretary for civil rights under both the Obama and Biden administrations and is a former chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. “I always worry about the direction a new administration may take regarding civil rights,” Lhamon says.

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Trump’s flurry of executive orders includes removing critical information from federal agencies — such as documents related to DEI, public health data resources concerning LGBTQ+ communities, Spanish language content, and the U.S. Constitution webpage. But Lhamon says data on race and equity is needed now more than ever.

“In the first Trump administration, the Office of Civil Rights deleted important data about student access to high-rigor courses in schools and narrowed the scope of the data collection,” Lhamon tells us. “When we returned, it was important to reinstate those data indicators because I know how we use them.”

The Data Reflects Student Experiences

The CRDC has long been a lifeline for exposing inequities in education. “It’s not only a statutory obligation to collect this data — it reflects a kid’s experience,” Lhamon says. “It would be a travesty to diminish or discontinue that important collection.”

For example, the January 2025 CRDC report from the 2021-22 collection revealed that while Black students make up 15% of K-12 enrollment, they account for just 12% of students enrolled in calculus courses. 

“Right now, we know that fewer than 50% of the nation’s high schools offer calculus,” Lhamon says. “We should all be aghast at that data point alone. However, when we find out that if you’re Black, you are least likely to be in a school that offers calculus, then we are more aghast,” she says. 

The same report found that Black students are overrepresented in special education programs and disciplinary actions, comprising 33% of school-related arrests and 20% of corporal punishment cases.

“Constricting that data point or other ones about what kids have access to at their schools, what it is to be in their schools, that’s very damaging because it means we can’t make comparisons across time. It means we can’t worry about the kids who are in class right now and what’s happening to them,” she adds.

Lhamon also recounted an investigation where data revealed that a particular school district had an “alarmingly low number of students with disabilities” enrolled in “gifted and talented” advanced academic programs. This insight, she says, “led to corrective actions ensuring equitable access to advanced courses for all students.”

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Will the Trump Administration Stop Collecting Data?

The absence of CRDC data would not only hinder federal enforcement of civil rights, but also limit the ability of schools to implement interventions or hold them accountable. 

“The Office of Civil Rights is required by statute to collect the data,” Lhamon says. “It’s been collected generally every two years since 1968, so if they were instructed not to do that moving forward, it would be a violation of law.”

Lhamon says the Trump administration could end up following the law and collecting the data but refuse to release it entirely. 

“Not making the data public would be really hard because then educators doing research wouldn’t have access to it,” she says. “Researchers working on reports wouldn’t have access to it. Journalists wouldn’t have access to it. And parents and advocates wouldn’t have access to it to be able to call on their school communities to improve practices.”

Lhamon also pointed out that the new administration could constrain the data by collecting less or collecting it from fewer communities. 

“This would hurt data knowledge and damage civil rights enforcement and our national understanding of opportunity in schools,” she says. “It would be really harmful to discontinue that transparency.”

Advocating for the Continuation of the CRDC

In light of potential threats to the CRDC, Lhamon says its preservation is not just important — it’s urgent. She offers a three-point roadmap for those who want to fight for its survival:

• Use the data that already exists: Dive into the CRDC’s findings, identify the gaps and inequities in your local schools, and push for change. The numbers tell a story, but it’s up to communities to demand action.
• Make your voice heard at the Department of Education: Respond to requests for public input, share how the CRDC has shaped your understanding of educational inequities, and remind officials why this data matters. 
• Take the message public: Use community forums, social media, and partnerships with advocacy groups to amplify the importance of the CRDC.

A Critical Tool for Everyone

Under the Biden-Harris administration, making the CRDC data accessible and user-friendly became a priority — a move Lhamon calls essential for ensuring equity in schools. She hopes the Office for Civil Rights will continue this work because the data is a “critical tool for everyone.”

The data should “be a starting point for someone’s mom or community members, and of course,  the schools,” she says. “Everyone should have the right to use this data to ask themselves whether schools are, in fact, offering equal opportunity to all students.”