B.       Improvement in Enforcement and Reporting

The reporting of Civil Rights data and application of disparate impact theory offer tools to ensure that specific subgroups of students do not suffer discrimination in their schools. Until recently, the evidence suggests that these tools had not been utilized to stop discriminatory practice.

To ensure stronger enforcement, it is essential that more information be made available to the public. The lack of annually and uniformly collected data, and the lack of comprehensive and coherent reports to the public about discipline at the federal, state, district and school levels make the current picture incomplete. Although the latest federal civil rights data collection will substantially fill some of the holes in our knowledge base, many gaps will remain as the CRDC collection is neither annual nor typically required of every school.

At the moment, it is exceedingly difficult for parents, civil rights advocates and policymakers to determine whether discrimination in discipline may be occurring in a particular school or district and to press for relief in cases where it is. Moreover, as new policies are adopted, it will be essential to monitor conditions to determine whether they are having the desired effects.