Civil Rights Data Show Minority Students Often Face Discipline and Less Likely to Have Experienced Teachers

Civil Rights Data Show Minority Students Often Face Discipline and Less Likely to Have Experienced Teachers: In a groundbreaking survey that shines additional light on disparities in public education, federal officials released new data on Tuesday that shows minority students are more likely to face discipline and less likely to have experienced teachers or access to rigorous courses than non-minority students.

At the same time, Department of Education officials stopped short of blaming the disparities on racism or poverty, pointing instead to schools and districts that had bucked the trend as evidence that elimination of the disparities is not an insurmountable task.

“The answer is out there,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a news conference on Tuesday at Howard University to announce the new data. “We just have to take to scale what’s working.”