Skip Office Navigation
OCR: Office for Civil Rights!
Home
About OCR
Programs/Initiatives
Current Section
Reading Room
Office Contacts
Frequently Asked Questions
Reports & Resources
Careers/Internships
News
Blog
Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC)

On key education and civil rights issues in our schools Background Information
Since 1968, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has conducted the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) to collect data on key education and civil rights issues in our nation's public schools. The collection was formerly administered as the Elementary and Secondary School Survey (E&S Survey).

The CRDC collects a variety of information including student enrollment and educational programs and services, most of which is disaggregated by race/ethnicity, sex, limited English proficiency, and disability. The CRDC is a longstanding and important aspect of the ED Office for Civil Rights (OCR) overall strategy for administering and enforcing the civil rights statutes for which it is responsible. Information collected by the CRDC is also used by other ED offices as well as policymakers and researchers outside of ED.
For further general information about the CRDC, visit the CRDC FAQ page.

Data Presentations

  • OCR Infographic Series on School Discipline Practices in U.S. Schools
    • Part 1: Discipline Practices in Preschool PDF (794K) (issued July 2021)
    • Part 2: Suspensions and Expulsions in Public Schools PDF (794K) (issued August 2022)
    • Part 3: Suspensions and Expulsions of Students with Disabilities in Public Schools PDF (794K) (issued August 2022)
    • Part 4: Corporal Punishment in Public Schools PDF (966KB) (issued September 2022) UPDATED!
    • Part 5: Referrals to Law Enforcement and School-Related Arrests in Public Schools PDF (548K) (issued January 2023)
  • CRDC data overviews and snapshots are provided below:
    An Overview of Exclusionary Discipline Practices in Public Schools for the 2017-18 School Year PDF (790K) (issued June 22, 2021)
    (Highlights of the data from the 2017-18 CRDC on the discipline of students)

PROPOSED 2021-22 CRDC

On November 18, 2021, OCR announced that it submitted to the Federal Register for public comment a proposed CRDC Information Collection Request (ICR) for the 2021-22 school year. The public will have 60 days to provide comments on the proposed collection. The ICR details civil rights data that OCR proposes to collect from the nation’s public schools and school districts. OCR plans to introduce new data elements, such as those relating to students’ educational experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as restore key data elements from previous collections. Please view the proposed 2021-22 CRDC ICR by visiting the Federal Register here.

2020-21 CRDC
On December 28, 2020, OCR received OMB approval to require all local educational agencies (LEA) in the country, including every public school district, charter schools, juvenile justice facilities, alternative schools, and schools serving only students with disabilities to respond to the CRDC for the 2020-21 school year. Changes were made to the CRDC, which had the net effect of reducing burden on school districts. The 2020-21 CRDC survey includes new questions that will collect key data in areas of increasing civil rights concerns such as incidents of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault committed by school staff members and incidents of harassment and bullying based on perceived religion or shared ancestry. For more details about changes in the 2020-21 CRDC, go to Questions and Answers PDF (423.46K).

Survey Forms
The 2020-21 CRDC school- and LEA-level survey forms contain instructions, definitions, and table layouts for the 2020-21 CRDC items.

  • 2020-21 CRDC School Form   PDF (1.6M) UPDATED!
  • 2020-21 CRDC LEA Form   PDF (458.8K) UPDATED!

Data Elements

  • Detailed List of 2020-21 CRDC Data Elements PDF (313.7K)

Questions and Answers

  • 2020-21 CRDC Questions and Answers PDF (423.46K)

Guide

  • Forum Guide to Reporting Civil Rights Data – This guide presents a variety of effective methods through which local educational agencies (LEAs) report civil rights data to OCR, and provides examples of how state educational agencies can voluntarily help their LEAs with Civil Rights Data Collection reporting.

To access additional technical assistance resources, please visit the CRDC Resource Center web site at https://crdc.communities.ed.gov.

Access CRDC Data

Data from the 2000, 2004, 2006, 2009-10, 2011-12, 2013-14, 2015-16, and 2017-18 NEW! CRDC surveys are available in the CRDC reporting tool.

2017-18 CRDC Reports NEW!

For OCR reports on the 2017-18 CRDC (released in October 2020), visit the CRDC 2017-18 page.

2017-18, 2015-16, 2013-14, 2011-12, and 2009-10 CRDCs

The CRDCs for the 2017-18, 2015-16, 2013-14, and 2011-12 school years collected data from every public school and school district in the country. The 2009-10 CRDC collected data from a sample of approximately 7,000 public school districts and over 72,000 public schools. Resources for the 2017-18, 2015-16, 2013-14, 2011-12, and 2009-10 CRDCs are presented below.

Survey Forms

  • 2017-18 CRDC School Form   PDF (389K)
  • 2017-18 CRDC LEA Form   PDF (1.7MB)
  • 2015-16 CRDC School Form PDF (1.5M)
  • 2015-16 CRDC LEA Form PDF (425K)
  • 2013-14 CRDC School Form MS WORD (1.2M)
  • 2013-14 CRDC LEA Form MS WORD (205K)
  • 2011-12 CRDC School and LEA Form MS WORD (695K)
  • 2009-10 CRDC School and LEA Form MS WORD (687K)

Data Elements

  • Detailed List of 2017-18 CRDC Data Elements PDF (89K)
  • Detailed List of 2015-16 CRDC Data Elements PDF (97K)
  • Detailed List of 2013-14 CRDC Data Elements MS WORD (35K)
  • List of 2011-12 CRDC Data Elements PDF (55K)
  • List of 2009-10 CRDC Data Elements PDF (60K)

Questions and Answers

Reports

2017-18 CRDC:

  • Civil Rights Data Collection page (for 2017-18) here

2015-16 CRDC:

  • Civil Rights Data Collection page (for 2015-16) here

2013-14 CRDC:

  • Civil Rights Data Collection page (for 2013-14) here

2011-12 CRDC:

  • Data Snapshot: Discipline (March 2014)  PDF (2.10M)
  • Data Snapshot: Early Learning (March 2014)  PDF (1.6M)
  • Data Snapshot: College and Career Readiness (March 2014) PDF (2.7M)
  • Data Snapshot: Teacher Equity  (March 2014) PDF (2.1M)

2009-10 CRDC:

  • The Transformed CRDC: Data Summary (March 2012)   PDF (805K)
  • Gender Equity in Education (June 2012)   PDF (436K)
  • Gender Equity in Education: Data Note (June 2012)   PDF (208K)

Technical Assistance on Restraint and Seclusion

  • Civil Rights Data Collection Overview and Data Quality (July 25, 2019), Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, STATS-DC Data Conference  PDF (563K)
  • When Zeros Are Really Zeros: Ensuring High Quality Data in the 2017–18 Civil Rights Data Collection (July 25, 2019), Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, STATS-DC Data Conference  PDF (553K)
  • Students with Disabilities and the Use of Restraint and Seclusion in K-12 Public Schools (July 23, 2019), 2019 Office of Special Education Programs Leadership Conference  PDF (3.8MK)
  • Civil Rights Data Collection: Technical Assistance for Reporting Quality Restraint and Seclusion Data (July 21, 2019), 2019 Office of Special Education Programs Leadership Conference  PDF (2.3M)

For additional information about the CRDC, please e-mail OCR at ocrdata@ed.gov.

How to Submit a CRDC Data Quality Concern with OCR

The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a mandatory biennial collection of district-and school-level data. The CRDC is administered by OCR, which uses the data to enforce civil rights statutes that prohibit discrimination based on race, color, national, origin, sex, and disability. The data are collected from public-school districts and public schools in the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The CRDC collects data on civil rights indicators at the early childhood through grade 12 levels. It measures factors that impact education equity and opportunity for students, including student access to courses, programs, resources, instructional and other staff – and school climate factors, such as student discipline and harassment. The CRDC data can be accessed at https://ocrdata.ed.gov. To submit a CRDC data quality concern with OCR, please contact us by emailing ocrdata@ed.gov. Please include “CRDC Data Quality Concern” in the subject heading.


   
Printable view
Last Modified: 03/15/2023