First Look: Equity & Opportunity during the 2015/16 School Year

This page contains key data highlights on equity and opportunity gaps in our nation's public schools from the 2015-16 civil rights data collection (CRDC) survey. We will be updating this page over the coming weeks and months as we continue our analysis of this critical resource.

During the 2015-2016 school year:

There were over 5,000 schools that had more school law enforcement officers and security guards than support staff (i.e., school counselors, psychologist and social workers)
There were over 20,000 schools with law enforcement officers
Black students were 15% of the total students enrolled but 40% of those suspended
Black children lost over 5,000,000 days of school due to exclusionary discipline
Over 1,000,000 Black children were issued an out-of-school suspension
Over 20,000 Black children received a school related arrest
Over 70,000 Black children were referred to a law enforcement agency or official
Over 30,000 Black children were transferred to an alternative school for disciplinary reasons
Over 3,000 Black preschoolers were issued an out-of-school suspension

Use links below to jump to:

Data Highlights for Black Girls

Data Highlights for Black Boys

Graphics & Sharable's

Data File

Where is the data in this report from?

The 2015-16 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a survey of all public schools and school districts in the United States. The CRDC measures student access to courses, programs, instructional and other staff, and resources — as well as school climate factors, such as student discipline and bullying and harassment — that impact education equity and opportunity for students.

Since 1968, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has conducted the 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 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. Learn more >>

Black Girls

During the 2015/16 school year, Black girls in preschool:

Where 3x more likely to be issued only one out-of-school suspension than White girls in preschool
Where 5x more likely to be issued more than one out-of-school suspension than White girls in preschool

During the 2015/16 school year, Black girls in K-12 without a disability label:

Lost 7x the amount of instruction time due to out-of-school suspensions than White girls without a disability label
Where 2x more likely to receive an expulsion under zero tolerance policies than White girls without a disability label
Where 6x more likely to be transferred to an alternative school for disciplinary reasons than White girls without a disability label
Where 3x more likely to be referred to a law enforcement agency or official than White girls without a disability label
Where 4x more likely to receive a school related arrest than White girls without a disability label
Where 2x less likely to be identified as Gifted and Talented than White girls without a disability label
Where 2x less likely to be enrolled in at least one AP course than White girls without a disability label

During the 2015/16 school year, Black girls in K-12 with a disability label (i.e., under IDEA):

Where 2x more likely to receive an expulsion without educational services than White girls with a disability label
Where 4x more likely to be transferred to an alternative school for disciplinary reasons than White girls with a disability label
Where 3x more likely to be referred to a law enforcement agency or official than White girls with a disability label
Where 4x more likely to receive a school related arrest than White girls with a disability label

Black Boys

During the 2015/16 school year, Black boys in preschool:

Where 3x more likely to be issued only one out-of-school suspension than White boys in preschool
Where 3x more likely to be issued more than one out-of-school suspension than White boys in preschool
Where 2x more likely to receive an expulsion than White boys in preschool

During the 2015/16 school year, Black boys in K-12 without a disability label:

Lost 4x the amount of instruction time due to out-of-school suspensions than White Boys without a disability label
Where 2x more likely to receive an expulsion under zero tolerance policies than White boys without a disability label
Where 4x more likely to be transferred to an alternative school for disciplinary reasons than White boys without a disability label
Where 2x more likely to be referred to a law enforcement agency or official than White boys without a disability label
Where 3x more likely to receive a school related arrest than White boys without a disability label
Where 2x less likely to be identified as Gifted and Talented than White boys without a disability label
Where 2x less likely to be enrolled in at least one AP course than White boys without a disability label

During the 2015/16 school year, Black boys in K-12 with a disability label (i.e., under IDEA):

Where 3x more likely to be transferred to an alternative school for disciplinary reasons than White boys with disability labels
Where 2x more likely to be referred to a law enforcement agency or official than White boys with disability labels
Where 3x more likely to receive a school related arrest than White boys with disability labels