Minority Students Face Harsher Discipline, Fewer Options, New Federal Data Shows
Minority students have less access to advanced courses, more inexperienced teachers and face tougher disciplinary consequences than their counterparts, a new trove of federal data shows, affirming long-held beliefs about disparities in the classroom.
Civil rights advocates expect this data, collected during the 2009-10 school year, will provide new ammunition for compliance reviews, advocacy and lawsuits involving educational fairness in America.
"The undeniable truth is that the everyday educational experience for too many students of color violates the principle of equity at the heart of the American promise," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said on an embargoed phone call Monday afternoon. "It is our collective duty to change that." Duncan is expected to make similar remarks Tuesday at Washington, D.C.'s Howard University.
The numbers, to be released Tuesday, are jarring. Black students are more than three-and-a-half times as likely as white students to be suspended or expelled, according to the Education
Posted: 03/ 6/2012 12:01 am